2010 Fall Proseminar Class Notesb

October 12, 2010

Suggestions for finding contributions to Existentialism seminar

Track the main tenets or principles that come up in authoritative reference sources.
Pick a figure based on your browsing of the range of existentialisms. Try to represent their thought in a post or provide a link or resource to read.
Existentialism has many critics. Research the reactions of existentialism thought from the mid-20th century. Report briefly.
Research "existential psychology"
Read a work of existential literature, such as a story from Camus, or Sartre's "No Exit"

Some discussion points on Sartre and Nietzsche

Following Sartre's essay, Existentialism is a Humanism

Concerns about quietism, human degrad., and lack of support for human solidarity.

Part of S's reply: "it's gloomier to assume human nature is fixed."

Major Principle: Existence Precedes Essence.

Christian vs. Atheistic Existentialism -- problem.

Social Philosophy in Sartre - problem -- Do you choose for all persons?

Anguish / Forlorness / Despair

Demonstration of inevitability of choice.

Last 20% answers different questions. Less a defense, more about what existentialism does or makes possible.

acknowledges that the starting point of subjectivity creates some problems. but benefit is that existentialism is the ONLY theory that can give man dignity. moral choice like work of art -- we can make judgements, -- quest for freedom is a kind of general structure.

Existential humanism

--

Simone de Beauvoir

In my 301 class we discussed Sartre, and my professor said that SdB was possibly as (if not more) responsible for Sartre's most influential work as Jean-Paul was himself. Here is a link to the Wiki page on her. She also had a super weird life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir --Jlacasse 22:03, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Free books on Camus and Sartre

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truly-free.org%2F&ei=AwOuTKnrJIn2swO0hYWIDA&usg=AFQjCNGOjRm1WuvH1lphJcgmbq0CRU4Y0g&sig2=msLlfEGqWfSkEb0vk6aiCg

I would recommend Sartre work Intimacy it is a collection of short stories including

Intimacy

The Wall

The Room

Erostratus

The Childhood of a Leader

Particularly the last listed is very interesting and I think little read. 
Also the entire book is only around 130 pages, so it is, if not an easy read, at least a quick read.

Videos

Human, All Too Human : Nietzsche (1999) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-184240591461103528&hl

Sartre the road to freedom http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3552873038348468860&hl

Martin Heidegger http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-858369328131624007&hl=en

F. Nietzsche

This is an interesting thought experiment given by Nietzsche in The Gay Science:

The greatest weight.-- What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence - even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!" Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus?... Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?

from Nietzsche's The Gay Science, s.341, Walter Kaufmann transl.

This is a similar thought experiment undertaken by Bill Murray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_yDWQsrajA

Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus

So i decided to take a look at Camus', "The Myth of Sisyphus." In this book, Camus seems to assume Sarte's maxim: Existence precedes essence. For Camus, the implications of this statement are clear. With the lack of an a priori meaning to human existence, there leaves no real justification. Therefore, Camus concludes that the notion of human life is "absurd" and thus completely devoid of justification. Early in this book, Camus poses two scenarios that one may choose in response to the absurdity of life... either to make a leap of faith in God or to commit suicide.

For Camus, suicide seems like a rational approach to this problem. However, he offers a third explanation: to defy the absurdity of life. For Camus, this third option suggests that man is capable of recognizing the absurdity of life. In recognizing it, he is capable of actively choosing to defy it and live life to its fullest. One such way that we can live life to the fullest is to collect as many diverse experiences as one possible can throughout their life.

Camus illustrates what he means using the myth of Sisyphus. In mythology, Sisyphus is damned to perpetually push a large rock up a hill. Day in and day out he toils at it. For Camus, human existence is much like Sisyphus' fate. Doomed to habit and monotony without any real discernible or justifiable goal, Sisyphus realizes that he can never reach his goal. However, he recognizes it and live with it. He defies his fate by living with it and finding happiness. This is what Camus believes we should do as beings.

Camus is an existentialist because he assumes many of the fundamental credos of human subjectivity and lack of an "a priori". For Camus, it is an existential "choice" for everyone to find meaning in life. He places the burden of meaning solely on the human individual rather than on any other entity.

Please feel free to add anything or change anything if you feel that i may have misrepresented Camus in any way.Kobywarren 06:23, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Karl Jaspers

I decided to do a little research on Karl Jaspers because I just stumbled on his name. I have never heard of this philosopher before and thought it would be interesting to learn about. Most of the videos and stuff that are online are in German so I can't really understand them. I found an article about him in which I will pick out what I think are the main points. (I would have bought the book, but I wouldn't have received it until Wednesday)

Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) first went to college to become a doctor and graduated in 1908. He went back to school in 1913 for psychology. Jaspers became interested in philosophy in his 40s. Most of his publications were under a ban in 1938 and he was constantly at risk for his life and works while Hitler was dictator.

In one of Jaspers' books, "The Idea of the University" the third edition, he talked about the relationship between science and philosophy. At one point he says science and philosophy "differ by nature in their origins, methods and understanding of truth."

After understanding his view on science and philosophy, it seemed easier to understand his "all-embracing" idea. This idea comes from his lectures on "Reason and Existence" in 1935. The example that he uses to explain this thought is "an invisible horizon from which all new horizons emerge rather than as something that is itself directly perceptible." I'm not sure if I am reading this correctly but I believe by this he is talking about being and that it is not possible to completely understand being (human being) but it is possible to understand parts of it because we can look into and study other beings. I think that he wants us to be more open to all beings not just looking into one kind of being in order to be able to find some self-discovery.

I could be completely wrong about this, so if anyone has any ideas or knows anything about Jaspers, please add it.--Jjohnson9 19:30, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Lincoln Swain

While looking up Christian Existentialism, I happened upon the name “Lincoln Swain”. Apparently, Swain is an American Christian Existentialist. However, when I attempted to research him, I came up with almost nothing (apparently this is because Lincoln Swain may be this philosopher’s pseudonym)! I was able to find a couple excerpts from his work Dare to Defy, though, one of which is called “A Birthday Party for Whores” (I would have tried to buy the book but it would not have arrived soon enough). In it, he discusses the dangers of objectification and how society has found this tool useful and necessary in order to destroy others and isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. Not like this is anything new, per se, to any of us. But he argues that a turn to agape will “short-circuit” this objectification. He has the reader recall how Christ, when he was crucified, invited the thief up to heaven with him. At the end of this short article, Swain claims that agape is the agent through which humanity can stop “hate, fear and isolation”. (One quote in this excerpt stuck out to me in particular: “You are born a human being, but you must fight for your humanity against savagery at all times.”) The full excerpt can be found at: [1]

The other excerpt I found from this book was called The Anti-Purpose Driven Life. In this section, Swain specifically addresses the existentialist idea that people are in charge of creating who they are. His Christian version of this, as opposed to Sartre’s atheistic version, is that “God wants us to create ourselves as we live, to create our own purpose for existence.” This is the test that God puts humans through, that they must create themselves through their own lived experiences. Circumstances, such as being born illegitimately or being told by the media that you aren’t good enough how you are, are not what define you as a person. Swain tells of the kinds of people who live in their past so that they can either avoid the present/future, or so they can use it as an excuse for their present situation. But that is not an excuse for him, since it is not allowing yourself to act, and it is by acting in the present that you define yourself. Despite his belief in God, Swain also mentions that he does not believe in predestination. To him, “free will is a gift from God” and that humans should not use fate as a crutch for their lives. The full excerpt can be found at: [2] --Scobb 00:46, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

While Dostoyevsky's personal status as an existentialist is questionable, his contributions to the existential thought are widely agreed upon. The first part of his Notes From the Underground has been called "the best overture for existentialism ever written," and his novel, The Brothers Karamazov, specifically the section within it called The Grand Inquisitor, is also cited as a premiere existential work.

From what I've been able to gather, when approaching Dostoyevsky's contributions to existentialism, it's important to keep in mind that Dostoyevsky himself wasn't necessarily an existentialist (but rather, perhaps, a religious mystic), but the characters in his novels are. In Crime and Punishment, for example, its been argued that the main character - Raskolnikov - experiences an existential crisis - his realization of the lack of a priori morals or values, his decision to act without the constraint of these values (i.e. to kill), and afterwards, his crisis resolves itself with his subsequent decision to adopt the moral framework of Orthodox Christianity.

It seems to me that Dostoyevsky's contribution to existentialism stems mainly from his creation of characters for whom existence is a problem. In other words, their problem is that they aren't sure how to exist, or how to use the freedom that existence brings. I think this is why Notes From the Underground is cited as such an important precursor to existentialist thought - its main character (known as the Underground Man) obsessively struggles to cope with the freedom allotted to him in a world with no predominant or reliable religious or moral imperatives. (I'm not entirely sure if I can substantiate this, I only skimmed over Notes From the Underground, and found it similar, but even more difficult to understand, than the Kaufman chapter we read on Nietzsche...)

[From my understanding of Notes From Underground, it seems as though the character felt he was the only person, in St. Petersburg at least, with freedom. It is incredibly confusing when read in bits in pieces, but as a whole it reads as a parody of rational egoism. The narrator opposed the idea that the entirety of human nature can be explained by reason, but instead focused on human irrationality (which, as you mentioned, he exemplified with the character of the Underground Man). He claimed that a man with everything good may do something bad just to feel as though he is still a man with free will, or at least freedom. He also claimed that the greatest profit for man may be something that is also very harmful to him (it is my guess that by this he meant suicide, or at least the freedom to commit suicide, although he did not candidly express that). Just wanted to add a few thoughts, hope it helps. ---- Nkornblum 19:21, 12 October 2010 (UTC)]

Anyways, that's me trying to synthesize Dostoyevsky's existential ideas on my own. Here's a link to a website called the Existential Primer, and Dostoyevsky's page specifically. To get to his existentialist thought, ignore the bio and scroll down to commentaries. The author discusses how one of Dostoyevsky's most famous works, The Grand Inquisitor (which I personally love) exhibits powerful christian existentialist thought, claiming that the work "explains that free will is the single greatest burden placed upon any individual." Sounds pretty existential to me...

[ http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/dostoevsky.shtml]

And here's a link to an online text version of The Grand Inquisitor. If you haven't read it already, you really should. [ http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/2884/]Mharmond 06:35, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Existential Psychology

Background on existential psychology, which has a large emphasis on existential psychotherapy.

Rollo May

Rollo May was an American existential psychologist whose works are often related to existentialism as well as humanism (especially relating to psychology).

May proposed that existentialism is not at odds with psychology, or other sciences, but instead it adds a new dimension to the knowledge we already have on those subjects. Rather than try to understand humanity solely from a "dehumanizing" scientific viewpoint (which he understood as similar to a deterministic viewpoint), May advocated for approaching humans in a exceptionally individualistic light. Even by using such an approach, he maintained that people will never fully understand one another.

"As a practicing therapist and teacher of therapists, I have been struck by how often our concern with trying to understand the patient in terms of the mechanisms by which his behavior takes place blocks our understanding of what he really is experiencing."

He gave six essential characteristics, which he called principles, for humans:

1. Each person is centered within oneself. (True for all living beings)
2. Every existing person has the character of self-affirmation, the need to preserve his centeredness. (The will and, for example, courage, are necessary for a person to preserve their existence)
3. All existing persons have the need and possibility of going out from their centeredness to participate in other beings. (By this he meant human encounters, which always involve risk)
4. The subjective side of centeredness is awareness. (For animals this might be vigilance, whereas for humans it is anxiety)
5. The uniquely human form of awareness is self-consciousness. (This is the first distinctive human principle - it is one's ability to know oneself as the one being threatened)
6. Each person must experience anxiety, which is the state of the human being in the struggle against what would destroy his being. (He viewed this as the state of being in conflict with nonbeing and, similar to Dostoevsky, sees the "agonizing burden of freedom" as the possibility of ending one's own existence)

“I, for one, believe we vastly overemphasize the human being’s concern with security and survival satisfactions because they so neatly fit our cause-and-effect way of thinking. I believe Nietzsche and Kierkegaard were more accurate when they described man as the organism who makes certain values – prestige, power, tenderness – more important than pleasure and even more important than survival itself."

May, Rollo. "The Discovery of Being: Writings in Existential Psychology." London: W.W. Norton &, 1983. ---Nkornblum 06:22, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Criticisms of Existentialism

Criticism by Marxists

Herbert Marcuse argued that existentialists, especially Sarte, generalize the anxiety of their societies and the feeling of meaningless that their culture gave them as a natural and universal experience. Marxists prior to Marcuse had argued that Existentialism argues that people should, as Sarte puts it in his response to it, "dwell in quietism of despair". Sarte responds in a lecture in 1946 that existentialists are just saying you should only try to do what you can do yourself, and that they say you are responsible for your actions and so they are encouraging people to act against situations they dont like. Skolmes 00:05, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Criticism of Heidegger and Sarte

A philosopher named Robert Scruton wrote criticisms of Sarte and Heidegger. He points out a contradiction in both Heidegger's theory of "inauthenticity" and Sarte's theory of "bad faith." For Scruton, the contradiction lies in the fact that both concepts seem to pass judgement on lifestyles. In their conceptual framework, both philosophers scrap the concept of a priori meaning to human life. As a result, it would seem that the implication of this is that you cannot pass judgement on anyone. Therefore, concepts of "inauthenticity" and "bad faith" seem to inadvertently suggest that there is indeed a "correct" way to live one's life.

in my opinion, i think that this is a bit of a stretch to make, especially when dealing with Sarte. Sarte basis his idea of Bad faith on the rejection of one's existential responsibilities. Sarte doesn't really pass judgement. Its more like he is just pointing out that these people are rejecting the nature of their own existence. Besides, whether or not one finds this reprehensible isn't necessarily a contradiction. For Sarte, the individual decides for himself what has meaning. Sarte is simply acting in accordance to his own definition of meaning. He applies this standard to others because according to him, that is what man does when he chooses. He choses not only for himself, but for everyone.

Kobywarren 01:18, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

A friend posted this on my Facebook wall, I thought it was pretty appropriate to share after last week's topic [3]

October 19th, 2010

Naturalism

On this topic, it would be good to get some reconstructions of their basic arguments.

O'Brien, Chapter 11, "Naturalized Epistemology"

Failure of traditional epistemology -- projects of Descartes and Hume have failed.

Naturalizing epistemology means, at root, that you shift from "justifying" epistemic concepts to giving "a description of the causal nature of our belief-forming mechanisms"

Quine on scepticism -- only through science can you detect errors and defects in our knowledge. Scepticism is an overreaction.

There is no "1st philosophy." No analytic/synthetic distinction, no apriori/aposteriori distinction. (see "Two Dogmas" FAQ below) no reduction of theory to sense experience

Example about "bachelor" "blond" and "unmarried male" --

133: "Philosophy does not "occupy a perspective outside science from which to assess the latter's /methods."

Criteria for Theory selection are unavodable normative. 134

Criticism: Maybe epistemological problems don't really go away as Q suggests. Question of justification persistent.

Other ways to naturalize epistemology (135ff)

Brief FAQ on "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"

Q: What are the two dogmas of empiricism, according to Quine?

A: The two dogmas of empiricism are: 1. the belief that we can distinguish two sources of true propositions, those which are true by virtue of the meaning of their terms (analytically) and those which are matters of fact (synthetic). 2. the belief in reductionism, which holds that all meaningful sentences can be “reduced” to immediate sense experience by replacing their terms with logical constructs. In “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” Quine tries to show that each of these beliefs are indeed unwarranted and that abandoning them “blurs the distinction between metaphysics and natural science” and moves philosophy closer to pragmatic method.

Two examples of a shift to naturalized epistemology

Rebecca Saxe video -- this is mostly about a cool discovery in neuroscience, but notice how it alters the traditional philosophical problem of solipsism and knowing other minds. The question changes from "Do we know other minds?" to "How do we know other minds?"

Dennett reading, "Redesigning Morality," again involves shifting question from "What are the foundations of ethics (question of justification)? to "How do we actually engage in decision making (moral and otherwise)?" "What's the design problem and current solution?"

Discussion of how "algorithmic" a moral theory's "decision model" should be.

Problem of real time decisionmaking -- example of picking the best essay in a competition.

Shift to figuring out how we actually make decisions leave the search for the idealy rational agent looking vacuous.

In moral experience, we need some "conversation stoppers" -- part of our "Moral First Aid Manual"

Here are links to the Wiki Articles on Quine, and the Vienna Circle, which provide some context to Quine's argument, and really helped me understand what he's trying to do in the article. These articles also link to articles on Logical Positivism, Rudolf Carnap, and Wittgenstein, which help provide even more context. They aren't reconstructions, I know, but I do think they are helpful for browsing.

Quine: [4]

Vienna Circle: [5] --Mharmond 06:27, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Phenomenology

WT Jones, "Phenomenological Method"

Contrast with Natural standpoint.

Bracketing -- involves "not relying on" or "invoking" the natural standpoint as a means of bringing forward the structure of consciousness. "suspending judgement"

Claims a superior kind of knowledge will result. (Also fulfillment of project of modern philosophy.) -note quote on 268.

How Husserl reads Descartes -- 271. For H, self is not a thing, but a flow of intentional acts.

- - Note--in postphenomenology there is doubt as to whether the <epoche> or bracketing can really occur or take place. So post-phenomenologists have done away with the pure idea of the <epoche>.

This is according to Dr. Besmer, an expert on Maurice-Merleau Ponty. (Dempsey)

Let's try for some posts to introductory resources that convey the diversity of methods and approaches to phenomenology.

The Oxford English Dictionary presents the following definition: “Phenomenology. a. The science of phenomena as distinct from being (ontology). b. That division of any science which describes and classifies its phenomena. From the Greek phainomenon, appearance.” In philosophy, the term is used in the first sense, amid debates of theory and methodology. In physics and philosophy of science, the term is used in the second sense, albeit only occasionally. (Dempsey, from SEP "Phenomenology" page)

Phenomenology Resources

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy page on [Phenomenology]

[Massive online portal to web-based phenomenology resources... ]

[Lecture notes on phenomenology]

[Historical video on phenomenology]

(Dempsey)

Rebecca Saxe

The video posted with the readings for this section was quite interesting. For those that did not have time to watch the video, here are the notes that I pulled out of it. First off, the point of the video was to introduce the problem of other minds. She explains that there is a region in the brain that has the function to think of other people's thoughts. She called this section the RTPJ. This part of the brain takes a long time to develop, according to Saxe. In the video she showed three children, a 3 year old, 5 year old and a 7 year old, being confronted with the same problem. The 3 and 5 year old did not come up with a moral judgment that the 7 year old did. This experiment showed Saxe that the development of this part of the brain does begin to function the way it does with adults until the age of 7. Another part of the video that was interesting was the magnetic force that could change or alter the moral Judgments of people. TMS is what allows this to happen. TMS only works when the person knows about it, so it can not be involuntary. TMS can only change the moral judgments of the individual, not their physical action. The last interesting point came from the short question and answer period at the end of the video. Saxe basically said that we do not know what would happen when we will be able to understand the human brain completely. She seemed to say that she does not believe that this will ever completely happen, but if it did the consequences are unknown. The only back ground information that I found on Saxe was that she received her PH. D. from MIT and is now an assistant Professor there.

If anyone has more information on Saxe, please add it. --Jjohnson9 17:28, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

October 26th, 2010

Postmodernism

Here is an interesting video introduction to Derrida [One Minute Explanation of Derrida]

...and here's one for Lacan [One Minute Explanation of Lacan] Kobywarren 02:47, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Deconstructionism

"Monsters cannot be announced. One cannot say: 'here are our monsters', without immediately turning the monsters into pets." -Derrida

Well, since we are looking into Postmodernism this week, i figured i would post some stuff on Deconstructionism. Deconstructionism is in many ways a continuation of the subjective tradition of Hiedeggar in that it calls into question the fundamental ability for us to know anything with any level of certainty. Championed by Jaques Derrida, Deconstructionism is a philosophical method which seeks to identify (or "deconstruct) the fundamental structures and assumptions that are implied within the language that we use to communicate ideas.

Deconstruction uncovers that every word or phrase used to communicate ideas is loaded with cultural and individual biases. Basically, this means that there is no one way to interpret one particular phrase, only a multitude of subjective or cultural perspectives on the phrase's meaning. By calling language, our primary means of bridging the gaps between individual minds, into question this theory advocates for an extreme form of subjectivism. WIthout a universal medium to communicate an objective reality, that objective reality either doesn't exist.... or we will never be able to collectively know or verify it (because the means of communicating that idea are fundamentally subjective).

I've read some pretty interesting critiques of Deconstructionism. One particular theory is that deconstructionism, because it is a product of the Neitzschian and Heideggerian traditions, is basically an anti-semitic attempt to destabilize the traditional old testament views on morality, etc. I think that this dismissal seems pretty ridiculous (especially since the jury still seems to be out on Heidegger's "nazism"). Another, more interesting theory is that deconstructionism represents a postcolonial rebellion towards Eurocentric understanding of meaning. I think that this is a pretty interesting explanation, given the way that deconstruction destabilizes many traditional western understandings of truth. Given the predominance of Eurocentrism in the past centuries (and even today), it would make sense that deconstructionism represents an attempt to shed these bonds. Perhaps it could even be argued that deconstructionism is a necessary approach in an increasingly globalizing society.

i plan on elaborating a bit later on a few parts... but overall i think this is a fair introduction. This is not meant to be an exhaustive account.... Of course, i'm not entirely sure that my understanding is accurate so if you think i got something wrong, please point it out..... Kobywarren 02:36, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Deconstruction Follow Up

I found your post really helpful, Koby. I think an example will spark a good discussion, too. A structuralist, who came before deconstructionists, would say that there is a signifier-signified-sign. For example, the word "cat" is a signifier (a spoken word) which we use to describe the mammal cat. The use of the word "cat" is arbitrary- but it becomes impossible for us to separate the word "cat" from the animal cat. In connecting the animal (signified) with the word (signifier), we create the sign which is the signifier/signified so permeated into one another that they cannot be separated. For example, here is a photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Signified-signifier.gif.

But, as we all know, the word "cat" does not just mean the animal (and even thinking of the animal "cat" does not bring us all to the universal and common signified cat). The meanings behind the signifier "cat" begin to multiply and multiply. So the static word of "cat" begins to take on more and more meaning.

It is also really interesting to look at what deconstruction does beyond the meaning of words. Many gender studies, sexuality studies, race theorists, etc will find very important implications in deconstruction concerning identity. For example, the following shift was a shift in the feminist movement made possible by deconstructionists: from essentialists to anti-essentialists (or people who viewed the development of identity as based heavily in experience). For a long time, many feminists saw something universal in the female experience; the opposition would say that these feminists reduced what it meant to be a female to some basic essence. In fact, an interesting argument against the Vagina Monologues (other than that which are administration gave - or failed to give....) is that the play reduces women to some essential component. In doing this reduction, the essentialist ignores the experience that is unique to women of different backgrounds. -Peter Henggeler