Jaymie Ticknor Intro Philosophy 1050 Sect 003 24 26 28 and 31 March 2 4 April 2014 Sartre Is a Humanism Lecture 18 Existentialism basic belief that the individual is the basis and starting point of philosophy subjective Jean Paul Sartre known as the first and most important existentialist partner to Simone De Beauvoir awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964 turned it down wrote both philosophy in 20th century and literature Humans according to Sartre have no specific purpose and are free to shape themselves as far as men go it is not what they are that interest men but what they can become 1968 students protest against draconian powers of the university authorities Freedom is the greatest responsibility of all by making choices we are creating a template for how we think a human life should be normative claim condemned to be free deeper responsibility of freedom in a moral way instead of an anarchy Theories of Free Will Determinism every event is causally necessitated by previous events Compatibilism claim that free will and determinism can exist together defines free will as freedom to act according to one s determined motives without arbitrary hindrance from other individuals or institutions free to act according to a motive but the nature of that motive is already determined Existentialism radically free condemned to be free nothing determined Major Works Being and Nothingness 1943 Existentialism is a Humanism 1946 Central Premises of Existentialism rejects the idea of a rational and structured existence states that there is no general meaning or pattern to life no universal right and wrong and no universal truths and morals confronts the question If there is no God where does the meaning of our lives come from Dostoevsky wrote If God did not exist everything would be permitted that is the starting point of existentialism Major Themes in Existentialism existence precedes essence create meaning people essence before existence paper knife Radical freedom We are alone without excuses That is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free Absurdity of Life there is no meaning and therefore all meaning created is Further Theme Anti Quietism Quietism is the attitude of people who say let others do arbitrary and absurd what I cannot do Existentialism man first of all exists encounters himself surges up in the world and defines himself afterwards responsible for actions and choices puts humans in center Humanism general term usually used to refer to any theory which puts human beings at the centre of things works of humanity especially in art and literature Defending Existentialism Against Critics that it is a quietism of despair its ugliness portrays man as base evil meaningless meaning existence precedes essence Vocabulary Facticity consists of things one couldn t have chosen birthplace gender etc Transcendence overcoming your facticity Authenticity accepting your metaphysical position as radically free Bad Faith self deceit refusing to accept that you are radically free make excuses have to do something known for his works The Stranger The Rebel and Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus Absurdism claims that there is a fundamental conflict between what we want from the universe whether it be meaning order or reasons and what we find in the universe formless chaos absurd is the product of a collision between human desire for order meaning and purpose and the indifferent silence of the universe Striving for meaning of fairness but then just die conclusion that life is meaningless necessarily leads one to commit suicide there is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide Humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma physical suicide cowardly religious meaning philosophical suicide and acceptance only rational choice life can be lived all the better if it has no meaning The absurd is a contradiction that cannot be reconciled and any attempt to reconcile this contradiction is simply an attempt to escape from it facing the absurd is struggling against it Sisyphus is the ideal absurd hero his punishment of rolling a rock up a hill and then having the rock roll back down is representative of the human condition without hope of success accepts that there is nothing more to life than this absurd struggle then he can find happiness in it one must imagine Sisyphus happy if we want to believe in genuine happiness Simone de Beauvoir Ethics of Ambiguity youngest person ever to pass the agr gation in philosophy a highly competitive postgraduate examination writer intellectual political activist and feminist Facticity those elements of your being not in your control can be transcended because we are radically free rescuing existentialism from the charge of relativism Basic Argument meaning is not given it is made by us we have no access to divine meaning we are completely and inexcusably responsible for every decision we make that freedom is fundamentally what and who we are So moral worth is found in your attitude toward freedom don t deprive others of freedom help others run away from freedom or run from your own freedom everybody is free therefore everybody is equal condition no objective except freedom Development of the Self in childhood the world is absolute it is as it is given children just have to submit to it for the child the world is serious meaning that values are presented as ready made and objective but children can play take on any role because they are happily irresponsible some people never leave childhood not question values from parents servants and women Crisis of adolescence stage is where people start to question values in adolescence we discover our own subjectivity we go through a crisis of adolescence a nostalgia for childhood The primary move you must invest your life with meaning casting yourself into the world in other words you must face your freedom Unethical Moves most people face their freedom in unethical ways five personality types of people Fail to Acknowledge Freedom Sub man once past childhood one can be a sub man who avoids all questions of freedom and assumes himself not free refuses to face his freedom feels only the facticity of his existence constant flight from freedom usually ends up being anti something chooses no project he she is open to manipulation of others Serious man refuse to accept freedom the most widespread attitude takes up meaning that is ready made in order to deny his freedom seems like a free act but is