Philosophy

Explore Kierkegaard's understanding of the relationship between knowledge and faith

- the more knowledge you have the less faith you need, and the less knowledge you have the more faith. -inverse proportion -we live most of our lives in the middle of the extremes of knowledge and faith; theres no way to absolute for either thing because there is nothing we can have absolute certainty about ex: driving over a bridge. -cant have any certain knowledge if god is real but we care a lot about the existence of god because if we die do we live in a way expecting to go into heaven or no where. in a weighted realm of faith in uncertainty

Explore the difference between Sartre's and kierkegaard's views of anxiety

-sartre- anxiety is what we face given our absolute freedom aka choices; it's not just that we have absolute freedom in terms of the number of choices but it is about that we have no basis to make though choices (no one tells us what to do) - K- what we face when we go through different transitions in out lives because theres no stable foundation; taking on something new but you don't know what its going to be like

discuss in depth Kierkegaard's understanding of the stages or modes of life

1. aesthetic stage- focus: seeking pleasure. problem: boredom; anxiety between stages 2. ethical stage: focus: choosing ones self and taking responsibility and making commitments to people or career. problem: reality of sin aka falling short of your commitments 3. religious stage: focus: recognize our limitations: are going to fail sometimes and not live up to commitments NO PROBLEM

dasein

Heidegger- german for "being there" it is used as the term for human existence and what characterizes the nature of human existence aka being in the world.

thrownness

Heidegger- human being are born into this world and are thrown into things like language, culture and family (things that are already designed and constructed

death

Heidegger- anticipation of death tells us we are not completely lost in this world that we are thrown into and can carve something out that is ours. the way we die is our own and is the one thing no one can do for us

"the most painful secrets of their conscience, all, all they will bring to us, and we shall have an answer for all. And they will be glad to believe our answer, for it will save them from the great anxiety and terrible agony they endure at present ..."

Dostoyevsky- (grand inquisitor) this quote describes the concept of confession. People will come and tell him their sins and everything else about their lives. and the people were happy about this because someone will give them answers and tell them what to do so they will no longer be in a state of anxiety.

"in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, 'make us your slaves, but feed us'"

Dostoyevsky- (the grand inquisitor) People do not want freedom. They want someone to tell them what to do and be comfortable. People will give up freedom for safety

finitude

Heidegger, he thinks we need to face our finitude aka that our life will end and we are not immortal

anxiety

Kierkegaard- the feeling we experience when we are faced with something unknown like the stages of life

"in fact, in creating the man that we want to be, there is not a single one of our acts which does not at some time create an image of man as we think he ought to be"

Sartre- we believe that choices that we make are choices that everyone should make because we create an image of humanity as we would want them to be and we make it up as we go.

existence precedes essence

Sartre- believes as we exist we build who we will be over time through our choices; we define ourselves as we go and make ourselves who we will be there is no defined plan we choose our purpose.

in-itself

Sartre- concrete, lacks the ability to change and is unaware of itself (unconscious)

"it means that, first of al, man exists, turns up appears on the scene and only afterwards defines himself"

Sartre- existence precedes essence. we exist then we define ourselves

for-itself

Sartre- involves being conscious and only humans are conscious meaning that we are free because we are aware of the choices we have mad erin the past and can reflect and handle new situations differently because of them

discuss heidegger's view of time and the importance of the anticipation of death

Time is not as linear as we'd like to think. the past influences the present while the present affects the future. Rejects not focusing on all them. Says we as human beings experience time as the past still being present informing the choices we make and possibilities open to us (PTSD). Looks at future too like maybe therapy etc. wants to make something of their life. what you're on your way towards shapes the decisions you make now - antics of death- allows us to live our lives to the fullest. two things it does for us. 1. one thing no one can do for me, we all die our own death, carry the message that we can also make our lives our own. 2. reminds that we have a short period of time to become the person that we want to be

"the people should be allowed to live with their illusions"

Unamuno- even if its not true we should let them think it is because it is a source of comfort in believing

discuss why Unamuno sees life as essentially tragic and why this leads him to believe in god

he viewed life as tragic because we eventually die. we stress and go through all this stuff but in the end of the day we all lose and die. he believes in out heart of hearts each one of us desire to go on existing/immortality. Contradictions: deep seated desire for immortality yet death is how all of our lives end. He argues for believing in god because if you can be sure god is you you should believe in it because you can't lose that way. if you don't believe its real you miss out on the after-life but if you believe and he's not real you lose nothing you still die

bad faith

sartre- denial of both facility and transcendence. you deny what is truly true about you and you believe that you can not change or be different in the future

"i can take freedom as my goal only if i take that of others as a goal as well"

sartre- if i value you freedom, i have to respect that others also have freedom

facility

sartre- things that are simply true about you, physical characteristics/ past etc.

transcendence

sartre- tom eon or beyond; the ability for people to chose differenty than they have in the past

"the truth, Lazaro, is perhaps something so unbearable, so terrible, something so deadly, that simple people could not live with it!"

unamuno- God may not exist and there may be no life after death and people can not live with this idea