Existentialism Midterm

Anxiety as freedom's possibility

Anxiety comes from being free. Angels aren't free to do evil. Beasts (animals) aren't free to do anything outside the scope of their instincts. It's because we humans are free that we can be anxious

Dasein's fleeing in the face of itself and falling

Anxiety says that we have the power, individual freedom and awareness of the possibility of what we may be. It manifests our freedom and the ability to choose who we ourselves are. That we can create our own identity in the world.

Being educated by anxiety, possibility, infinitude

Anxiety teaches us that we have the freedom to make our own choices. That there is the possibility to be or do anything that we want

The two inventions of the of the founders of religions

1. Establishing a certain way of life, 2. Making that way of life appear "illuminated by the highest worth." The first, Nietzsche says, is much easier than the second. As there are numerous ways of life present in the world, the religious founder simply has to pick the lifestyle they identify with. The second part is to alter the interpretation of that lifestyle to one of highest meaning, so that the followers worship it and despise any other lifestyles.

The four phenomena signified by the word 'world'

1. ontical world - totality of entities which can be present-at-hand - a world of "objects 2. Ontological world - realm of possible objects of maathematics 3. That wherein a factical Dasein is said to live. The Private own environment, the "world in which I live in" (basically the unique "world" that each individual lives in. My world and Alec's world are never the same thing) 4. Ontologico-existential concept of worldhood: A world that has dimensions of interest designed by concern/car (I want to do well in school to get a good job to have money to support my family....) - The possible ways that human beings can experiend life

A human being as a causa sui to the second power

1st order of desire: Something I want 2nd order of desire: desire to have or not have ex). Heroin addict wants his fix, but he doesn't want to want it, he knows he is ruining his life. Causa sui to the 2nd power is acting on the 2nd desire Man must not only make himself, he has to determine what he is going to be My understanding from class is that Causa sui, roughly translated into self-caused, to the first power, is the idea that one thing is immediately caused by another. However, causa sui to the second power takes our control and understanding of causation to a deeper level. Causa sui to the second power is the concept that humans are both the cause of everything that happens to them and humans are responsible for their reaction to what happens to them. Another way of interpreting the difference is that causa sui to the first power is when humans do want to do/cause something and the second power is humans' ability to think about whether or not they really do or don't want to do/cause something.

Will-power as the mark of sovereignty and strength

According to Nietzsche, God is a human construct that is used to fulfill our desire for certainty in our lives. By creating an all-knowing, all-powerful entity that dictates how we should live our lives, people feel safer because their decisions are already made for them. In this sense, we no longer have control over our lives and are subject to the whims of God. Faith, to Nietzsche, inhibits and strips humanity of their freedom of will. Nietzsche saying that "God is dead" directs attention toward our individualism and freedom to choose how to live our lives and choose what we want to do with ourselves. We are no longer living and operating based on what a book tells us to do

Anxiety vs. Fear

Anxiety: In anxiety what is environmentally ready-to-hand sinks away Anxiety: that in the face of which one is anxious is completely indefinite Fear: is definite and concrete; you can lable what you are afraid of

(Know and understand) The examples of the artillery gunner, the recruit, the man who has received a hard financial blow and the man on the cliff

Artillery gunner: - Fear: am I going to get hit by a bullet / die - Anguish: was I the courageous man I want to be in battle Recruit reporting for duty: - Fear: what's going to happen to me - Angst: Am I going to make my country proud Man who has lost wealth: - Fear: losing his house - Angst: What do I do now? Man on the cliff: Vertigo

Why resignation does not require faith but faith requires resignation

Both types of knights must resign the idea that something is impossible to them, and they must come to terms with that and realize it, but to have faith means that even though you know that it can't happen you are still absurd enough to believe you must keep trying and it will happen Resignation requires that you have your wits about you enough to be able to properly assess your situation. A knight of faith knows, with his wits about him, that he's not going to get the object of his heart's desire, but he believes it nonetheless on the basis of the absurd. This is hard to grasp - so hard, in fact, that the author of the text, Johannes de Silention, confesses to us that he wouldn't be able to do it - and Abraham's faith that God has some purpose that's beyond his understanding is the only example we have to work with to figure out what Kierkegaard is saying. But if the knight of faith takes a leap of faith based on the absurd without being a knight of infinite resignation first - that is, having his wits about him - he might just be a madman. Think of coming across some old guy holding a knife to his son's throat at the top of Petřín Hill. If you asked him what he was doing and he said, "God told me to sacrifice my son" and you said, "Why?" and he said, "I don't know, He just did," you'd think he was insane, take the knife from him and call a psychiatrist. If Abraham had just been insane, he wouldn't have been a knight of faith. In fact, he wouldn't have been a knight at all. Knights can't be nuts.

The life of a human being as a dialectical series of experiments

Dialectics: when two things come together as one in synergy Life is like waves, a series of ups and downs that must exist and fight to result in the synergy that is our existence cannot have pain without happiness, love without hate, success without failure You get a thesis, then an antithesis, and in the end you get a synthesis The idea of yin-yang, you cannot have one without the other. Think about it, silence would lose it's power if there wasn't anything that's loud

Nietzsche's argument that science rests on a faith

Faith = something we believe without evidence Science: reveals truths Argument: We believe in the value of truths, the value science brings, without evidence that truth is better/good for us (Humanity) As Nietzsche says: falsehood (a lie) is sometimes good, and necessary, for us to live our lives

What in a situation provokes fear and what provokes anguish

Fear: A situation provokes fear if there is a possibility of my life being changed from without "What is going to happen to me" Anguish: My being provokes anguish to the extent that I distrust myself and my own reactions in that situation What am I going to do? "fear - fear of beings anguish - anguish before myself"

Which possibilities come from within and which from without

Fear: Without Anguish: Within

The story of Abraham and Issac?

God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham dearly loved his son, but obeyed this command faithfully. However, just as he was about to commit the act, an angel stopped

Dasein, Being-in-the-world

Heidegger's word to describe existing/our existence in the world The idea that we as human beings are not isolated subjects, cut off from the world of objects. Rather, we are beings who are always already in the world, outside and alongside a world which we don't distinguish ourselves from

Whether he be original or a plagiarist, man is the novelist of himself

Humans have the unique ability to create their own reality. We can choose who we want to become, and it doesn't have to be who we were in the past

The instinct of weakness which preserves religions

Idea that we created religion to help us deal with the complicated problems that we didn't have answers to (To illuminate the darkness of uncertainty). However, that is a weakness as our reliance on religion relinquishes our freedom of will to make our own decisions in life. Therefore, it is an instinct of weakness and a desire for guidance/oversight in dark times that preserves religion It is the fear that we have the power to make our own decisions, because we must be strong to make our own decisions, that the reliance on religion makes us weak

The idea of humans as ontological centaurs

In a literal sense, a centaur is half-human and half-man. However, philosophically and metaphorically, Ortega y Gasset's "ontological centaur" is a manifestation of the idea that humans are half-natural (horse) and half-extranatural (human). The horse part of our identity symbolizes our basic animal needs: the need to eat, sleep, drink and have sex. The extranatural part is what separates humans from all other animals on this earth. We have the ability to create our own existence and break away from our animalistic nature. If a lion is hungry, it is going to kill. If we are hungry, we will wait and civilly order a healthy salad because we're on a diet. It's a comparison that really hits on the two halves of what it means to be human.

Feeling 'uncanny' or 'not-being-at-home'

In anxiety one feels "uncanny" or "not-being-at-home" because the world, our world, seems unfamiliar to us. In Anxiety, we are unfamiliar with our daily lives, and thus even our normal home may feel a bit weird or out of tune

When a person is not a knight

In order to be a knight, a person must concentrate the whole of his life's content and the meaning of reality towards a single wish. To make the movement towards knighthood, he cannot act cautiously, he must through himself into it -An investor is not a knight because they do not dedicate themselves to one stick, they lack concentration and focus from the start so they invest by diversifying their portfolios to make sure they're ok

Convictions as remaining under police supervision, under the police of mistrust

In science, a conviction (belief, opinion, thought) cannot exist as fact or as a statement. Only when a conviction decides to step down to the modesty of a hypothesis can they be considered in the realm of knowledge, under police supervision. Science (and reason) is based on mistrust because to bring up reason/science is to argue and convince someone to change their thoughts. When you try to convince someone, there is an atmosphere of mistrust and disagreement. So, convictions in the scientific world are always scrutinized and under the police of mistrust until proven true

Temporality/finitude vs infinitude

Infinitude's despair is to lack finitude Infinitude's despair is the fantastic, the unlimited. Imagination makes possible the process of infinitizing. There can be fantastic feeling, knowing, and willing. The infinitized person can seem to be a "normal" person, blending into society. But the infinitized person lacks a grounded self. a.b Finitude's despair is to lack infinitude To lack infinitude is small-mindedness, narrowness. The finitized person simply does what 'the others' do; he or she is just one more ant in the anthill of human society. The finitized person finds this life without aspirations to be comfortable, cozy, safe. The finitized person has a 'self' which is completely determined by the world, which means it is not a self before God. Knight of resignation understands that in finitude, in this life, he will not get his hearts desire. However, in infinitude/the afterlife, there is always a chance he can get what he wants

Equipment

Is essentially something in-order-to. The entities which we encounter in dealings, concern and care Equipment is always ready-to-hand, helping us accomplish larger goals that we have

Why the madman says we have killed god

Nietzsche's madman is basically referring to the Enlightenment, which dethroned God and put reason in His place.

Nietzsche's criticism of Socrates

Nietzsche: is life-affirming and believes in the value and worth of all individuals lives Socrates: Life is an illness and cannot wait to die. Criticism: Socrates had a rough life and was resentful, and only bad things come from resentment. Didn't respect his views on the world or how he used reason as a knife to break people down. It's because he thought Socrates' ugliness and low birth made him resentful and that led him to try to get back at his social superiors using the only weapon he had, which was his reason. Nietzsche thinks that sort of passive aggressiveness isn't the way someone who is healthy and proud should act)

Dealings

Our involvements with the world. In everyday life you've got all sorts of tasks and goals (ex/ You want to meet some friends for a drink Friday evening? You send a few texts) Doing so presupposes an understanding of how the world and things in it are and word

The difference between presence-at-hand and readiness-to-hand

Present-at-hand: an object that has no real meaning to us. When we're removed from active engagement with our purposes, projects and objects with the world - i.e. when a hammer breaks Ready-to-hand: When we are actively engaging with the world, using equipment to further advance our goals and concerns

Circumspection

Refers to the practical know-how. If you know how to use things and you go to use them, they're ready-to-hand. Ex/ When you need to make a phone call, your hand is guided by it's own kind of "sight" (this is Heidegger's circumspection) to find the phone. You don't even think about it. This kind of unthinking "sight" is different than conscious "sight" you use to solve a problem

The roots of Socrates' resentment and the form taken by his revenge

Root: Socrates was an ugly, poor man who interacted with the lowest of the low in society. He had no power, and thus no ability to turn away from those above him (with higher social status). This grew his resentment. Form: tearing people down and dragging them to his level with his use of logic and reason

Determinism in relation to possible conduct

Sartre says: "If my possibility were strictly determined, it would become not possible, but simply "about to happen" For a certain conduct to be a possibility, it must mean that there is nothing that can compel me to adopt that conduct Therefore, our conduct cannot be determined for us

Vertigo

Sartre's example that discusses the difference between fear and angst, which uses walking along a stone wall very high up a mountain cliff Fear: I can slip on a stone and fall... I am given as a thing - all the external things that can happen to you Anxiety: These conducts are my possibilities - All the things one can control.

Concerns

The idea that humans live life with layers upon layers of concerns. Ex/ Our more immediate concern may be to get a good grade on this midterm. However, that is within our larger concern of passing school, which is under the concern of getting a good job so that we can provide for our family. Heidegger essentially says that our life is about trying to finish one concern folded into another.

What distinguishes the knight of faith from the knight of resignation

The knight of infinity may or may not believe that they may be together in another life or in spirit, but what's important is that the knight of infinity gives up on their being together in this world; in this life. The knight of faith feels what the knight of infinite resignation feels, but with exception that the knight of faith believes that in this world; in this life, they will be together. The knight of faith would say "I believe nevertheless that I shall get her, in virtue, that is, of the absurd, in virtue of the fact that with God all things are possible."

The virtues of the knight of infinite resignation

The main virtue of the knight of resignation (which are the virtues of the knight of faith, too, as you have to be a knight of infinite resignation to become a knight of faith) is an unstinting loyalty to the object of one's life desire

The public world

The world that we experience with others Roads, streets, bridges, buildings ex/ the teacher having a video conference call with students across the globe are sharing their world at the moment

Why an interpretation of the world which only "permits counting, calculating, weighing, seeing, grasping, and nothing else cannot be the only rightful interpretation of the world

Think of a piece of music Takes the awe, wonder and amazement out of the world The ambiguousness of life is what gives life its beauty. By only using a logical/scientific interpretation of the world, we lose the wonder of it.

Being free by compulsion

This is just being compelled to be free. You can't ever say, "I think today I"m not going to be free" You have no choice but to be free. It's a part of what it means to be human

Being-free for

This is the state you're in when you experience Heidegger's anxiety. You finish college and the people, routines and places you were used to get thrown up in the air You have to decide what you're going to do with your life. You're free for new involvements

Life as a project of existence

Unlike a stone who is given its existence by nature, it is a stone, man has to make his own existence at every single moment. In each moment, we get to choose who we are and how we want to exist. Therefore, life is simply a project of choosing our own existence

The movement of faith vs the movement of resignation

movement of resignation: OK my life's passion isn't going to happen, but it is okay, this was just a realm of life but not my reality. Can't be someone who can just give it up. They have one interest that they dedicate their entire life to but they can't have it, they know they can't achieve it but their life will still be focused on it and doesn't give it up, they just know that they will never attain it. Olympian that gets injured, realizes that their olympic stage is over and moves on to be a coach so they're still involved in their passion. -Movement of faith- or leap of faith is when they use absurdity to still decide to dedicate themselves to what they already resigned as not possible. KNows it isn't possible but still thinks they'll get it anyways (because they're crazy) The movement of resignation entails realistically assessing the situation and becoming reconciled to the fact that you're not going to get the object of your heart's desire. In Kierkegaard's text that means the young lad not getting the princess, Abraham obeying God's command and setting out to the mountain where he's going to sacrifice his son. But generally it means anyone who's invested all his life's desire in one thing and has to become reconciled to not getting it in this real world - in finitude - though he might get it in his dreams or in heaven - infinitude. The movement of faith means that despite being reconciled, you still believe, against all reason (that is, based on the absurd), you're going to get the object of your heart's desire.

"Man, in a word, has no nature; what he has is -- history"

nature defines what nature will be. Man defines what man will be. At each point in life, man creates his existence. Therefore, history (what has happened) defines man What this means in basic English is that: "nature is to things as history is to man." Ortega y Gasset articulates that man is what has happened to him, what he has done, what his past is. This ties into the idea of a dialectic in every humans life, a constant rotation of being and un-being. There is a fluid battle between humans existing, learning from their history (being), and humans creating their existence, via imagination and independent will (un-being). These two forces push and pull until they synergize and combine into harmony. Because of this, humans are essentially defined by what has happened to them and what they will do in the future. "Humans go on being and un-being, they go on accumulating being, building a new identity from his past." Thus, history is to man as nature is to things. A rock is a rock. A person is their history.

Involvements

not "in" like the 'shoe is in the box', "in" like 'he is in love' When we are "in", we are "in" a world of involvement

Why faith in science cannot owe its origin to a calculus of utility (a hedonic calculus)

what Nietzsche is saying is that you can't do that across the board with the very endeavor of science. Is science the best approach? Well, what are the benefits and what are the costs of taking the scientific approach? You can't use science to answer that question because then you'd be begging the question. So Nietzsche asks, what if we apply the calculus of utility to the approach that says we have to look for and say the truth no matter what? If you always told the truth, would you bring on more pleasure or more pain, on balance? Well, Nietzsche thinks you'd at least lost all your friends, which would bring on a lot of pain. Science has its uses, but it's like a hammer