Meaning Of Life Philosophy
We have encountered the following passage in class (the text below in fact was on one of the slides in lecture 4: The madman.— Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!"— As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?— Thus they yelled and laughed. The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried. "I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I! All of us are his murderers! But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? And backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition?—Gods, too, decompose! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! Who is the author of this passage, and what is its precise location in his work (e.g., "Dawn 235")? How do you interpret this passage? Explain why the author might deploy a madman to articulate this message; why that madman speaks to atheists; and why they laugh at him. What is meant by the "death of God," in your view? Do you think this passage conveys an important message? Why or why not?
Niezche is the author of this passage.
"Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom." With what philosopher does this view originate? Explain how his metaphysical views (centered on the notion of the will) lead to this view. Do you find this view to be vindicated by your own life experience? Explain why or why not.
The philosopher who made these claims is Schopenhauer. Every living thing is driven by a metaphysical will. This will drives us to pursue goals. If we are able to accomplish are goals, we become bored. If we aren't able to accomplish our goals, we become frustrated and suffer. While I, at times, relate to what Schopenhauer is argues here, in my life, I find that I'm a) sometimes in life I'm not in a goal-driven state b) that when I'm in a goal driven that I'm not always either frustrated or bored. For a), there are times in life where rather than being driven by a particular goal, I will just explore aimlessly, watching the world without any clear purpose. Just experiencing nature and life as is. For b, I've experienced many times where, when meditating or playing a challenging game of chess, that I'm completely lost in the present moment, unconcerned about some deep goal. Also, I've found that there joy in the process of pursuing goals that is satisfying in itself. That being said, I can relate to experiences where I've accomplish a major goal, whether it is getting a job or completing a project, and have momentarily felt bored and unsure what to do.
