Existentialism
5. At the beginning of "The Humanism of Existentialism," Sartre says about existentialism that, "it has been charged with inviting people to remain in a kind of desperate quietism because, since no solutions are possible, we should have to consider action in this world as quite impossible." What does Sartre mean by this? Why does he believe the critics are mistaken about the charge of "quietism?"
A critique of existentialism is that since it does not provide an absolute "better" to strive for it would lead people to doing nothing. Sartre believes that the reason people would choose to do nothing is because they are attempting to avoid the fact that they have the absolute freedom to make any choice and are entirely responsible for it, which causes anxiety. Regardless, they are still making the "choice" not to choose; freedom is inevitable. But even choosing not to choose is a choice.
9. Beauvoir claims that, "If she belongs to the privileged elite that profits from the given social order, she want it unshakable, and she is seen as intransigent"? What does this have to do with the idea that the women are complicit in their own objectification? What does objectification mean in terms of the existentialist conception of selfhood? Provide a contemporary example of this kind of complicity.
Being complicit in her objectification disburdens her of her responsibility in regards to facing her anxiety, facticity, and self creation. It's a woman's world within the male universe. She can't help but be pre-reflectively complicit because it's embedded in our patriarchal society. Women will cling to this order especially strongly if it profits them in some way, and seeks to stop time rather than perpetuate it, making them unable to see any reality but one in which they are living; hence, they will cling to the "here and now." Objectification in terms of selfhood for women is that women not only allow themselves to be objectified, but attempt to make themselves an object in order to have power over the man, thus making their "self" dependent upon men's conception of her. A modern example is women who develop an obsession with their bodies in order to make themselves more desirable for men, through plastic surgeries, clothing, makeup, etc. Rather than attempt to change the fact that their sexuality is what makes them an object, they cling to this and try to make themselves fit the standards that make them the most desirable option.
1. Sartre claims that existentialism is the only theory "which gives man dignity, the only one which does not reduce him to an object." Why does Sartre say this? What does it have to do with the claim that "man is condemned to be free?" How can this be regarded as a critique of scientific determinism? How does this help to explain Sartre's claim the "the existentialist will never consider man as an end because he is always in the making?"
Sartre claims existentialism does not "reduce man to an object" because it acknowledges that "existence precedes essence" - man creates his own meaning through his choices. Man is "condemned" to be free because freedom is a characteristic of man, and it prevents humans from being able to blame their situation on external forces. Scientific determinism suggests that man makes choices based on external factors. Sartre views these as simply excuses, as it is entirely up to the individual to make their own choices. Man will never be considered an "end" because he is constantly making choices and negating others, and never stops changing or becomes embodied in a single identity.
4. Why does Sartre say, "I am condemned to be wholly responsible for myself. I am the being which is in such a way that in its being its being is in question?" What does this mean in terms of the widely held interpretation that existentialism is an amoral philosophy? How can Sartre's view provide existentialism with kind of ethics? How is this different from more traditional normative or prescriptive conceptions of morality?
Sartre says he is "condemned" to be responsible for himself because no external factors can determine his choice; he is condemned to be free and has no excuses for the choices that he makes. Being is "always in question" because it can change at any time, and is never static. This challenges the idea that existentialism is an amoral philosophy because, in Sartre's view, every choice that a person makes is in their mind a "good" choice. A type of ethics is provided in that Sartre claims man is responsible when making a choice to think, "What if everyone chose to act this way?" Every choice provides that burden that it affects every other human, and what is good for one must be good for all. Prescriptive conceptions of morality view it as an objective, unchangeable code that applies across situations and individuals regardless of their personal interpretation of what is a "good" choice, unlike Sartre's view that it is subjective.
2. What does Sartre mean by "bad faith?" Briefly explain the three examples of bad faith that Sartre describes in Being and Nothingness. Why does Sartre claim that bad faith reveals the "metastable" character of human existence and what does this have to do with the facticity/transcendence distinction? Why is "sincerity" not an answer to this metastability? How does metastability confirm Sartre's claim that "human reality is constituted as a being which is what it is not and which is not what it is?"
Sartre views "bad faith" as human's way of self deception that allows them to believe they are free from making their own choices. The first example he uses is a woman on a first date, who denies her facticity by ignoring obvious sexual connotations in her date's compliments on her appearance, which she has intentionally made appealing to make herself an object. When he takes her hand, she pretends it isn't happening to avoid making a choice to either accept or reject the advance. The second example is the French waiter, who denies his transcendence by identifying himself only as a waiter by performing his duties a little too perfectly and entirely embodying his profession. The third example is the homosexual, who denies both his facticity and transcendence. In the past, he denied being a homosexual, which denied his facticity. When he comes out of the closet, he is denying his transcendence and showing bad faith because he is saying "I am this thing," without accepting that this could change at any time. This is the "metastable" characteristic of human existence because nothing is fixed; at any moment, a person can choose to negate their current choice and become something entirely different. His distinction is that facticity encompasses the "givens" of our situation, such as language and body, but transcendence is what addresses our ability to rise above our facticity and this is what constitutes the fact that we can change at any moment. This confirms that you are what you are and are what you are not because you are both at the same time, such as in the example of the homosexual.
3. What is the significance of Sartre's notion of the "look" in terms of our self-awareness? Explain why the look results in a conception of human relations that is based on conflict. Explain this conflict in terms of "being-in-itself" and "being-for-itself." How does the look involve dehumanization? Provide an example.
We identify with how people see us, and that makes us self-aware and therefore self-conscious. In terms of "being in itself," we use "the look" to cope with what we view as the constraints of our facticity, and in "being for itself" we use it to deny that we are condemned to be free through conflict with an external object, the other person/people. This dehumanizes people by reducing them to an object that is to be useful, rather than a person who is free to make their own choices and define themselves.
6. Why does Beauvoir claim that the woman "wallows in immanence?" Provide an example. What does this have to do with the existentialist conception of the self as a tension between facticity/transcendence? What kinds of transcendence can the woman exhibit?
Women are "trapped in immanence" because they are trapped "in the flesh" in way men are not. A woman's relationship with her body is restricted, rigid, and self-conscious; a woman's body in seen as an object which gets in her way. This has to do with facticity and transcendence because women are unable to transcend their facticity, or the "given" that they were born a woman. Women can attempt to transcend by protesting in small ways by attempting to have power over men, such as by intentionally making men late to an event, throwing "tantrums" in public to force his hand, or complaining to their husband in order to make him feel guilty that she is trapped in her body and within her home.
8. Although a woman is trapped in a "masculine universe" Beauvoir makes it clear she can still express power in her own powerlessness. Explain what Beauvoir means by this and what examples does she use to make her case?
Women can express power by using her powerlessness and entrapment in her own facticity by making herself a desirable object to a man, and then using this to have power over him. For example, she can become a martyr as a suffering wife and mother, and complain to her husband to make him feel guilty as she hold resentment toward him because he is able to leave and enter the "real world" while she is stuck at home. Women can also attempt suicide in a passive manor (taking pills, drowning, suffocation), as the ultimate form of protest. She makes a victory out of this defeat, as women can only "say" rather than "do." Another example is making "scenes" in public and using her tears as a weapon. By making a scene in a public place, she takes the man's power away by making him embarrassed, which gives her the power to force his hand. Women can attempt to transcend by protesting in small ways by attempting to have power over men, such as by intentionally making men late to an event, throwing "tantrums" in public to force his hand. Women doing this aims to strip away the man's subjectivity by turning him into an object, which takes away his freedom by preventing him from doing what he wants. --Crying, suicide, lateness, sexuality
7. Explain how Beauvoir interprets temporality for woman. How does a woman experience time differently than man in the terms of existentialism? What does this have to do with what she calls "the problem of immanence"?
Women have a narrowed horizon of possibilities, while men have a greater range of possibilities. For men, they have the possibilities of getting an education and more occupational opportunities to pursue. Women, however, had very few opportunities in their life, where their only options were to be a housewife, nurse, teacher, secretary. This has to do with what she calls "the problem of immanence" because of the socially constructed view of woman. This leaves her with no way to transcend.
