Chapter 16: Rollo Reese May Flashcards
Existentialism
May’s theory has the most in common with existential philosophy than anyone else that we’ve reviewed so the following cards review existentialist concepts and terms from various existential philosophers such as Kierkegaard, nietzsche, Heidegger, Binswanger, Boss, Jaspers, Sartre, Camus, Franklin, and Tillich.
Dasein
“To be there”
This is the focus of interest for an existentialist
It is the study of a person as a being-in-the-world. The world and the person exist simultaneously and cannot be separated
Three Modes of Existence
Umwelt- the physical aspects of the internal and external environments
Mitwelt- the realm of interpersonal relationships
Eigenwelt- a person’s consciousness
Each person is thought to live in all three worlds simultaneously and only the three worlds taken together give a full account of human existence
Alienation
Refers to a person’s estrangement from some aspect of his or her nature. Results in feelings of loneliness, emptiness, and despair. One can become alienated from any of the three previously mentioned worlds. One can be alienated from nature (umwelt), from other people (mitwelt), or from oneself (eigenwelt)
Freedom
Responsibility
Ontology
Phenomenology
Authenticity
The most important human attribute that also makes humans unique is freedom of choice. Freedom exists only as a potentiality & can be underdeveloped in some ppl or even denied. One increases freedom by expanding consciousness
Bc we have freedom to become whoever we choose, we must assume full responsibility for what we become
The study of existence or what it means to be. It seeks to determine the essential ingredients of love, time, knowledge, etc.
Existentialists are concerned with 2 ontological questions: what is the essence of human nature and what makes a person teh way she is?
The study of that which is given in human consciousness
Ppl who exercise free Weill to expand consciousness, establish values that minimize anxiety and provide positive relationships and create the challenges necessary for further personal growth are living an authentic life
Death
Throwness
Most existentialists stress the importance of the fact that humans are aware they must someday die. Death represents nothingness or nonbeing and is the polar opposite of the rich, full creative life. It represents the opposite of what most existentialists are urging people to become. Ppl die symbolically each time one of their values is threatened
Throwness refers to the facts that characterize a person’s existence over which he or she has no control. The facts that one is born and ultimately must die are two examples. Natural events, genetic factors, gender, possession o exceptional talents, cultural factors, familial/societal factors. Throwness determines the conditions under which we exercise our personal freedom. Some ppl call Throwness activities, ground of existence, or destiny (may called it this and defined it as the pattern of limits and talents that constitute the givens in life”
Human Dilemma
The fact that humans are capable of viewing themselves as both subject and object at the same time (object-subject dichotomy is what May called it). Humans are capable of seeing themselves as an object to which things happen. As subjects, however, we are aware of the fact that these things are happening to us. We perceive, ponder, and act on this information. WE determine which experiences are valuable and which are not and then act according to these personal formulations
Self-Relatedness- distinguishes human from the rest of nature. We view the world and we can view ourselves viewing. This consciousness of self is what allows humans to escape determinism and personally influence what we do.
For May, both one’s physical circumstance and how one subjectively structures and values those circumstance needs to be taken into consideration. May thought Skinner represented teh objective experience and avoided the subjective experience and vice versa for Rogers.
Intentionality
May spoke of intentionality as the means by which the dichotomy btwn subject and object is partially overcome. Although mental acts are purely subjective, they always intentd, or relate to, events outside of themselves. Love, is a subjective experience but one must love someone or something. Perception is a subjective experience but one most perceive something. All mental and emotional experiences must intend, or relate to objects or events outside of themselves.
For May, intentionality elaborates an important aspect of Dasein. As beings in teh world, our interactions with the physical world are highly personal and dynamic. Each person responds to the world in terms of his or her personal structure of meaning. Here we see a similarity between may’s version of existential theory and Kelly’s constructive alternativism.
Will & Wish
Closely related to intentionality.
May defined Will as the capacity to organize oneself so that movement in a certain direction or toward a certain goal may take place
May defined wish as the imaginative playing with the possibility of some act or state occurring.
Thus, given a person’s structure of meaning, they will use their imagination to ponder several possible future courses of action. Wishing is what provides vitality, imagination, and innovation to the personality.
*Intentionality, Will, and Wish are three of the most important components of May’s theory because htey relate to several other human attributes (meaning, decision, action)
Anxiety & Guilt
Most existential thinkers including May assume that anxiety is part of the human condition. May rejected Freud’s interpretation of anxiety as resulting from a conflict btwn one’s biological needs and the demands of society. For May, this was too biological and compartmentalized.
Instead, May accepted Kierkegaard’s existential definition of anxiety: when freedom is threatened, as it always is, anxiety results
May pointed out that it is a uniquely human characteristic that we sometimes prefer death to the abandonment of a cherished value
Normal Anxiety
To grow as a person, one must constantly challenge one’s structure of meaning, which is the core of one’s existence, and this necessarily causes anxiety. Thus to be human is to have the urge to expand one’s awareness but to do so causes anxiety. Such anxiety is both inescapable and normal/healthy. The anxiety associated with moving forward into the unknown is an unfortunate concomitant of exercising one’s freedom. No attempt to eliminate normal anxiety should ever be made to eliminate it from a person’s experience.
Neurotic Anxiety
People who decide to conform to values arrived at bu others give up their freedom and the possibility for personal growth by seeking security in conformity. Such attempts to escape normal anxiety, which is healthy, result in neurotic anxiety which is unhealthy. It leads to psychological stagnation and intense feelings of guilt.
Normal anxiety- proportionate to the threat, does not involve repression, and can be confronted constructively on the conscious level.
Neurotic anxiety- a reaction that is disproportioniate to the threat, involves repression and other forms of intrapsychic conflict, and is managed by various kinds of blocking-off of activity and awareness
Neurotic anxiety develops when a person has been unable to meet normal anxiety at the time of the actual crisis in his growth and the threat to his values. It’s the end result of previously unmet normal anxiety.
Normal and Neurotic Guilt
Guilt: if one does not live up to one’s potential one feels guilty therefore all humans experience a certain amount of guilt. May referred to guilt as ontological because it is part of the human condition. According to May, guilt does not result from violating a generally accepted moral code; rather it results from not approaching or striving toward one’s full potential as a human.
Normal guilt: part of a healthy experience and can be used constructively. However, if not recognized or dealt with it can become neurotic and debilitating
The more one takes risks to expand consciousness the more one experiences normal anxiety and the less one experiences normal guilt.
Neurotic guilt- results from avoiding risk-taking behavior which creates neurotic anxiety which results in neurotic guilt
Importance of Values
“Valuing some experience more than others cannot be avoided bc the valuing process is ontological (part of human nature)
Person’s value system determines how much meaning an experience will have, how much emotionality it elicits, and what is worth aspiring to in the future. How much anxiety a person experiences is determined by the adequacy of their value system
According to May, a developmental pattern in the formation of values exists. Following birth, love, care, and nourishment provided by the morther are valued the most. Any threat to these causes teh infant to experience anxiety. As the child matures, approval, success, and status among peers are valued.
For May, the oedipus complex is more of a struggle between dependence adn independence. To approximate our potential as humans we must give up the dependence that we valued in our early years.
Values and commitment go hand in hand. Person w/o adequate value system has no good reason to commit to anything. Thus commitment also characterizes human nature (is ontological)
Nature of Love
May described 4 types of love & believed authentic love is a blending of the four
- Sex: like eating, an automatic activity triggered by a need and the availability of an object that will satisfy that need
- Eros: the desire for union with another person. Causes us to seek tender, creative relationship within the context of a sexual experience. Human drive to seek wholeness or interrelatedness among along of our experiences. Doesn’t have to be sexual. Merging with another can be viewed as a form of death.
- Philia: friendship or brotherly love. Teh relaxation in the presence of teh beloved which accepts the other’s being as being. Liking to be with the other. Liking to rest with the other. Liking the whole being of the other.
- Agape: esteem for the other, concern for their welfare, disinterested love, the love of Goddess for people. An unselfish giving of oneself to another w/o any concern for what one will gain in return. (Similar to Roger’s unconditional positive regard)
