Chapter 7: Romanticism and Existentialism

Question 1

Søren Kierkegaard

Answer 1

Believed that religion had become too rational and mechanical. He believed that a relationship with God should be an intensely personal and a highly emotional experience, like a love affair. Taking the existence of God on faith makes God a living truth for a person; thus, Kierkegaard contended that truth is subjectivity

Question 2

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Answer 2

Claimed that humans could no longer rely on religious superstition or metaphysical speculation as guides for living; instead, they must determine life’s meaning for themselves. By exercising their will to power, people can continue to grow and overcome conventional morality. The term superman described those who experimented with life and feelings and engaged in continuous self-overcoming

Question 3

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer 3

Considered the father of modern romanticism, Rousseau believed that human nature is basically good and that the best society is one in which people subjugate their individual will to the general will.The best education occurs when education is individualized and when a student’s natural abilities and curiosity are recognized

Question 4

Arthur Schopenhauer

Answer 4

Believed that the will to survive is the most powerful human motive. Life is characterized by a cycle of needs and need satisfaction, and need satisfaction simply postpones death. The most people can do is to minimize the irrational forces operating within them by sublimating or repressing those forces

Question 5

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Answer 5

Believed that life is characterized by choices between opposing forces and that much about humans is forever beyond scientific understanding

Question 6

Aesthetic stage

Answer 6

According to Kierkegaard, the first stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person delights in many experiences but does not exercise his or her freedom

Question 7

Apollonian aspect of human nature

Answer 7

According to Nietzsche, that part of us that seeks order, tranquility, and predictability

Question 8

Dionysian aspect of human nature

Answer 8

According to Nietzsche, the part of us that seeks chaos, adventure, and passionate experiences

Question 9

Convictions

Answer 9

According to Nietzsche, beliefs that are thought to correspond to some absolute truth and, as such, are immutable and dangerous

Question 10

Enlightenment

Answer 10

A period during which Western philosophy embraced the belief that unbiased reason or the objective methods of science could reveal the principles governing the universe. Once discovered, these principles could be used for the betterment of humankind

Question 11

Ethical stage

Answer 11

According to Kierkegaard, the second stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person makes ethical decisions but uses principles developed by others as a guide in making them

Question 12

Existentialism

Answer 12

The philosophy that examines the meaning in life and stresses the freedom that humans have to choose their own destiny. Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience and the uniqueness of each individual

Question 13

General will

Answer 13

According to Rousseau, the innate tendency to live harmoniously with one’s fellow humans

Question 14

Noble savage

Answer 14

Rousseau’s term for a human not contaminated by society. Such a person, he believed, would live in accordance with his or her true feelings, would not be selfish, and would live harmoniously with other humans

Question 15

Opinions

Answer 15

According to Nietzsche, beliefs that are tentative and modifiable in light of new information and, therefore, reasonable

Question 16

Perspectivism

Answer 16

Nietzsche’s contention that there are no universal truths, only individual perspectives

Question 17

Religious stage

Answer 17

According to Kierkegaard, the third stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person recognizes his or her freedom and chooses to enter into a personal relationship with God

Question 18

Romanticism

Answer 18

The philosophy that stresses the uniqueness of each person and that values irrationality much more than rationality. According to the romantic, people can and should trust their own natural impulses as guides for living

Question 19

Supermen (Nietzsche)

Answer 19

The name Nietzsche gave to those individuals who have the courage to rise above conventional morality and herd conformity and to follow their own inclinations instead. The German word Uber- mensch can be translated as “overman,”“higherman,” or “superman”

Question 20

Will to power

Answer 20

According to Nietzsche, the basic human need to become stronger, more complete, and more superior. While satisfying the will to power, a person continually becomes something other than he or she was

Question 21

Will to survive

Answer 21

According to Schopenhauer, the powerful need to perpetuate one’s life by satisfying one’s biological needs