Exam hop II

Question 1

What does this short text (Husserl) share with Kant’s philosophy?
3

Answer 1

1.That, by the pure description of everything that flows into consciousness, knowledge can be found.

2.understanding of the world is not simply a passive reflection of external reality, but is actively constructed and shaped by the mind

Question 2

Why does Husserl refer to Descartes as a starting point?
3
Epoché?

Answer 2

1 According to Husserl, by taking the mediation as a starting point a first an absolute certain base can be found. Namely, Descartes doubting everything, in order to find truth.
By starting with Decartes and his pure ego, Husserl argues that only from there, valid meaning of the world can be found.

2Husserl states that it is necessary to take Descartes as a starting point, because it is the only way in which philosophy can escape former methods of doing.

3 Husserl’s phenomenology builds on the idea of using reason in understanding the world, by focusing on the subjective experience of consciousness.

Base by reason. study experience–> valid meaning of world. escape former methods of doing.

Question 3

What do you think Husserl means when he writes that the life of consciousness is a “Heraclitan ‘flux’’?
3

Answer 3

1. ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ idea that everything is in a state of constant change and flux.
2. Just like you can never step into the same river twice.
3. explain variety > always flowing from one object of consciousness to the other, and never the same.

Question 4

What does Husserl mean when he writes that the ego’s relation to the objects of consciousness has an “intentional structure”?

Answer 4

1. ego= base to acquire knowledge (pure ego)
2. objects of consciousness =all the things that the ego can be conscious of. For example, images/ visual representations or emotions or feelings. seeing rabit
3. Intentionality =consciousness is always directed towards something, intentional content is the mode or way in which consciousness is about an object. seeing/knowing
   > the relation between the ego and the objects of consciousness is always directed in a certain way, or having a certain mode. not just physical, also psychological.

Question 5

What is understanding according to Arendt?
9

Answer 5

Complicated, No final stage, constant change, ambiguous results, home in world, gives meaning, crucial to fight (to make it meaningfull), same as self-understanding (since the meaning we give to the world is our meaning), think and reflect critically

Question 6

Why is history both problematic and helpful for the understanding?

Answer 6

History is helpful, since we can only understand something definitely, once it is dead. Everything that is in the past is dead, therefore there is the possibility of understanding it definitely.

So history is problematic for understanding, because everything that happens in the present is original, and can not be understood by simply looking at something similar that happened in the past.

Question 7

What challenge totalitarianism poses to the understanding?
totalitarianism is characterized by 6

Answer 7

Basis Idea: the very framework through which understanding can arise is gone.
stringent logicality, meaninglessness, a loss of common-sense, and ideological thinking. single world view, eliminate individuality
take away tools: for people to think and act independently, and to resist the manipulation of their thoughts and actions by the state.

Question 8

What is stupidity according to Arendt?
loss of 5
what is used? 2

Answer 8

5 loss meaning, curiosity, imagination, independence, common sense (a world in which everyone fits and depends)
2 thoughtlessness, logic

Question 9

What is the role of human freedom in Arendt’s argument?

Answer 9

according to Arendt, one is free when one can understand i.e. create new beginnings. Thus, the role of human freedom in the argument is emphasizing the great importance of understanding and the great destructiveness of totalitarianism in which understanding and thus also freedom are highly challenged.

Question 10

What are the ambiguities De Beauvoir detects in the human condition? 4

Answer 10

1. both transendencance & imminence (independent supreme, unrestricted, powerfull), yet limited by the body
2. limited by the past, free to shape own future
3. each of us is unique but everyone is unique
4. realise born to die (free but limited by situatedness)

Question 11

Why is failure crucial for ethics? 5

Answer 11

1. God does not need ethics > need failure to distinguish right from wrong
2. start of ethical thinking, otherwise no deliberation
3. oppurtunity to do differently and better
4. confront limitations> forming praise and blame
5. be responsible

Question 12

What is the difference between Existentialist conversion and Hegelian sublation?
what is hegelian sublation?
What is conversion?

Answer 12

conversion = radical change in one’s understanding of oneself and the world

Conversion involves a negativity that is always there. which is needed –> fight for action and realisation lack

not a sublation because sublation entails a moment of surpassing to something positive.

Question 13

What is an authentic existence for De Beauvoir? 4+

Answer 13

1. embrace the reality of our freedom
2. be responsible
3. self-creation
4. meaning (self)

+white canvas metaphor

Question 14

What is the basic ambiguity between transcendence and immanence that crosses the text?

Answer 14

immanence (in itself)= limit body, involuntary, maintenence status quo, time, energy, capabilities, environmental factors
transendendance (for itseld)= rational, conscious, free, creative, autonomous
> we are both

Question 15

There are two desires fundamental to human beings. What are they?

Answer 15

To be both transcendent and immanent? → desire for going beyond the limitations of physical reality and the desire to be fully present in the physical world.
to have a fixed identity and make sense of it and at the same time the desire to become whatever

Question 16

Who is criticizing (according to Sartre) existentialism, and why?
1> 2
2>denies 3

Answer 16

1. Communists: Existentialism is pessimistic. It encourages contemplation, which is a bourgeois privilege. Moreover, it upholds radical subjectivity which sees no ties to others and is in solidarity with no one.
   2 Catholics: denies tradition, moral values, God)

Question 17

What role does angst (anguish or anxiety) play in Sartre’s account of existentialism?

Answer 17

The role of anguish is to illustrate the consequences (fear, responsibility (for everyone), call for action, meaning making) of existence before essence.

Question 18

Four components are crucial for existentialism, according to Sartre (which he seems to share with Arendt as well). What are they?

Answer 18

1. cogito: The absolute truth is one’s immediate sense of one’s self.
2. cogito> discover others and self. recognition to be what I am by others= condition. but also limit (cause they objectify us)
3. human condition is inherent biological limitations
4. we are committed to being free, and we are freely committed.

Question 19

What is authenticity? Satre
(what is inauthentic?)

Answer 19

1. acklowedging liberty of commitment (becoming aware of ones own freedom and taking responsibility)
   3 inauthentic= self-deception (bad faith)

Question 20

How do we include others in what seems to be an account of radical subjectivity?
what is radical subjectivity?

Answer 20

According to Satre, this radical subjectivity entails responsibility, not only for oneself, but also for everyone else. Namely, the radical subjectivity entails a freedom to make oneself, which according to S comes with a great responsibility, for all men. Because whatever we choose is what we stand for and what mankind commits to.

Question 21

What does Freud mean by topographical vs. structural understanding of the psyche?

Answer 21

topographical = he conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
structural understanding of the psyche refers to the distinction he made between the id, ego, and superego.

Question 22

What are the definitions of and differences between unconscious, pre-conscious and conscious in terms of the dynamic understanding of psychoanalysis?

Answer 22

It is not a spacial theory of the unconscious, but a dynamic theory where processes happen. In terms of the dynamic understanding of psychoanalysis, the unconscious refers to the part of the mind that contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are not currently in our awareness and are difficult to access. It also contains a not repressed part which is the ego which is the gatekeeper. The preconscious refers to the part of the mind that contains thoughts and memories that are not currently in our awareness but can easily be brought to mind. The conscious refers to the part of the mind that contains the thoughts and experiences we are aware of.

Question 23

What is the id?

Answer 23

The id is the part of the psyche that contains primitive and instinctual desires. It is governed by the pleasure principle, which seeks immediate gratification of desires. The pleasure principle is the reduction of intensities, as pleasure comes from reducing pressure. It contains the passions.

Question 24

What is the ego?

Answer 24

The ego is the part of the psyche that mediates between the desires of the id and the demands of reality. The Ego is the gatekeeper of what can flow into consciousness and what not. The fact that the Ego represses many things from going into consciousness, gives one an unpleasant feeling. It is governed by the reality principle, which seeks to delay gratification of desires in order to avoid negative consequences. The reality principle links to our social and moral values that we abide by. The ego is driven by our two drives, the death (thanatos) and love (eros) drive.

Question 25

What are the two basic drives? What is the interaction between the two?

Answer 25

The love drive is the drive towards pleasure, survival, and reproduction.
The death drive is the drive towards destruction, death, and the return to a state of inanimate matter.
The interaction between the two is complex and not fully understood by Freud, but he suggests that conflit

Question 26

What is the super-ego?

Answer 26

The super-ego is the part of the psyche that contains our moral and ethical values and ideals (parent/father principle, law, societal norms). It acts as a conscience, judging our actions and desires against these internalized values.

Question 27

What is the relationship between the ego, the id, the super-ego and the drives?

Answer 27

The ego, id, and superego interact with each other and with the drives to create a dynamic balance within the psyche. The ego mediates between the desires of the id and the demands of reality, while the superego judges these desires and actions against internalized moral and ethical values. The drives provide the energy and motivation for the psyche’s activities.

Question 28

In what way does Freud build upon Nietzsche’s contention that thinking, and consequently knowledge, is just sublimated drives transformed into words?

Answer 28

Freud believed that in order for something to become conscious, it needs to be verbalized in the preconscious. So Freud thought in order for a repressed drive to become conscious, it needs to be connected with word presentations. This is also why Freud strongly believed in speech therapy.
Nietzsche> drive for truth> metaphors

Question 29

Freud criticizes philosophers throughout the text, what philosophers have failed to take into account and, again, in what way this builds upon Nietzsche’s critique in On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral sense?

Answer 29

Freud criticizes philosophers throughout his works for failing to take into account the role of the unconscious in shaping human behavior and thought. He builds upon Nietzsche’s critique in On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral sense by arguing that human knowledge is not simply objective, but rather formed by human interpretation and subjective perspectives. Freud builds upon this by saying that thoughts and behavior are indeed subjective, namely influenced by the unconscious.

Question 30

What is repressed, what resists?
what is repressed?
What is resisting?
what is its function?
How do we know?

Answer 30

repressed = to thoughts, memories, and desires that are not currently in our consciousness

Resistance refers to the ego’s defences against the return of repressed material to consciousness. These defences include repression, denial, rationalization and other mechanisms. Resistance is a natural defence mechanism,

protecting avoiding anxiety or conflict. These

Question 31

What is genealogy, according to Foucault?5

what is it Not? 6

Answer 31

1. uncovering the roots of present day thinking
2. particular eye on the details and accidents that might seem ahistorical (sentiments, love bodies, unrealized moments).
3. use variety source materials
4. finding connection where we would not expect them
   not: developmental progress with final aim, not a search for origins or essences nor finding clear narrative, not rulling powers.

Question 32

Are there any discernible differences between Foucault’s genealogy and Nietzsche’s?

Answer 32

perfectionist on the terminology of origin.
N already suggested distinction and challenged ursrpung but not very clear
F states that distinction is very important since they are in different ways (or not) in line with - what is according to Foucault - the correct method of genealogy

Question 33

What are the differences between Entstehung, Herkunft, and Ursprung?

Answer 33

Ursprung: Origin, essence, proceeding all the rest, static, ideal sense, not existing, not true object of genealogy.
Herkunft: descent, study of traits in individual, numberless beginnings > faint traces, better object:) undermines the present and unification 2) finds the formation of things through a complex sequence of events by disturbing the formations 3) focusses on the body (which to Foucault is an important subject of the study of genealogy). An analysis of Herkunft is an analysis of the connection of the body and history.
Entstehung= emergence. competing forces> smt emerges, not possible to obtain patent. Forces=dominations. Place of confrontation which is a non-place. good object: describes the proceeding from domination to domination.

Question 34

What is history, according to Foucault, and how is it different from common understanding? 4

Answer 34

1 history is then the concrete body of becoming
2. could have been otherwise
3. not progress closer towards an ideal state. Instead, proceeds from domination to domination.
4 Lastly, there is no single actor in history; things emerge without an agent.

Question 35

What is the Enlightenment? What is its ethos?

Answer 35

Foucault sees modernity/ Enlightenment as an attitude - a way of feeling, thinking, acting - rather than as a period of history. it is a specific kind of ethos. modifying the present state concerning authority
Ehtos:
it is a way of being and acting in a world that is informed by historical, cultural and social norms posed upon ind by power and control

Question 36

Do you think Foucault agrees or disagrees with Kant?

Answer 36

takes idea enlightenment as ethos, but disagrees with studying the things that flow into concsiousness, he want to study the interactions, the ethos. not replicate like kant

Question 37

What are archeology and genealogy according to Foucault in What is Enlightenment?

Answer 37

According to Foucault, archaeology and genealogy are two different methods of historical inquiry. Archaeology is a method of studying the past by uncovering the underlying structures and systems that shape our understanding of it. Genealogy, on the other hand, is a method of studying the past by examining the specific circumstances and conditions that gave rise to a particular idea or institution

Question 38

What can we do with the present as philosophers?3

Answer 38

As philosophers, we can use the present to understand the ways in which power operates in society and to challenge existing power structures. We can also use the present to question traditional notions of history and progress and to imagine new possibilities for the future.