Existentialism Flashcards
What is Rationalism?
The philosophy that we can know things through reason (famous rationalists are Kant, Descartes, Hegel)
What is Empiricism?
The philosophy that all of our knowledge is based on experience (famous empiricists are Kierkegaard and Nietzsche)
What famous book did Descartes write and what was it about?
“The Meditations” - aimed at removing all prejudices and rebuilding philosophy from a solid platform. He does this by doubting everything his senses tell him and is left with the fact that he is a thinking being: “I think therefore I am”
What is solipsism?
the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.
What is Kant’s Transcendental Idealism?
There are two worlds: the phenomenal world which we perceive and experience directly, and the noumenal world which exists outside of human senses (mind independent). Hegel thought that a world that was “unintelligible” was misguided
How did Kierkegaard’s upbringing affect his approach to philosophy?
Kierkegaard was a deeply religious man, even forgoing marriage to pursue philosophy, and his Lutheran upbringing meant he felt that one’s connection to God could only be achieved through personal commitment
What was Kierkegaard’s major criticism of Hegel?
Hegel was a rationalist and thought he could prove God’s existence in this way. Kierkegaard thought this hubristic use of reason denied a person of their choice to CHOOSE religious belief. From this comes his idea of the “Knight of Faith” whereby someone takes a leap of faith to commit themselves to God
What are Kierkegaard’s three stages of life?
The aesthetic life where one commits themself to selfish pleasure in an attempt to avoid boredom, the ethical life where one commits themselves to values touted by the society they live in (such as marriage or politics), and the religious life where one commits themself to God
What is the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical?
An instance when what society normally dictates as being “good” or “bad” goes directly against the will of God. The story of Abraham being told to kill his son is a good example of this
What is the main theme that runs through Kierkegaard’s work?
Faith is a criterionless choice - it cannot be justified by rational appeal. Anxiety is the symptom of such a decision but ultimately it is also what provides us with an opportunity for a meaningful life
What is the difference between the “knight of resignation” and the “knight of faith”?
A “knight of resignation” is someone who follows the word of God without the promise of something in return whereas the “knight of faith” expects that there will be a reward or some greater good from their sacrifice
What did Kierkegaard believe an authentic life was?
An authentic life is one which is in line with one’s own deep beliefs and desires. Adorno would criticise this, asking if it was possible to know one’s deepest desires in this transparent manner
What was Nietzsche’s stance on God?
“God is dead” - the existence of God is no longer believable and European society no longer has any use for religion. However, he believed something needed to fill the void left by God
What are two radical claims in Nietzsche’s epistemology?
1) Relativism: there is no single truth - only perspectives
2) Psychologism: to understand the grounds of a claim, we don’t investigate the justification for them, rather the psychological processes that produce them
How does Nietzsche’s version of virtue ethics differ from Aristotle?
Nietzsche thinks that life should be hard and that one should struggle to be the right kind of person
What is Nietzsche’s opinion on altruism?
“Disintegration of the instincts!” blames Christianity for this weakness. Instead one should be a virtuous egoist where one goes beyond instant gratification to live a life of utility and purpose
What is Nietzsche’s determinism?
He doesn’t think we have free will, therefore we must strive to understand our own psychologies in order to live in tune with them
Nietzsche thought that to live was to exercise power in the world: what two kinds of power does he give?
1) Force (Kraft): Raw, unrefined and unthinking power
2) Might (Macht): is power exercised for creative uses. Power that is channelled by the intellect.
What is intentionality?
The theory that mental states are always intentional or about something
What did Alexis Meinong claim about imaginary objects such as superman?
He believed that these objects in a sense were “out there”, they just happen not to exist
What is “bracketing”?
Husserl avoids problems of Meinong’s non-existent objects by placing things we can only speculate about into brackets. Not about the conclusions but the evidence
What is Husserl’s phenomenological reduction?
A two part process whereby we let go of our prejudices and assumptions through bracketing and reducing a phenomenon down to its core components
What is eidetic reduction?
The process of discovering something’s essence (what makes it what it is), usually through eidetic variation where you imagine what the thing is if you change specific properties
What is a priori reasoning?
knowledge that comes from the power of reasoning based on self-evident truths - mostly independent of experience
