Existentialism Flashcards
What is an ‘essence’?
A core set of properties that are necessary for a thing to be what it is
What did Sartre argue about human essence?
He argued that people create their own essence
Define teleology
The idea that God created the world with one aim in mind
What is humanity’s relationship with freedom?
We are terrified by the amount of it that we have
What is is called when we live according to the values others have imposed upon us?
Living in bad faith
What is it called when we make a choice that is not influenced by any external factors?
Making authentic decisions
What did Nietzsche argue?
We should be nihilistic by default and reject all moral and religious principles, accepting the fact that life is meaningless
What does Albert Camus argue?
When wee accept cultural norms and traditions, we are committing philosophical suicide. We need to search for a personal essence
Who were the founding scholars behind phenomenology?
Husserl and Heidegger
What is phenomenology?
The study of the world as it appears to our consciousness. The only thing that we can be sure of is our personal experience of the world
Why can we never know anything (apart from what)?
We can only know our conscious
We can only see things through our own veil of perception and not generalise that others experience things in the same way
Due to phenomenology, what must be the logical starting point for existentialism?
The conscience
How did Warnock criticise Sartre’s use of phenomenology?
Argued that it does not say anything conclusive about experience, it is only descriptive
What are the 4 foundations of Existentialism?
1) Subjectivity and the Cogito
2) Existence precedes essence
3) Atheism
4) Nothingness
What part of Descartes’ epistemology did Sartre agree with and how did he use it?
Sartre agreed with the cogito
He used it in an attempt to attain recognition of his own consciousness as opposed to find objective truths.
What does subjectivity mean?
Taking the experiences of the individual as the starting point for philosophical inquiry
What are the 2 things that we can be conscious of?
1) Beings in themselves
2) Beings for themselves
Being in itself
They cannot be anything apart from what they are - their essence precedes their existence.
EG a table
Being for itself
They have a certain degree of control and can make moral decisions - their existence precedes their essence
EG humans
What is another word Sartre used for ‘consciousness’?
Nothingness
What does subjectivity reject?
The possibility of objective knowledge. This is where it departs from mainstream philosophy
Criticisms of Existence preceding Essence
- If we have no essence, what does it mean for our existence to precede it?
- Do humans really have no essence (genes)
- Do other beings have an essence? (other beings like plants are alive, but confined by their structure so they have an essence)
- Could freedom itself be our essence?
- If other beings have an essence w/o God, why can’t humans?
How does Sartre relate God to his theory of existence preceding essence? How can this be criticised?
There is no divine creator, so there can’t be a predesigned essence for us to follow.
BUT this is a huge assumption to make
What did Dostoyevsky say about atheism and freedom?
‘If God does not exist, everything would be permitted’