Sartre Flashcards
Definition of essence:
A certain set of core properties that are necessary or essential for a thing to be what it is.
Essentialism?
We are imbued with essence
Nietzsche’s nihilism?
The belief in the ultimate meaninglessness of life
Existentialism?
Existence precedes essence. No predetermined purpose.
theist existentialists
Refute the notion that got made the universe, or our world, or us, with any particular purpose in mind.
Absurdity
The search for answers in an answerless world. Since there’s no teleology there is no reason. There is no absolutes to abide by.
Context?
During / after ww2 - meaning became much harder to find.
Freedom?
If there are no guidelines for our actions we have to invent a morality to abide by, so we are condemned to be free.
Living authentically
Means you have to accept the full weight of your freedom in light of your existence
Bad Faith
A refusal to accept the Absurd
The young man at cross roads (joining war or looking after elderly mother)
The while point of this mans decision is that no one could give him an answer. His choice was the only true choice because it was determined authentically by his own values.
Camus on the meaning of life
‘The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself’
Mary Warnock on Sartre’s method
‘it is the death of a philosophy if it confuses the true with the convincing’
what does Sartre refer to god as
the ‘supernal artisan’
who argues that Sartre confuses ‘choice’ with ‘not refutig’
maurice merleau-ponty
two implications of atheism
- ‘man is nothing else but what he makes of himself’
2. ‘if god doesn’t exist, everything is permitted’
existence precedes essence quote
‘man makes himself; he is not found ready-made’
what does he compare the moral choice to
a work of art
progress?
no such thing as moral progress -
‘progress implies amelioration; but man is always the same’
Outline Maurice Merleau ponty’s view
our freedom is not powerful enough to turn our lives around instantly
Sartre overstates the case for absolute freedom because just bc someone didn’t refute their circumstances doesn’t mean they chose them
Sartre on emotions
‘feeling is formed by the deeds that one does; therefore I cannot consult it as a guide to action’
Sartre moral high ground ?
‘it is not for me to judge him morally, but I define his self-deception as an error’
intersubjectivity
‘in choosing himself he chooses for all men’
‘in fashioning myself I fashion man’
