The Meaning of Life - Exam 1 - PHIL:1033 (University of Iowa)

SARTRE

Existence precedes essence

humans were put on earth without any predetermined purpose in mind; the essence of humans is undefined, so it is up to them to define their essence

SARTRE

Sartre's reasons for thinking that we are so free

the only thing set in our essence is out ability to freely change what we'd like; we are condemned to freedom - in every instance, we must be choosing an action (or choosing inaction)

SARTRE

Extreme Sartre: What sorts of things are we free to choose about ourselves?

extreme Sartre thinks we are free to choose /everything/ about ourselves, or at least about our essence (transcendence); we aren't free to choose our facticity, but Sartre isn't concerned about that

SARTRE

facticity vs. trancendence

transcendence - the things that really make up our meaning; what we are interested in, what we value, what we do; we are free to choose all these things

facticity - the things about ourselves that we cannot change, but also are not meaningful to our essence; things like our birth eye color, height, where we were born, etc.

SARTRE

Extreme Sartre - what are the benefits of expressing our freedom?

we can enjoy ourselves when we are taking control of our destinies; otherwise, we resent ourselves for inaction; we know that we are responsible for our destinies, so we feel anguish when we shirk our responsibilities

SARTRE

Objections to Extreme Sartre

there are times when others' freewill gets in the way of our own; there are systems that we can not will ourselves out of; can we /really/ choose what we like

SARTRE

Moderate Sartre - what is in our control, and what in not?

we can control what we do and how hard we try at things;

we cannot control the freewill of others, and sometimes our facticity interferes with our transcendence

SARTRE

Moderate Sartre - finding an outlet for our freedom; fighting to defend and protect freedom everywhere that might be threatened

it's true that sometimes we cannot do everything that we want to do - women, for all of time, have struggled to advance in academic fields like STEM; but, just because you cannot do what you love in the capacity you expect, that doesn't mean you can't do what you love in some /other/ capacity;

since freedom is the only inherent human value, it is in the favor of all humans to protect freedom

SOCRATES - EUTHYPHRO

What are the two views of the Euthyphro Dilemma, and how are they different?

1) things are good because God loves them

2) God loves things that are good

in the first scenario, God is all powerful and sets morality, but is also kind of a tyrant; in the second, there is a set of morality that existed before God, which means God is /not/ the first and foremost things in the universe

SOCRATES - EUTHYPHRO

Which view does Socrates think is correct, and why?

Socrates is a moral objectivist, so he thinks that there is a set of morals that exist independent of God; thus, he believes God loves things because they are already good

SOCRATES - EUTHYPHRO

There is a third view that we discussed in class, but that Socrates fails to bring up himself. What is this third view? What is one problem for it?

the third option is that God /is/ goodness; however, this doesn't track because then God's commandments would be to "be omnipotent" not things like "don't steal"

SOCRATES - APOLOGY

expert horse breeders vs. amateur horse breeders

an expert will almost always do the right thing; however an amateur will almost always make things worse

SOCRATES - APOLOGY

soda can analogy

you wouldn't drink a random soda can from the ground without knowing where it's from; in the same way, you shouldn't accept inherited traditions without examining them

SOCRATES - APOLOGY

the unexamined life is not worth living

when you live the unexamined life, you are most likely engaging in practices that are not fully moral; because of this, you are hurting other people, and your own chances at a positive judgement; it is honestly better to kill yourself than to live ignorantly, says Socrates

SOCRATES - APOLOGY

Can we explain how thinking is produced by our bodies/brains? How is this relevant?

SOCRATES - APOLOGY

Socrates in the afterlife, sitting with his friends and having conversation . . .

this is Socrates' dream! he is living a purely mental life, without bodily needs and distractions and is free to think all he wants

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

mind-body dualism; minds and bodies are very different kinds of things; how so?

the mind and the body are not the same; minds have the ability to imagine perfection, but bodies can never produce that which is perfect; there is an obvious dissonance between mind and body

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

bodies are always imperfect

bodies are subject to physical needs and desires, and are manipulated by outside forces; they can never be perfect

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

perfect entities - what are they and what are some examples

a perfect entity could be as simple as geometry (a perfect circle or triangle) or as complex as perfect laws (no one's rights are violated by these laws)

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

How should we be spending our time here on earth? Why?

we should be spending time examining our laws and traditions, trying to improve them and get them as close as possible to the objective good

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

the distraction of bodily desire and the senses

things like food and lust (things the imperfect body craves) distracts us from the life of the mind; that's why Socrates fetishizes being dead so much - he can live completely free of the bodily distractions

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

freewill and the harp analogy

Socrates denies the harp analogy because he thinks that the mind is unlike harmony; the mind preexists and outlives the body (that's how there is an afterlife), so unlike how music stops when the harp stops, the mind is /not/ dependent on the body to exist

SOCRATES - PHAEDO

objections to Socrates' view on the highest life for a human being

it's great to reject the body and all it's desires, but what does that mean about the family structure? do we abandon the ones we love? what if we enjoy basketball more than anything else in the world - is the best life really one where we abandon that?

SARTRE

Extreme Sartre holds that, apart from a few exceptions, we are in complete control of who and what we are. What are the things that Extreme Sartre thinks are up to us? Briefly discuss one of Sartre's reasons for thinking that we are so free.

SARTRE

Moderate Sartre holds that there are cases where a person's freedom is limited through no fault of their own - for example as a result of the biases of the larger community - and that in such cases we should use some of our freedom to fight to protect the freedom of others. Why does he think this? Describe a case of this sort, and discuss how someone might use their freedom to promote the freedom of others.

SOCRATES

What are the two claims of the Euthyphro Dilemma? Which does Socrates think is more plausible and why?

SOCRATES

What are the main differences between body and spirit according to Socrates? Which does Socrates think is more plausible and why?

SOCRATES

Discuss one objection to Socrates' view that the best life for a human being is a life of spiritual activity.