Eng IV

  1. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

    1. symbols:

      1. Cave = the realm of becoming(changing)

      2. outside = the realm of being(unchanging)

      3. prisoners = humanity

      4. chains = body, senses and ignorance

      5. the people behind the parapet = the people in power

      6. fire = false knowledge of God

      7. the sun = God

      8. sunlight = truth/ true knowledge

      9. diffused sunlight = reason

      10. tunnel leading out of the cave = the Socratic method

      11. the tree in the sunlight = the real tree

      12. puppet of the tree = the appearance of the real tree

      13. shadow of the tree on the wall = the imitation of appearance of the real tree

      14. upper realm: outside

      15. lower realm: cave

  2. Existentialism : existence precedes essence

    1. definitions

      1. absurd: the conflict between the human tendency to seek for inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any in a purposeless, meaningless, or chaotic and irrational universe. 

      2. kafkaesque: anything that frustrates us, unnecessary and frustrating experiences

      3. self-loathing : you hate yourself? Like what else do you want me to put ms smith.

      4. bad faith: living and making choices according to other people and their opinions

      5. essence: a certain set of core properties that are necessary, or essential for a thing to be what it is.

      6. authentic: living according to yourself and only your decision and life affect your future decisions. 

      7. Ubermensch: everyone should strive to be superman;Nietzsche 

      8. nihilism: the belief in the ultimate meaninglessness in life

      9. amor fati : Love of Fate; freedom and greatness s desiring to love self and life as it is, was, na embracing the fate of what self and life will be in the future.

    2. existential philosophers

      1. kierkegaard: 

        1. “The thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die"

        2. Our response to God should be one of the unrestrained passion toward our beloved

        3. He perceived God and existence of life from a humanistic view emphasizing the total autonomy of man

        4. His postmodern writings did deeply affect Christians and philosophers. Many refer to him as the father of existentialism even though he did not even use the term.

        5. His writings about man’s existence, individualism, personal choice, and personal responsibility were published before the existentialist movement became popular in the 20th century.

        6. Kierkegaard’s influence is not only acknowledged for existentialism but also for postmodernism, nihilism, and different strands of philosophy as well.

        7. The majority of philosophers were atheists and continually challenged his belief in a Divine Creator. He spent most of his adult life in seclusion publishing his writing in a fierce crossfire of arguments and attacks against other philosophers and the church.

        8. Kierkegaard believed denominations were at fault for not teaching that God demanded individual commitment and a personal relationship and that no one could hide behind church membership for their salvation.

        9. Bible wasn’t to become a person’s final authority until they authorize it to be by vocational choice, and that the individual is fully responsible for their faith in God without doctrinal influence.

        10. Kierkegaard’s Christian philosophy many have even rejected by clergy, but he certainly influenced individual Christians who became enamored with his theology.

      2. camus

        1. “I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT THIS WORLD HAS NO ULTIMATE MEANING. BUT I KNOW THAT SOMETHING IN IT HAS A MEANING AND THAT IS MAN, BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY CREATURE TO INSIST ON HAVING ONE.”

        2. French algerian

        3. The stranger(1942)

        4. the fall

        5. the plague

        6. the myth of sisyphus “One must imagine Sisyphus HAPPY”

        7. the rebel

        8. all our lives are absurd in the grander scheme, but Camus resists hopelessness and nihilism. We have to live with the knowledge that our efforts will be largely futile, our lives soon forgotten and our species irredeemable corrupted and violent, but WE SHOULD ENDURE NEVERTHELESS 

        9. Life is worth enduring

        10. once you realize that life is absurd, you’re on the verge of despair perhaps but also compressed to live life more intensely

      3. sartre:

        1. French philosopher

        2. things are weirder than we think

        3. we are free. In The course of this realization, we will come up against the anguish of existence. Everything is terrifyingly possible

        4. We should not live in bad faith. We are in bad faith when we tell ourselves that things have to be a certain way and shut ourselves off from other options

        5. We are free to dismantle capitalism. It creates a sense of necessity as far as money is concerned. We are slaves to having enough money to do what we want to do.

      4. kafka

        1. The metamorphosis

        2. the hunger artists

        3. the trial

        4. self - disgust drives humanity and drives choices

        5. life is filled with arbitrary judgment

        6. we become that which we live our lives. Think: Gregor living as a menial salesman, unappreciated, who then literally becomes a bug.

      5. nietzche

        1. One of the most influential of all modern existentialism and postmodernist thinkers. He is considered the father of nihilism, which teaches that there is no ultimate meaning to human existence

        2. Born in 1844; he died in 1900 at the age of 56 insane and infected with syphilis.

        3. His attempt to expose the motives of western religion and philosophy sent a clear and blunt message to theologians, philosophers, psychologists, and all modern thinkers. His written critiques about human existence, religion, morality, modern culture, and science challenged and questioned the value and objectivity of truth and how life should be interpreted.

        4. His existential philosophy included:

          1. popularized the idea that God is dead

          2. insisted that without God, life is meaningless

          3. was convinced that Christian virtues made weak people. Meekness was a lability. Slave Morality/SKLAVENMORAL.

          4. did not believe in values or truth

          5. believed that all people should strive to be a Superman/UBERMENSCH

          6. personal power was essential

          7. logical disputing and discriminating truth from opinion and error was his esteemed virtue

          8. believed good and evil kept the world as it was and in a state of eternal occurrence

          9. Praised the Greek ideals of Dionysius who exalted life in its most irrational and cruel features, and that the proper task, of the superman was to exist beyond and not affected by good and evil

          10. Viewed that freedom and greatness is desiring to love self and life as it is, was, and embracing the fate of what self and life will be in the future to come. Love of Fate/AMOR FATI

          11. Convinced that a person only lives once and then they no longer exist so they must be aggressive in living the short life they have.