Existentialism and its Impact

Notes on HCJ4 topics ahead of a discussion show (similar to Emma Hofberg's & my one for HCJ3) with Amy Moore

Existentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical theory that individuals are free and responsible for their development in their existence. As according Nietzsche “God is dead,” there is no inherent meaning to our existence and so we are free to choose our own destiny. Unlike existentialists, nihilists think there is no meaning to life rather than use their freedom to create their own freedom. For more information on existentialism in reference to Albert Camus's "L'Étranger", click here.

Kant - "Critique of Pure Reason" - Existence is not the result of consciousness or being but a pre-condition of consciousness; consciousness is not proof of existence, it just is. This idea opposes Descartes' "I think therefore I am" argument.

Husserl - "Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" - Phenomenology: the science of phenomena; study of perception & consciousness. Concluded that whether an experience was real or imagined the resulting feeling in no different and therefore there is no point distinguishing between mental and physical phenomena. Perception is important, not whether it is internal or external.
Phenomenology vs     Empiricism
 Internal world   vs  External world

Heidegger – “Being & Time” – first example of modern existentialism; though phenomenology was half-hearted – personal experience is important.
Dasein – “being” – absorption & satisfaction in life/a task – authentic life
Dasman – opposite of Dasein – boredom and complacency; overthinking - inauthentic
Facticity – ‘labels’ given/you are born into (gender, class, nationality, etc.) - inauthentic
Rejection of Descartes’ Self (& Freud’s Ego) – inverted “I think therefore I am” to “I am therefore I think” as consciousness is a predicate of existence.
Focus on present/next choice – past: guilt, future: unknown, present: dread – morality reduces guilt and creates indifference to future.

Satre – similar to Heidegger (anti-Cartesian ego) and agrees with Husserl that there’s no difference between fictional & factual phenomena if you believe it. Being ‘just it’ – it needs no definitions as it defines itself; opposite of the ontological argument to prove God. However, he can be considered more liberal than Heidegger.
Being creates desire to be God & control own life however, destiny/life is not fixed; humanity’s freedom is absolute and therefore we must not be defined by facticity.

None of this is possible without the liberation of Nietzsche’s claim “God is dead.”

However, before this, Kierkegaard came up with his own form of existentialism to fit around his religious beliefs; similar to Schopenhauer – rejects rationism & scientific objectivity and believes life is suffering; rejects religion despite being a Christian – “To be a Christian you must reject Christianity” – his reasoning was that if everyone was Christian, no-one would be; human condition (loneliness & suffering) creates knowledge through despair of unknowing; despair is ontological & therefore can’t be ‘cured’ – must transcend it; can transcend by passionate commitment from moment to moment; despair is due to not knowing your purpose in existing and alienation is separation from God – must submit to God to overcome; by irrationally & unexplainably submit to God, Kierkegaard dismisses systems of goodness & morality.

As no definite morality or guilt for actions, room is left for violence & aggression.

Debatable as people having violence enacted upon them do not have a choice which is key to living authentically according existentialism; by removing their choice you are forcing them to lead an inauthentic life & therefore your actions go against existentialism.

Franz Fanon – encouraged the idea that you could use violence as a way of speeding up political change that existentialism was already nurturing (if there is good cause to do so) which is therefore lead to, for example, Baader Meinhoff complex, Black Panther Movement, Algerian War, etc.

Arguably, to counter these sorts of ideas, modern totalitarian ideas formed:

·        Previous totalitarian leaders still had limits applied to them – new model formal C20

·        Arendt saw imperialism as precursor to modern totalitarianism as it encouraged racism by grouping people into superior/inferior

·        Individuality makes people hard to control – must be destroyed by

Either State Terror (degrade individuals – make them less than human)
Or Ideology (compliments terror – eliminates need for individual thoughts – absolves people  .    from guilt if they blindly follow orders without question – banality of evil; don’t have to .   .    be evil to do evil things, just follow orders; Milgram experiment)

·        Ideas of control seen in 1984 by George Orwell (through language) & A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (through social structure)

Counterculture (A way of life & set of attitudes opposed to the social norm)

Good example – 60s & 70s America – political & cultural turbulence:

·        JFK assassination (1963)

·        Vietnam War controversy

·        Racial discrimination -> Black Panther Movement

·        High teen population (from baby boom) -> power gained from large demographic skew helping lead to:

o   Sexual revolution – creation of the pill giving women choice; feminism

o   Prohibition of drugs – LSD introduced by CIA then banned leading to Hippie . .                                        communes, etc.

o   Musical revolution (jazz)

·        Influenced by existentialism & powered by new choices, freedom & anti-establishment beliefs esp. Franz Fanon, Malcolm X

 

For journalists:

·        Scepticism in press releases & importance in 1^st hand experience (arguably being lost in the technological/modern age) |_ research, checking quotes, interviews & asking the difficult questions

·        Use of more subjective & emotional language – sensationalised – to build a picture rather than just tell a story (e.g. Tom Wolfe)

·        Political objectivity – Associated Press – greater profit; wider audience

·        Abolition of 5 Ws and pyramid structure to make way for ‘story to bleed into the copy’ -> Make reader feel story & not just read it – Hearst, Pulitzer

·        Creation & popularization of ‘gonzo’ journalism

·        In features:

o   Use of scene by scene/cinematic story telling

o   Inclusion of dialogue

o   Adding opinion to help reader inside writer’s/‘character’s’ mind

o   Recording of even minor details (gestures, habbits, behaviour towards certain social groups, etc.) to show status & attitudes of those involved. 

Economics

Marx – Failure of capitalism as wages are less than product price due to profit margin; move to communism – everything provided everyone – obsolete due to Keynes

Smith, Hume, Ricardo, Mill, etc. – classical economists; large market, small state – also, arguably, obsolete due to Keynes

Keynes – to stop cycle of economic depression, print money and create jobs to circulate it – large state; small market

Weber – rise of bureaucracy as a means of increasing employment; gain power through charisma, maintain power from legality

Galbraith – wrote New Industrial State

·        Based on managed society of Keynes & Galbraith – critiques: Hayek predicts it would become highly corrupted

·        Effects of technology on this system

o   Speeds up process of production

o   Still creates jobs as machines have to be fixed

o   Likely to end up being run by the elite

·        Nature of employment – less blue-collar as replaces by machines; replaced by educated people who can repair machines

·        Motivation theory:

.            Carrot vs Stick

Compensation vs Compulsion

·        Power shift from entrepreneur to technology undermines unions

·        Regulation reduces workers’ need unions

Modern Logic
3 attitudes to numbers:

1)      Natural & can be empirically observed – Mill

2)      Intuitions of harmonic, perfect world – Pythagorians; Descartes

3)      Abstract logical objects; constructs of syntax – Frege, early Russell

(1) Through evolution, can naturally distinguish between:
0: Absence of objects/bananas
1: 1 object/enough bananas
2: More than one object/plenty or infinite bananas
Whilst you can immediately tell the difference between 3 & 4 at a glance, it’s hard to tell between 33 & 34 without counting; arguably, numbers above about 8-ish are purely syntax

(2) Pythagorianism
Prime numbers are pre-existing, eternal forms & necessary for consciousness.
Anti-Kant’s “existence is not a predicate” and therefore existenialism
Importance of 3 (first plural prime) in culture e.g. Trinity in Christianity, rule of thirds, 3 chord triads, etc.
“+1” has no defined meaning -> 0+1 <- infinitely bigger
                                                     1+1 <- doubles in size
                                                    N+1 <- infinitely smaller increase with each addition

(3) Numbers as logical objects
Rejects numerological empiricism
Frege’s axiom – all things which are identical are equal to themselves i.e. 2
Larger numbers are built upon these – e.g. a pair of pairs would be the equivalent of 4
1 is a class of things not associated with other things
0 is a class of objects not equal to themselves therefore 0 doesn’t actually exist