Friedrich Friedrich Nietzsche’s Nietzsche’s NaturalismNaturalism
1844-19001844-1900
Beyond Good Beyond Good and Eviland Evil
Nietzsche saw 2 impulsesNietzsche saw 2 impulses
• Apollonian– Reason– Optimistic – Light
• Dionysian– Passion– Realistic – Dark
What really impelled the ancients was not reason but passion!
– Willfullness!– Eros – “life-drive”
Society seeks to tame Eros – bad!Society seeks to tame Eros – bad!
• Hellenism• Enlightenment• Darwinism• Judeo-Christian history• Liberal democracy
These present pictures of progress, but…..really Western Civ is doomed if it ignores man’s nature
• History is not a clean story of progress – Seasons of brutality
interrupted by periods of creative energy
– Find an alternative to rational Hellenism…
– And Christian ethics!• Jesus weakened
society
The Will to PowerThe Will to Power
• Instinctive force• Value-less• No absolutes morally
• Each person seeks to expand their world: however you do it is good for you..
• Traditional morality hinders the process, limits people
Slave Morality and Master Slave Morality and Master MoralityMorality
• Who is a slave?• The Herd…?Are you
a member?
• Who is the master?
• Or do you live for yourself authentically?
Albert Camus and the 20Albert Camus and the 20thth Century: Century: The Myth of SisyphusThe Myth of Sisyphus
Three characteristics of the absurd life: • Revolt
– (we must not accept any answer or reconciliation in our struggle)
• Freedom– (we are absolutely free to think and behave as we choose)
• Passion– (we must pursue a life of rich and diverse experiences)
Classics of Western Philosophy, Andreas Tueber, ed. 2010http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/sisyphus1.html
Jean Paul SartreJean Paul Sartre““Man is condemned to be free.”Man is condemned to be free.”
1905-19801905-1980Atheistic ExistentialismAtheistic Existentialism
Existence precedes essence.Existence precedes essence.
FormSubstance
Essence
Essence
Matter
Existence
Plato
Aristotle
Sartre
Two types of “Being”Two types of “Being”
• “Being in-itself” – what things factually are, passive, inert, solid - as phenomena– unconscious
• Man also has consciousness – “Being for-itself” – Man’s transcendent situation, fluid, interactive, dynamic, not stationary – Consciousness is, in a way, “no-thing”
Man is a unique animal: he lives Man is a unique animal: he lives in an in an absurdabsurd state state
• The being for-itself negates the being in-itself …• But being for-itself also depends on the “being in-itself”
• Symbiotic sides that are in perpetual conflict…
““Existence precedes Existence precedes essence”essence”
• In one sense, real essence doesn’t really exist anyway…it is no-thing….
• Man creates his own fluid essence, his own intangible values, qualities, his form…
Freedom is man’s fundamental Freedom is man’s fundamental condition.condition.
• Man is free by a lack of design
• “condemned to be free.”– No excuses– Creativity
• Frightening!– That one has 100% responsibility in an
unstructured, absurd world…
Sartre’s Ethical ProblemSartre’s Ethical Problem
• Humanism as his solution– One’s responsibility for creating reality is a social
one as well– “Nothing can be good for us without being good
for all.”………..huh?• WHY?
– We do share the situation of our humanness: • Freedom• Absurdity of human condition
– In a world of no excuses each person will know full well when he/she is acting irresponsibly toward others
Neglecting ResponsibilityNeglecting Responsibility
• The weight of it can lead to “bad faith”– We neglect our subjectivity, creativity– We default to seeing ourselves as an object
being acted upon• Heredity• Social forces
– Leads to Self deception = and Conformity
So, Life is absurd…So, Life is absurd…
• There is no direction, no absolutes• Freedom makes this so:
– MAN wants to be something other than a no-thing, but this is impossible…
– We face a useless search for outside meaning
Only we when we really face the frustration – the dread of absurdity - do we manifest authentic freedom……..
Existentialism is positive, Sartre Existentialism is positive, Sartre says, because it:says, because it:
• Lauds man’s actions & abilities
• Elevates man to creator of values
• Helps us find self-fulfillment in this life
• Asserts that we have the desire and ability to be god.
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