...Jean-Paul Sartre claims that man is completely free. To understand what this statement means, this essay will look at Existentialist philosophy and evaluate the central concepts namely freedom, anguish, abandonment and despair. Through analysing Sartre’s lecture entitled ‘Existentialism and Humanism’ and his book, ‘Being and Nothingness’ this essay will explain what he meant by this statement and will argue that while man is free to a certain extent, he is not completely free. Sartre delivered his lecture in a time of guarded optimism and unrest. The truth about the Nazi power and Auschwitz had just become known and the first atomic bomb had been dropped. People were becoming aware of how evil others could be and were looking for answers. There was a need to re-examine life as they knew it and Sartre, through Existentialism, offered a new approach to life. While Sartre himself later repudiated parts of his lecture it still remains his most widely read writing. (Philosophynow.org, 2016) Sartre used the word, ‘freedom’ which would have appealed to the people of that epoch having just been freed from Nazi occupation, however he says man is condemned to be free as he believed freedom came with great responsibility. The main reason for Sartre’s lecture was to defend Existentialism against its critics who thought it would lead to ‘quietism of despair’. They thought it was contemplative and would discourage people from taking action. Due to the words he used, namely anguish, abandonment...
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...Philosophy: Problems Essay 2: Existentialism Evaluation: 20% of final grade Length: 1400-1500 words Due: After uploading to Assignment2 students are required to hand in a hard copy of their essays at the beginning of their seminars on March 10, 2015. Late papers will be penalized 3% per day. Students must write this essay in order to complete this course with a passing grade. Choose 1 essay topic from the following list of 16: Sartre Write an essay which explicates and evaluates some of the central claims in Sartre’s “Existentialism” (the first essay of Existentialism and Human Emotions.) You should frame your essay around a particular philosophical claim or theme which you would like to write about in Sartre’s essay. For example: 1. How does Sartre argue that “existentialism is a humanism” and is his argument a good one? 2. What is Sartre’s notion of freedom and how does it relate to ethics? Is this a viable ethics? 3. Explain and evaluate the claim that “existence precedes essence.” What are the implications for living if one accepts this claim? Defend or consider problems with this position. 4. What does Sartre mean when he says that “man is condemned to be free” but also that we are nonetheless responsible for who or what we become? In what way are we free, in which ways are we responsible, and to whom are we responsible? Is Sartre right? If so, why? If not, why not? 5. Drawing on the entirety of the essay, develop an account of...
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...Stevenson Core Fall 2014 Sabrina Kenney October 24, 2014 Who We Are and What We Make of Ourselves Existentialism and Humanism was first introduced as a public lecture at the club Maintenant in Paris in October 1945, at the end of WWII. Paris had just been freed of Nazi occupation, and French people were trying to rebuild their destroyed nation. Citizens, leaders, and philosophers were questioning the foundations of society and reexamining the meaning of morality. The horrors of the concentration camps and the atom bomb had just been brought to the surface. Evidence of the human capacity for evil and destruction was everywhere. Jean-Paul Sartre, like many other philosophers at the time, wrote his own essay, Existentialism, in an attempt to answer these moral and ethical questions about human nature and free will. Sartre is correct to say that people are free and must choose their own path in life, but also contradicts himself and fails to appreciate people’s diversity. Sartre begins his essay in a very confusing way. He brings the reader into a very complicated argument over the meaning of Existentialism. He says that the word has lost its meaning and needs to be redefined, “…by this time the word has been so stretched and has taken on so broad a meaning, it no longer means anything at all” (343). Sartre begins clarifying existentialism by focusing on the individual. He says, “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself” (345). Here Sartre explains how human beings...
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...literary work No Exit and analysis from Being and Nothingness. Components of Existential Philosophy This paper will firstly discuss the major existential principle of existence preceding essence. This notion is discussed by Sartre’s (1946) lecture “Existentialism is Humanism”. This central theme existence preceding essence is the backbone for most existential thought and that is why it is discussed and understood thoroughly from the beginning of this paper. This leads to the existential thought, absurdity of life. Life being absurd is a component of the existential human condition and this is discussed using The Myth of Sisyphus as a beacon of how absurdity applies to life and happiness. This was written and discussed by Camus in his work The Myth of Sisyphus. Lastly this paper will discuss how others impact the individual or human relationships, discussed by Sartre. His thesis regarding others interactions are that it is Hell. This is the central theme in his play No Exit, and unpacking this existential thought this paper will use his work Being and Nothingness. Human Condition Existence comes before essence; this is a main theme found in existential philosophy. Sartre (1946) states in his lecture “Existentialism is Humanism”, the theme existence precedes essence, is an ideal that all existential philosophers hold true. To understand the existential claim that existence precedes essence it is beneficial to define the opposite, “essence...
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...David Hume David Hume Cornelia Roberts-Pryce Cornelroberts@yahoo.com Content David Hume Abstract TCO 4 -Given the intellectual climate of post-WWI Europe, analyze the emergence of the philosophies of existentialism and logical positivism based upon the principles of modern humanism According to lecture 1, the Enlightenment was characterized by a questioning of current beliefs (including religious belief) and customs and a turn towards the benefits of science. People today think that democracy is a direct outgrowth of Enlightenment thinking but Hume, Locke, Voltaire, and others did not think that the general public was able to reason and that it could or should not be educated (Stromberg, 1994). Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contributions of David Hume (1711-76) to the period of history during the enlightenment age developing theories of the doctrine of Empiricism. There are two doctrines which follow this principle. The first doctrine is that most, if not all, concepts are ultimately derived from experience; the second is that most, if not all, knowledge derives from experience, in the sense that appeals to experience are necessarily involved in its justification. Neither doctrine implies the other. Hume belongs to the tradition of British empiricism that includes Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), and George Berkeley (1685-1753). Common to this tradition is the view that knowledge is founded...
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...Jean-Paul Sartre and Existentialism Jean-Paul Sartre . . . the name is one of the most popular in modern philosophy. But who was he? What did he write and what were his works about? What was his role with regard to Existentialism? What is Existentialism, really? What life influences affected the person as whom he became famous? How would Sartre assess various social topics that we face today? What are the problems with Sartre's view of Existentialism and existence in general? These are the questions addressed in the following pages of this brief dissertation.His life Upon reviewing several sources, it is apparent that Sartre was a very disorganized and inconsistent individual. Sartre was obsessed with his intellect to the point of abandon of all else in his life - personal hygiene, honesty, organization, thoroughness, and more. It seems that he felt he was of superior intelligence in comparison to all others who surrounded him. He was not necessarily a great and original thinker, but rather a superb media sensation of sorts. Rather than developing Existentialist thought, he merely promoted it to amazing popularity through his eccentric lifestyle. Although he is best known for his association with Existentialism, it is interesting to note that he denounced its principles later in life and adopted Marxism, which he also later denounced. Jean-Paul-Charles-Aymard Sartre was born in Paris on June 21, 1905, the only child of Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre and Jean-Baptiste Sartre. Anne-Marie...
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...Assess Whether Sartre Was right To Claim That Man Is Completely Free Although Soren Kierkegaard is known as the godfather of existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre was a French philosopher who popularised it. This essay will look at his claim that man is completely free and try to draw a conclusion on whether he was right, wrong or maybe even a middle ground to this assertion. To understand his claim that man is completely free, it will be necessary to look at what existentialism is and what it says about the notion of freedom. According to Sartre we are condemned to be free because we are ontological beings (Sartre, 1973 p.29-30) Sartre described humans as a being-for-itself because they have an awareness of themselves, their existence and are able to change by manipulating different factors and making decisions that suit them. He then went on to describe innate objects as a being-in-itself meaning they have no consciousness, and cannot change; they cannot manipulate the environment for better or worse (Bochensky, 1974, p.175) Sartre stated that existence precedes essence. By this he meant that we exist first and only after that occurs do we start making sense of the world and ourselves. This view is an atheistic approach to existentialism because he believed that God does not exist, but Christian existentialists like Kierkegaard and Heidegger would disagree with this approach. According to Sartre we are born tabular rasa and thrown into existence without our will. By arguing that...
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...the People Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (2010-2014) Truth and knowledge People have various ways in which they look at things. Some think in ways that are good and others in ways that are bad. Some people look at things differently from others. But who really knows what is true and what is real. Some people stay in the darkness for a long time without have the true knowledge. This essay explores how Socrates looked at things and his beliefs and perception as compared to how Voltaire looked at life. This is a summary of what was captured in Apology, allegory of the cave and the Good Brahmin. These stories have good implication on the essence of philosophy in life. What is philosophy and how should we consider it? In short, these essays talk about enlightenment, which is a process whereby a person comes to know the truth as opposed to being ignorant. Socrates’ views of life are shown in the stories of Apology and allegory of the Cave. The main one that shows Socrates’ ideas is that of the allegory of the caves, which will be explained briefly in this essay. In the allegory of the cave there is a tantalizing scenario. The scenario is as follows. It is shown in a state of things that a young person has been in. The scenario is like that of a person who was born and ever since his youth hood was placed in a cave. In this cave there is no light. This person is chained there in that he is not able to turn even his head to see what is around. The person looks in...
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...the People Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (2010-2014) Truth and knowledge People have various ways in which they look at things. Some think in ways that are good and others in ways that are bad. Some people look at things differently from others. But who really knows what is true and what is real. Some people stay in the darkness for a long time without have the true knowledge. This essay explores how Socrates looked at things and his beliefs and perception as compared to how Voltaire looked at life. This is a summary of what was captured in Apology, allegory of the cave and the Good Brahmin. These stories have good implication on the essence of philosophy in life. What is philosophy and how should we consider it? In short, these essays talk about enlightenment, which is a process whereby a person comes to know the truth as opposed to being ignorant. Socrates’ views of life are shown in the stories of Apology and allegory of the Cave. The main one that shows Socrates’ ideas is that of the allegory of the caves, which will be explained briefly in this essay. In the allegory of the cave there is a tantalizing scenario. The scenario is as follows. It is shown in a state of things that a young person has been in. The scenario is like that of a person who was born and ever since his youth hood was placed in a cave. In this cave there is no light. This person is chained there in that he is not able to turn even his head to see what is around. The person looks in...
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...Module 1 Notes In this essay I will define what Person Centred Therapy (PCT) is and I will look at the origins of this therapy with particular reference to Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers and examine the fundamental elements necessary for the therapy to be seen as patient centred. I will compare the benefits and disadvantages of Person-Centred Therapy and try to establish whether a therapist can treat all clients effectively using just the one approach or whether it is more beneficial to the client for the therapist to use a more multi-disciplinary approach. To be able to discuss this subject, it is important to describe first what we mean when discussing PCT. Person-Centred Therapy, also known as client-centred, non-directive, or Rogerian therapy, is an approach to counselling and psychotherapy that places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a non-directive role. PCT emphasises person to person relationship between the therapist and client and focuses on the clientâs point of view; through active listening the therapist tries This essay is intended to explore the statement that Person-centered therapy offers therapists all they need to treat clients. In order to do this I intend to further explore the opinions of other individuals practicing and researching counseling therapies. My first thoughts are that if the Person centered approach was sufficient, there might not have been such a great variety of...
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...personality. Not only did phycologist have to consider what makes up the human personality; these same brilliant minds came up with several various approaches to the human personality. Each one of the following positions or theories all touch basis on different developments of a person’s personality. Whether it is the dispositional approach that theorist state are key traits in development that make an individual unique to him or her, or the humanist/existential approach which focuses more on the evidence for the stability of genetically influenced personality, more specifically evolution and how it applies to the issues of ambition and leadership. Here we will describe the differences between dispositional personality and humanistic. In this essay we will discuss the role of personality in affecting situational behavior. Following this, examine the personality characteristics attributed to each theory in our approach. Finally, we will explain the interpersonal relational aspects associated with the theories selected. . A number of different theories have emerged to explain different aspects of personality. Some theories focus on explaining how personality develops while others are concerned with individual differences in personality. In the following we will review the differences in dispositional and humanistic and the role of personality in the affecting situational behavior. We will discuss why they are each different from one another and who was the founder of each theory....
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...In his essay Existentialism is Humanism Sartre develops an atheistic moral system. In this paper, I will examine the moral system that Sartre presents. I will attempt to provide the most plausible interpretation of this morality and determine if this moral system can work in a society. I will conclude that there are several problems with Sartre’s account of morality that make it inadequate. And I will try to provide a possible solution to these problems. In order to understand Sartre’s account of morality we should first examine the basis upon which it is developed. Sartre develops his account of morality from a perspective of what he calls a “consistently atheistic” existentialism. The “consistently atheistic” existentialism maintains that God does not exist. This means that there can be no universal moral values, but it also means, and this is very important for Sartre’s account that man’s existence comes before man’s essence. If God does not exist then there can be no universal moral values because such values, at least in the European morality, come from the “commandments of God”. We use these commandments to define good and evil, and upon these two opposing concepts we base our morality. Furthermore if God does not exist then man was not created according to a divine plan, his essence was not defined a priori, and therefore there is no such a thing as “Human nature”. Sartre defines his phrase “existence precedes essence” as applied to man...
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...Metaphysics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:navigation, search This article is about the branch of philosophy. For the work of Aristotle, see Metaphysics (Aristotle). |Philosophy | |[pic] | |Branches[show] | |Aesthetics | |Epistemology | |Ethics | |Logic | |Metaphysics | |Social philosophy | |Political philosophy | |Eras[show] | |Ancient | |Medieval | |Modern | |Contemporary | |Traditions[show] | |Analytic | |Continental | |Eastern | |Islamic | |Marxist | |Platonic | |Scholastic | |Philosophers[show] | |Aestheticians | |Epistemologists...
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...world beyond. It further champions the creative powers of the individual to strive beyond social, cultural, and moral contexts.[3]Nietzsche's attitude towards religion and morality was marked with atheism, psychologism and historism; he considered them to be human creations loaded with the error of confusing cause and effect.[4] His radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth has been the focus of extensive commentary, and his influence remains substantial, particularly in the continental philosophical schools of existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism. His ideas of individual overcoming and transcendence beyond structure and context have had a profound impact on late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century thinkers, who have used these concepts as points of departure in the development of their philosophies.[5][6] Most recently, Nietzsche's reflections have been received in various philosophical approaches which move beyond humanism, e.g. transhumanism. Nietzsche began his career as a classical philologist—a scholar of Greek and Roman textual criticism—before turning to philosophy. In 1869, at age twenty-four, he was appointed to the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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