Jean- Paul Sartre:
In our class discussion, we mainly reviewed for our Thursday exam. (Don't forget to study!)
In regards to Sartre, we talked about how, as humans, we don't have an essence, and that no one can make you decide how to live your life. "Bad faith is running away from freedom" For example: Ian brought up the topic of having a job (like Sartre described). You can go through the daily motions of having a job, and ultimately hate what you do, or you can take ownership of your job and accept that it is 'you'. You always have a choice in life, and in your daily occurrences.
Thoughts, questions or opinions?
I am iffy on some of this stuff. Sure there are other always other choices and options in life, or at least that sounds nice in theory. For instance I have a shit job but it is literally the only one I could find in my home town that would work around me going to school. So sure I could not work there then I would either have to not work at all or not go to school. The point I am getting at is there are times in life where there are not many if any other options for one to take.
ReplyDeleteI quite liked Sartre's philosophy, and existentialism in general. I think we've been skirting around the edges of this question for a long time: the question of our existence. When we wonder about god, about reality, about time...aren't we all just asking about those things in relation to us? That being said, I think Sartre's aphorism "existence precedes essence" begins to capture the meaning of our lives better than any other philosophy. One on hand, life is meaningless—the sun rises and it sets, and our daily motions are ones of repetition. But on the other hand, this "meaningless" life provides all the space for us to give it meaning. Even the most meaningful life could be rendered meaningless by the one who lives it. Once we really examine ourselves, it's hard to see our lives as anything other than very meaningful or very meaningless. Maybe Socrates was right, and only an examined life is worth living. Meaning—either its presence or its absence—inevitably follows examination.
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