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Existential Lexicon
ontology - The theory of
existence; the idea there is a
reality.
Existential Lexicon
objectivity - The ability to
study events or objects
dispassionately, without any
prejudice or bias.
Existentialists consider claims
of objectivity bad faith, since
human objectivity is
impossible.
Existential Lexicon
knowledge - (from NDE) For Kierkegaard, the term knowledge was ambiguous. If it
meant the Hegelian attempt to understand the world and man in completely rational
terms, then it represented the idealistic system which Existential thinking completely
opposed.
Knowledge demolishes Jesus Christ. From history one can learn nothing about
Christ. Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity
That is, Kierkegaard believed that it is impossible to base faith upon knowledge,
especially knowledge about historical events. Knowledge cannot provide certainty,
not for the existing individual, and it is a fatal distraction for the individual to attempt
to ground his faith in knowledge.
Knowledge and Becoming exclude each other. Consequently knowledge must signify
something different. A will to make recognizable must precede it; a special kind of
becoming, man, must have created the deception of Being. Nietzsche,
Will to Power
Man lost the power of knowing real being lost access to reality and was reduced
to studying knowledge. One cannot arrive at being one can only start with it.
Nicolas Berdyaev, Solitude and Society
Knowing is a form of union. In every act of knowledge the knower and that which is
known are united; the gap between subject and object is overcome. The subject
grasps the object, adapts it to itself, and, at the same time, adapts itself to the
object. But the union of knowledge is a peculiar one; it is a union through separation.
Detachment is the condition of cognitive union. In order to know, one must look at
a thing, and, in order to look at a thing, one must be at a distance. Tillich,
Systematic Theology
Existential Lexicon
good - (from NDE) (Sanskrit gadh: to hold fast, fit) The individual is the only center
for the choice of the good. No rules or commandments or laws have any ethical
significance unless they are chosen by the individual. This choice is completely free.
Man is free to choose his own nature. Man alone is responsible to choose what he is
to become, and this is his choice alone. Objective advice on moral matters cannot be
given, as choice and value are subjective.
Nobody, up to now, has doubted that the good man represents a higher value than
the evil, in terms of promoting and benefiting mankind generally, even taking the
long view. But suppose the exact opposite were true. What if the good man
represents not merely a retrogression but even a danger, a temptation, a narcotic
drug enabling the present to live at the expense of the future? More comfortable,
less hazardous, perhaps, but also baser, more petty so that morality itself would
be responsible for man, as a species, failing to reach the peak of magnificence of
which he is capable? What if morality should turn out to be the danger of dangers?
Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals
Sartres definition of the good vary with his three major works. [CSW: What is good to
Sartre and the French movement is that which preserves freedom. Unfortunately,
preserving freedom is not a clear matter. Sartre was not bothered by inconsistency.
He shifted his beliefs and arguments throughout his life.] In the first,
Being and Nothingness (1943), he argues that one mans freedom represents a
hopeless obstacle to anothers. In the second, Existentialism is a Humanism
(1946), he argues that it is impossible for one to choose ones own freedom without
thereby choosing freedom for others as well. In the third,
Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), the viewpoint is that experience shows
each individual that he is capable of inventing the world in praxis, which proceeds
by means of a dialectical struggle to replace the present by a future which is
Existential Lexicon
Bad Faith - A lie, especially to the self.
Self-deception, the paradox of lying to the
self, usually in an attempt to escape the
responsibility of being an individual. The
extreme example cited by existentialists
is, I was only following orders. Any
denial of free will is an example of bad
faith. Sartre believed all moments of Bad
Faith (Mauvaise Foi) were self-evident,
contradicting many psychologists
Existential Lexicon
epistemology - A branch of
philosophy dedicated to scientific
studies the nature of knowledge, its
presuppositions and foundations, and
its extent and validity.
Existential Lexicon
essence - The intrinsic or
indispensable properties that serve
to characterize or identify
something. The inherent, unchanging
nature of a thing or class of things.
Phenomenology and existentialism
aim to observe the essence of
objects. In existentialism, ones
essence is his or her role in the
universe. This essence changes
Existential Lexicon
existence - The state of being, usually in the
material, scientific sense. In existentialism, the
existence of a person does not define the
individual; the individual is defined by his or her
actions and thoughts.
(from NDE) (Latin existere: to stand forth)
Existential thinkers write of existence as it is in its
factuality as opposed to idealistic philosophy
(such as Hegelianism) which equated essence
with existence to the detriment of existence.
Passion and responsibility are two of the most
significant aspects of existence as viewed by
Kierkegaard and Sartre.
Existential Lexicon
facticity - Those features of reality
that cannot be transformed. Many
things are not controlled by anyone,
especially in nature and science.
Sartre recognized these external
factors, to which sentient beings can
only respond.
Existential Lexicon
freedom - The condition leading to both human accomplishment and anguish. (from
NDE) (Anglo-Saxon freo: not in bondage, noble) Man is essentially free and not
determined by any external factor whatever, according to existential thought.
Jean-Paul Sartre has formulated the most radical doctrine of freedom in the history of
western thought. Accordingly, no limit to human freedom is admitted, neither
temporal nor divine.
Sartre wants men to accept their own absolute responsibility for their lives. Thus he
opposes any reliance upon the divine. All of mans alibis are unacceptable: no gods
are responsible for mans condition, no original sin, no heredity or environment, no
race, no caste, no father, no mother, no wrong-headed education, no impulse or
disposition, no complex, no childhood trauma. Man is completely free. Man is
condemned to be free.
Our description of freedom, since it does not distinguish between choosing and
doing, compels us to abandon at once the distinction between the intention and the
act. The intention can no more be separated from the act than thought can be
separated from the language which expresses it. Sartre, Being and Nothingness
How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those
they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.
Kierkegaard (Victor Eremita), Either/Or
Freedom wills itself, because it already possesses a grasp of its possibility. Jaspers,
The Philosophy of Karl Jaspers
Freedom, however, is only in the choice of one possibility that is, in tolerating
ones not having chosen the others and ones not being able to choose them.
Heidegger, Being and Time
[CSW: Can anyone untangle Heidegger? His writings are as clear as a legal filing.]
Existential Lexicon
subjective - How everything is
viewed by existentialism: nothing is
certain, it is all opinion, bias, and
prejudice.
Existential Lexicon
nihilism - Often viewed as "amoral" by
some, nihilism is amoral in the existential
sense. Nihilism is the rejection of all
distinctions in moral or religious value and
a willingness to repudiate all previous
theories of morality or religious belief.
Politically, nihilism is the belief that
destruction of existing political or social
institutions is necessary for future
improvement.
Nihilism is associated with Nietzsche, who
Existential Lexicon
Tameri Guide for Writers | C. S. Wyatt
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updated 28-Oct-2010