Existentialism and Authenticity

1

• Existentialism and Authenticity
• What is existentialism?
• What is authenticity? What is bad faith?
• Is ignorance bliss? (Cyphers choice and
  experience machines)
• Is authenticity relevant to Cyphers choice? If
  so, how?

2

• Basics of Existentialism (McMahon (I) Sartre,
  Camus, Heidegger)
• Existence precedes essence Life has no inherent
  purpose.
• Humans invest the world with order and meaning.
• This gives us a tremendous amount of
  responsibility.
• We also have radical freedom To be is to do.
  (Sartre)
• Skepticism nothing can ever be proven.
  (Sartre, Nausea)
• Since human beings do not possess an essential
  nature at birth, they have to create their
  essence as individuals and they are condemned to
  freedom. (Sartre, Being and Nothingness)
• The realization of the human condition leads to
  anxiety and fear.

3

• Authenticity (McMahon (I) unless otherwise
  noted)
• Authenticity df. a state in which the
  individual is aware of the true nature of the
  human condition.
• Inauthenticity df. a state in which the
  individual is either ignorant of the true nature
  of reality or in denial
• Inauthenticity is precisely this attempt to
  disguise or repress what we know in our gut but
  do not want to admit to our mind.
• Bad faith df. a lie to oneself within the unity
  of a single consciousness. (Sartre, Being and
  Nothingness)
• Bad faith is a kind of inauthenticity.

4
The Experience Machine Thought
Experiment Suppose there were an experience
machine that would give you any experience you
desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could
stimulate your brain so that you would think and
feel you were writing a great novel, or making a
friend, or reading an interesting book. All the
time you would be floating in a tank, with
electrodes attached to your brain. Should you
plug into this machine for life, preprogramming
your lifes desires? Of course, while in the
tank you wont know that youre there youll
think its all actually happening. Others can
also plug in to have the experiences they want,
so theres no need to stay unplugged to serve
them. (Ignore problems such as who will service
the machines if everyone plugs in.) Would you
plug in? What else can matter to us, other than
how our lives feel from the inside? (Nozick,
Philosophical Explanations)
5

• Cyphers Choice Is Ignorance Bliss?
• In the Matrix, Cypher chooses the dream world of
  the experience machine over reality.
• Neo makes the opposite choice the red pill over
  the blue pill.
• Which choice is the correct one, and why?
• Does it make a difference if we assume that you
  cant know whether or not youre in the
  matrix-world?
• What does Cyphers choice have to do with the
  concepts of authenticity and bad faith.

6

• Nozick on the Red Pill (Schick (I) Grau (W))
• we want to do certain things, and not just have
  the experience of doing them (Nozick)
• we want to be certain kinds of persons
• we value contact with reality. (Grau)

7

• Authenticity and Cyphers Choice (Schick (I)
  Grau (W))
• To be is to do. (Sartre) Those in the
  experience machine perform no actions, so they
  have no character and are not real persons.
  (Schick (I))
• Without action we cannot have free action, or
  free will. (Schick)
• Without action we cannot be proper candidates of
  praise or blame, so we cannot be candidates of
  moral appraisal.
• Grau disputes the points made above.
• Even if we cannot know whether or not we are in
  contact with reality, having this very contact,
  and especially having this contact with other
  persons, makes a difference in our lives.
• Consider life-insurance. (Unger in Grau (W))

8

• Authenticity and Cyphers Choice (Schick (I)
  Grau (W))
• To be is to do. (Sartre) Those in the
  experience machine perform no actions, so they
  have no character and are not real persons.
  (Schick (I))
• Without action we cannot have free action, or
  free will. (Schick)
• Without action we cannot be proper candidates of
  praise or blame, so we cannot be candidates of
  moral appraisal.
• Grau disputes the points made above.
• Even if we cannot know whether or not we are in
  contact with reality, having this very contact,
  and especially having this contact with other
  persons, makes a difference in our lives.
• Consider life-insurance. (Unger in Grau (W))

9
Mother Night (Keith Gordon, 1996) Nick
Nolte .... Howard W. Campbell Jr. Sheryl
Lee .... Helga Noth/Resi Noth Alan
Arkin .... George Kraft Bernard Behrens ....
Reverend Dr. Lionel Jones Anna Berger ....
Epstein's Mother Arye Gross .... Dr. Abraham
Epstein Norman Rodway .... Werner Noth
Frankie Faison .... Robert Sterling Wilson,
Black Fuehrer of Harlem Gerard
Parkes .... Father Patrick Keeley Vlasta
Vrana .... August Krapptauer Zach
Grenier .... Joseph Goebbels Kirsten
Dunst .... Young Resi Noth Anthony J.
Robinow .... Prison Warden Michael McGill ....
Prison Official Shimon Aviel .... Guard
Bernard Liebman
10
Europa Europa (Agnieszka Holland, 1990) Marco
Hofschneider Solly (Salomon Perel) Salomon
Perel Salomon Perel René Hofschneider Isaak Pi
otr Kozlowski David Klaus Abramowsky Solomons
Father Michèle Gleizer Solomons Mother Marta
Sandrowicz Bertha Nathalie Schmidt
Berta Delphine Forest Inna Andrzej
Mastalerz Zenek Wlodzimierz Press Stalins
Son Martin Maria Blau Ulmayer Klaus Kowatsch
Schulz Holger Hunkel Kramer Bernhard Howe
Feidwebel