The First Step in the Line of Despair

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The First Step in the Line of Despair

• Philosophy

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Pre-Hegel

• Truth romantically conceived in terms of
  antithesis
• Relationship between thesis and antithesis seen
  as cause and effect

Cause and effect
Thesis
Antithesis
A
Not A
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Pre-Hegel

• Cause and effect reasoning
• One moves from premise to conclusion in a
  horizontal line

Cause
Effect
Cause
Effect
Cause
Effect
If A, then B.
If B, then C.
If C, then D.
Chain of reasoning
A
B
C
D
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Hegel (1770 - 1831)

• Sought system of thought that would encompass all
  knowledge
• Followed Greek philosopher Parmenides
• What is rational is real and what is real is
  rational
• ABSOLUTE (def.)
• Totality of everything that is
• Logical structure of ABSOLUTE given in terms of
  dialectic

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Hegel

• Dialectic (def.)
• The process of arriving at truth by stating a
  thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis,
  and combining and resolving them into a coherent
  synthesis.
• Synthesis decides between thesis and antithesis
• Synthesis becomes new thesis with associated
  antithesis, which is mediated by another
  synthesis, etc.
• What are the consequences of such a system?

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Consequences of Hegel

• All possible positions are relativized
• Truth found in mutually exclusive alternatives!

Synthesis
Antithesis
Thesis
Not A
A
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Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

• First man below the line of despair
• Father of existential philosophy
• Divorced reason and faith

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Kierkegaards Dichotomy
Faith (Nonreason - Optimism) Don Quixote
The Rational (Pessimism) Eeyore
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Kierkegaard on Abraham

• Abrahams willingness to sacrifice of Isaac was a
  leap of faith
• No rational basis for faith
• Is this accurate? Why?
• If not, does this diminish Abrahams faith?

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Towards existentialism

• Rationalisms failures
• No uniform field of knowledge
• No meaning for Man

Non-rational Existential experience
Rational Only particulars No meaning
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Existentialism

• Existence precedes and rules essence (Sartre),
  i.e. one must be alive to create meaning
• Conscious self comes into contact with external
  reality
• Truth is an individuals projection of experience
• Authentication is Mans reaction to the world
• No moral content to Mans choices

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Karl Jaspers (1883 - 1969)

• Swiss existentialist
• Nonrational final experience gives meaning to
  life
• Existential experience cannot be communicated
• What are the pitfalls of Jaspers philosophy?

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Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980)

• Universe is absurd
• Man authenticates himself through action
• Direction of the action is immaterial
• Dangers?

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Martin Heidegger (1889 - 1976)

• Authentication achieved through a feeling of
  dread or ANGST
• ANGST (def.)
• Feeling the dread of something beyond your
  comprehension
• Has no object
• How are all of these existentialisms similar?
  Different?

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Logical positivism

• Two sources of knowledge
• Logical reasoning
• Empirical experience
• Presupposes that what reaches Man via the senses
  is data, i.e. has objective validity
• Verifiability principle
• A statement is meaningful only if it can be
  proved true or false by experience

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Defining philosophy

• All terms defined rationally
• Conclusions taken only so far as can be
  accurately defined
• Prolegomena (def.)
• Preparation for philosophy
• Problems
• Does not include a system for coming to truth
• Deals with particulars only

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Modernism before 1930

• Traditional forms of art, literature, and
  philosophy are outdated and therefore rejected
• Man needs to removed hindrances to PROGRESS
• Reaction against rationalism
• Freud Mans SUBJECTIVE experience a result of
  interplay between different parts of the mind
• Challenged objectivity of positivist data

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Modernism after 1930

• Rejection of pre-Enlightenment thought
• Spirituality should conform to EXTERNAL pressures
• Human activity should conform to these outside
  influences
• Emphasizes freedom of expression,
  experimentation, radicalism, and primitivism

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Postmodernism

• Reaction against modernism, especially its
  Enlightenment influences
• Problem of knowledge founded on anything external
  to the individual
• Knowledge is broadly disseminated, but not
  limited in its interpretation
• The individual CONSTRUCTS knowledge in their own
  time, place, social position, culture, etc.

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Deconstructionism

• School of criticism founded by French
  post-structuralist philosopher Jacques Derrida.
• Deconstructive reading
• Text cannot be read as author communicating a
  distinct message
• Reveals conflict within a given culture or
  worldview
• Look for binary oppositions (maleness and
  femaleness, etc.)
• Show how terms are actually fluid categories that
  are impossible to separate

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Postmodern truth

• The postmodernist distrusts any claims to
  universal, transcendental truth
• Truth is defined in terms of other cultural
  artifacts rather than absolutes
• These artifacts are themselves defined in terms
  of other particulars
• Thus truth is never anchored to any specific
  idea but is merely an endless journey along a
  path that is different for each individual