Friedrich Friedrich Nietzsche’s Nietzsche’s NaturalismNaturalism

1844-19001844-1900

Beyond Good Beyond Good and Eviland Evil

Nietzsche saw 2 impulsesNietzsche saw 2 impulses

• Apollonian– Reason– Optimistic – Light

• Dionysian– Passion– Realistic – Dark

What really impelled the ancients was not reason but passion!

– Willfullness!– Eros – “life-drive”

Society seeks to tame Eros – bad!Society seeks to tame Eros – bad!

• Hellenism• Enlightenment• Darwinism• Judeo-Christian history• Liberal democracy

These present pictures of progress, but…..really Western Civ is doomed if it ignores man’s nature

• History is not a clean story of progress – Seasons of brutality

interrupted by periods of creative energy

– Find an alternative to rational Hellenism…

– And Christian ethics!• Jesus weakened

society

The Will to PowerThe Will to Power

• Instinctive force• Value-less• No absolutes morally

• Each person seeks to expand their world: however you do it is good for you..

• Traditional morality hinders the process, limits people

Slave Morality and Master Slave Morality and Master MoralityMorality

• Who is a slave?• The Herd…?Are you

a member?

• Who is the master?

• Or do you live for yourself authentically?

Albert Camus and the 20Albert Camus and the 20thth Century: Century: The Myth of SisyphusThe Myth of Sisyphus

Three characteristics of the absurd life: • Revolt

– (we must not accept any answer or reconciliation in our struggle)

• Freedom– (we are absolutely free to think and behave as we choose)

• Passion– (we must pursue a life of rich and diverse experiences)

Classics of Western Philosophy, Andreas Tueber, ed. 2010http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/sisyphus1.html

Jean Paul SartreJean Paul Sartre““Man is condemned to be free.”Man is condemned to be free.”

1905-19801905-1980Atheistic ExistentialismAtheistic Existentialism

Existence precedes essence.Existence precedes essence.

FormSubstance

Essence

Essence

Matter

Existence

Plato

Aristotle

Sartre

Two types of “Being”Two types of “Being”

• “Being in-itself” – what things factually are, passive, inert, solid - as phenomena– unconscious

• Man also has consciousness – “Being for-itself” – Man’s transcendent situation, fluid, interactive, dynamic, not stationary – Consciousness is, in a way, “no-thing”

Man is a unique animal: he lives Man is a unique animal: he lives in an in an absurdabsurd state state

• The being for-itself negates the being in-itself …• But being for-itself also depends on the “being in-itself”

• Symbiotic sides that are in perpetual conflict…

““Existence precedes Existence precedes essence”essence”

• In one sense, real essence doesn’t really exist anyway…it is no-thing….

• Man creates his own fluid essence, his own intangible values, qualities, his form…

Freedom is man’s fundamental Freedom is man’s fundamental condition.condition.

• Man is free by a lack of design

• “condemned to be free.”– No excuses– Creativity

• Frightening!– That one has 100% responsibility in an

unstructured, absurd world…

Sartre’s Ethical ProblemSartre’s Ethical Problem

• Humanism as his solution– One’s responsibility for creating reality is a social

one as well– “Nothing can be good for us without being good

for all.”………..huh?• WHY?

– We do share the situation of our humanness: • Freedom• Absurdity of human condition

– In a world of no excuses each person will know full well when he/she is acting irresponsibly toward others

Neglecting ResponsibilityNeglecting Responsibility

• The weight of it can lead to “bad faith”– We neglect our subjectivity, creativity– We default to seeing ourselves as an object

being acted upon• Heredity• Social forces

– Leads to Self deception = and Conformity

So, Life is absurd…So, Life is absurd…

• There is no direction, no absolutes• Freedom makes this so:

– MAN wants to be something other than a no-thing, but this is impossible…

– We face a useless search for outside meaning

Only we when we really face the frustration – the dread of absurdity - do we manifest authentic freedom……..

Existentialism is positive, Sartre Existentialism is positive, Sartre says, because it:says, because it:

• Lauds man’s actions & abilities

• Elevates man to creator of values

• Helps us find self-fulfillment in this life

• Asserts that we have the desire and ability to be god.