Review Introduction to Existentialism• Existence over essence

– Rebellion against Plato and Rationalism– Human value as rational, knowing

creatures• Combination with Christianity

– Rational universe—will of God– Science as offspring begins to rebel

• Reality meaningless, dead, irrational– Huge universe and human knowers

peripheral

Humans as Peripheral• Man in image of God

– Capable of knowing rational law• Moral and scientific

• God is dead = Rationalism failed– Can not give meaning to our lives

• Awareness of a succession of myths• Seek solace in reason/God

– Nietzsche tartets Descartes “new” rationalism• Seeking to restore human guarantee of

knowledge• Even allowing “brain in vat” evil demon

fantasy

QuestionsExplain the Nietzsche’s

contrast of a “master” and “slave” morality. Why does he

say Christianity is a slave morality?

Cartesian "Radical" Skepticism• Doubt everything—not from

specific arguments, but general ones– Main target: objects and other

minds• Strategy: prove something

immune to evil demon doubt• I think, therefore I exist• Even if I doubt, can't doubt that I'm

thinking

Is Cogito Valid?

• Back to Parmenides– If a sentence is true then its subject

term must denote something• Any true sentence of the form "X Q's"

entails "X exists"• So, if the premise (I think) is true then it

follows as a matter of form that I exist– "Santa Claus thinks" is false– Thought doesn't matter here

"Santa clause walks" is also false

Is Cogito Sound? • Is the premise true?• Certainly! Whenever I think it• Can we know it is true? Yes

– It is true– We believe it is true

• (When we think, we think we are thinking)

– We have good reason to believe it• We are good judges of our own

conscious states

Not enough! Paradox Analysis• Must be immune from Demon

Doubt!• To think you do not think is a

paradox– Different from semantic (liar) or

prescriptive (Shendao) paradoxes• The meaning inconsistent with truth• Conforming inconsistent with meaning

Pragmatic (action) paradox• What you say is inconsistent with

the act of your saying it• "I cannot speak one word of

English"• The speech act of asserting is

inconsistent with its truth– The thought act is inconsistent with the

content of the thought

我不會用中文想。

Thinking Thoughts and Thinker• Next step cannot reach outside

thought– A way to get all rational truths back

—prove God exists• So ontological argument for God

– Unique in following from definition alone

Ontological Argument • St. Anselm model—easier and more

famous• Start with thought of god—a concept

– Can be thought of by a non-believer• The non-believer contradicts himself• Not derived just from thinking• From the content (meaning/definition) of

the thought• Definition of the ‘god' concept: the

perfect being

Existence• Perfect=df has all positive qualities completely

• Qualities = predicates• 'Exists' is a predicate• 'Exists' is positive• Not to predicate 'exists' of the being

that has all positive qualities completely is a contradiction

So I am not deceived when I think clearly and distinctly

Analysis: Summary• Argument really about two kinds of

existence– In mind and reality

• But logic the same– Existence is a positive valued predicate

• Quality or attribute of a substance– Nutshell: not it’s not—issue isn’t positive

• Not a predicate—Hume and Kant (detail later)• Taken for granted by Nietzsche

Existential Angst

• Suspended over nothingness, nausea, and alienation– Strength to face a bottomless

abyss– Cf. Zhuangzi's view of a similar

realization• Existentialist realism

– No way to get ethics without blind assertion

– Rests on sheer will—will to power

Philosophical Revolution

• Reject metaphysical grounds for moral ones

• A genealogy of morals– Slave morality:• Reaction against the hated--

define as "evil," "sin"• Resentment morality--what it is

against

Master Morality

• Affirmation of things promoting life• Define good, not evil

– Then just failure to fulfill• Beyond "good and evil" to "good and

bad"• Control, choose your own meaning in

life• Life promoting, affirming, active, vs.

Reaction, nihilist resentment

Reality and Power

• Everything is interpretation—no original– My Zhuangzi – Interpretations are not getting closer to

reality• Only power conferring stories• Science as another myth

The Real World Is a Myth

• Plato (the sun) attainable to the wise

• Christianity (A woman! A promise)

• Kant (a skeptical possibility) source of obligation

• Positivism (value unknowable, so meaningless)

• Nietzsche (abandon real/apparent distinction)

Christianity and Buddhism

• A paradigm of slave morality– Not refuted, but sick! Self-hating

negative resentment• All don'ts, evil, sin, sinners• This world, natural man as contrast with

God– A form of self-hate– Stems from Socrates’ mind/body values

• Double-bind: original sin– Protestant "grace" and

predestination– Hate yourself and ideology of

powerlessness

Lying

• Heaven a contradiction– No – a form of hatred of life

• Desire for "the other life" = desire for death– Create a myth in our own image

• Attribute all power to him—powerlessness to ourselves

• Sin a deceptive form of self-hate– Doctrine of original sin– Moralizes enslavement – we deserve our

suffering• So don't do anything about it

Christ and Christianity• Culprit is St. Paul– Actually a Roman—inheritors of the idols of

Socrates– Body over mind

• Hatred of body and instincts• Celibacy of priests, sex as evil

• Christ himself a divine mystic– Declared himself God– Re-evaluated values– Spontaneous self-assertion—we should all

be like that• Christ was the last Christian

Buddhism a Kindred Religion• Same mind/body structure– Skepticism of existence– ‘Truth’ ‘reason’, ‘ideas’ transcendent reality

• Nihilistic, decadent power denying– Renunciation religion: Nirvana and life

(samsara)– Samsara is suffering. Get rid of desire

• But doesn't want to malign it with Christianity– Honest – I seek to die and stay dead

• Reincarnation framework– Positivist – no value judgment

• “Life is suffering” v “We are all sinners”

Not Powerless

• We can achieve the religious goal by our own efforts– We can die and stay dead

• No promises and keeps them!– No supernatural intervention—no

supernatural role at all• Buddha just a model who found the path

• Hygiene, diet, cheerfulness– Attributed to climate and age of

culture