Existentialism

• ernest_t_bass

  

  Existentialism... Anyone ever put much thought into this, or study much on it?
  
  I've never been much on philosophy, but some of the texts I've been reading touch a lot on this stuff, and it has caused me to do a lot of thinking lately.
• swamisez

  

  impossible to debate or challenge and existentialist. Circuitous questioning that results in you wanting to beat your head on the wall
• ernest_t_bass

  

  ^^^^
  I think I would expect that out of most philosophers.
• cat_lover

  I have an existential map. It has "You are here" written all over it.
• Tim Tebow

  Existentialism on prom night.
• BCSbunk

  ernest_t_bass wrote: Existentialism... Anyone ever put much thought into this, or study much on it?
  
  I've never been much on philosophy, but some of the texts I've been reading touch a lot on this stuff, and it has caused me to do a lot of thinking lately.

  Who have you been reading? I would suggest
  
  Neitzsche Beyond good and evil and Thus spoke Zarathustra
  
  Camus The myth of Sisyphus
  
  Dostoyevsky Crime and punishment
  
  Also you can study Sartre.
  
  What have you read and what is it that intrigues you? Of course this just a very small part of it. Just some of the works off the top of my head that I enjoyed. It lead me to further reading such as Daniel Dennet, Bertrand Russell and many others. JCC smart W.V.O Quine
• BCSbunk

  Here is something for you it is a very short read by Albert Camus The myth of Sisyphus
  
  http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/00/pwillen1/lit/msysip.htm
• I Wear Pants

  I <3 Huckabees.
• O-Trap

  

  I am so happy I'm giddy. Albert Camus (French atheist existentialist who is considered to be the champion of nihilism) was a fantastic philosopher!
  
  Interestingly, he did not believe in freedom of the will.
• Upper90

  Tim Tebow wrote: Existentialism on prom night.

  DAMN IT.
  
  That was my sole reason for opening this thread, thinking, "There's no way anyone would beat me to THAT reference!"
  
  Ah, well. Well played, sir. Well played.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  I (in NO way) am, or interested in being, an existentialist. The studies that would interest me the most would be those on existential theism. Hell, I could be way off, anyway. Just been doing a lot of thinking about the "why's" of life. A lot of introspection, and really evaluating myself, and why I believe this or that, why I'm here, yada, yada, yada.
• Tiernan

  ^^^
  You are here because your Mom tried Whiskey Sours one night...and really liked them. End of story.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Dang!
• BCSbunk

  ernest_t_bass wrote: I (in NO way) am, or interested in being, an existentialist. The studies that would interest me the most would be those on existential theism. Hell, I could be way off, anyway. Just been doing a lot of thinking about the "why's" of life. A lot of introspection, and really evaluating myself, and why I believe this or that, why I'm here, yada, yada, yada.

  Well do not suffer from confirmation bias. No one says you have to be an existentialist but you stated you were interested. So I have given you some material to broaden your horizens.
  
  Yes why do you believe what you believe and are your beliefs consistent and logically consistent? Or are you internally contradicting yourself?
  
  Why are you here? Perhaps there is no reason at all?
• ernest_t_bass

  

  My thought processes right now are more to authority, and "as an existing being, a free being, who truly has authority over me, and why do they have it? Why does one need to be controlled, and why do people feel the need to control. There is control in:
  
  -Government
  -Work
  -Religion
  -Family
  -Society
  -And some times your very own personal life
  
  We feel the need to control things, and have control over others. At times we feel the need to be controlled, or feel limited b/c we are controlled. Why do we so freely let others have control? In each of these...
  
  -Government - Why do we let them have the control they do? Are we not free?
  -Work - They pay you the needed income to survive in our economic world.
  -Religion - God, supremely, but why anyone other than God? God should be it, and that's all.
  -Family - It's because of love. One to whom we look for guidance.
  -Society - Is it the same as family?
  
  A lot of these things, I'm beginning to wonder if they're too deep for where I want to travel.
• SnotBubbles

  Too many big words me no understand in this thread. On to the next. So long fuckers!
• snyds113

  There is a program of easy access on Shotime on demand.It is called Expelled:No Intelligence.Ben Stein host.There is a professor at the end of the program with brain cancer who has some wonderful insights on free will and why we are here.
• BCSbunk

  ernest_t_bass wrote: My thought processes right now are more to authority, and "as an existing being, a free being, who truly has authority over me, and why do they have it? Why does one need to be controlled, and why do people feel the need to control. There is control in:
  
  -Government
  -Work
  -Religion
  -Family
  -Society
  -And some times your very own personal life
  
  We feel the need to control things, and have control over others. At times we feel the need to be controlled, or feel limited b/c we are controlled. Why do we so freely let others have control? In each of these...
  
  -Government - Why do we let them have the control they do? Are we not free?
  -Work - They pay you the needed income to survive in our economic world.
  -Religion - God, supremely, but why anyone other than God? God should be it, and that's all.
  -Family - It's because of love. One to whom we look for guidance.
  -Society - Is it the same as family?
  
  A lot of these things, I'm beginning to wonder if their too deep for where I want to travel.

  That is a lot of subjects to cover. Too deep for where you want to travel or is fear of finding out that some of your beliefs are not logically consistent controlling you?
  
  Every human has logical inconsistency in their reasoning at one time or another.
  
  I would focus on one subject at a time and learn what I could about various opinions outside your own. Otherwise all you are doing is confirmation bias a logically fallacy and a hamper of sound reasoning.
  
  Here is a little philosophical game to test internal consistency in your thinking.
  
  http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/god.htm
  
  GO to the bottom of the page and click on (if you are ready to start click here).
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  Authority is a truly interesting subject. I must say that I really believe that no man should be able to hold authority over another. That obvioulsy causes some conflict when you look outside because that's all we've ever known. They remove money from your checks, the prisons are full, etc.
  
  But do I really want to live in a world where there is no police protection??? I also can't come to terms with the idea that one person can become property of the state......
• BCSbunk

  Strapping Young Lad wrote: Authority is a truly interesting subject. I must say that I really believe that no man should be able to hold authority over another. That obvioulsy causes some conflict when you look outside because that's all we've ever known. They remove money from your checks, the prisons are full, etc.
  
  But do I really want to live in a world where there is no police protection??? I also can't come to terms with the idea that one person can become property of the state......

  You can have policelike entities and laws without a governing body.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  The biblically described "authorities" that you are supposed to respect, are those that watch over you. I believe that perhaps some sort of "governing body" is need to provide the public with information, and "safety nets" when needed, but simple things, like smoking ban for instance, are not things for which our "governing bodies" should have control to take from us.
  
  They did their job, they told us it was bad. Now it's up to us to make the choices. The "governing body" too often feels that the public is too stupid, so they MUST make the decisions for them.
  
  I don't buy one bit of this.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  The biblical reference to which I was referring is:
  
  Hebrews 13:16-18 (New International Version)
  
  16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
  
  17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
  
  18Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.
• O-Trap

  

  BCSbunk wrote: You can have policelike entities and laws without a governing body.

  I'd be curious to hear how you would think this to be possible, apart from an idealistic, practically impossible Utopia concept (which would then defeat the purpose for needing such protection).
  

  ernest_t_bass wrote: The biblically described "authorities" that you are supposed to respect, are those that watch over you. I believe that perhaps some sort of "governing body" is need to provide the public with information, and "safety nets" when needed, but simple things, like smoking ban for instance, are not things for which our "governing bodies" should have control to take from us.
  
  They did their job, they told us it was bad. Now it's up to us to make the choices. The "governing body" too often feels that the public is too stupid, so they MUST make the decisions for them.
  
  I don't buy one bit of this.

  How did we go from a school within epistemology to something that might be moved to another forum?
  
  If you are indeed interested in Existentialism, I encourage you to first do a little research on epistemology (the study of why we believe/know what it is we believe/know) in general. Decartes undertook the challenge of finding what could be known without taking any blind epistemological assumptions, which is when he came up with the famous line: "I think, therefore I am."
  
  In this, he simply said that because he could even ponder the question, he had to exist in some form. He didn't assume that it was physical, as there was no authority to which he might appeal that would prove his sensate experiences weren't one giant hallucination.
  
  It's interesting stuff, to say the least. If you live in the Akron area, I have some reading on the subject, to which you are welcome.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  ernest_t_bass wrote: The biblically described "authorities" that you are supposed to respect, are those that watch over you. I believe that perhaps some sort of "governing body" is need to provide the public with information, and "safety nets" when needed, but simple things, like smoking ban for instance, are not things for which our "governing bodies" should have control to take from us.
  
  They did their job, they told us it was bad. Now it's up to us to make the choices. The "governing body" too often feels that the public is too stupid, so they MUST make the decisions for them.
  
  I don't buy one bit of this.

  That's part of what you get with government. You get the good plus the bullshit. And most of the time it seems like the bullshit outweighs the good.....
  
  A large part of what pisses me off about government is that they want to make decisions for you and most of the time give you a false reason for doing so. They'll say it's to benefit your health but you come to find out its to benefit big business or something.
  
  I think government will always be crooked because ppl are greedy. I believe we are born free and no man has should have power over another. What makes me any higher than you, that I should be able to control some aspects of your life???? Its a strange concept to me.....
• BCSbunk

  O-Trap wrote:

  BCSbunk wrote: You can have policelike entities and laws without a governing body.

  I'd be curious to hear how you would think this to be possible, apart from an idealistic, practically impossible Utopia concept (which would then defeat the purpose for needing such protection).

  It would not be idealistic nor a utopia. There are examples of this in existence on a smaller scale. The Piraha tribe is one of many examples with no governors of any kind yet they have laws that they enforce themselves.
  
  
  Now you can claim that it would fail on a larger scale, but it has not been done on a larger scale. However there are examples now of societies with laws without a governing force to dictate.
  
  There would still be crime as is today and it is not utopia, I agree that no one has right to extend authority over others that are not violating the harm principle.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle
  
  Government is not necessary entity, it is a contingent entity.