The Meaning of

Life
A cultural exploration
Chuang-Tzu
Living in Accord with
the Dao
Technique
Path
Way
Dao
The Tale of the Butcher

• The Doctrine of Inaction

• “Becoming one with the activity.”
Zen Archery
 The Tale of the Dying
Men

• To fight death--to lament its inevitable

coming--is to live in disharmony with
the Dao
 Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night, 
Old age should burn and rave at close of day; 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, 
Because their words had forked no lightning they 
Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright 
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, 
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, 
Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight 
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 
And you, my father, there on the sad height, 

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. 
Do not go gentle into that good night. 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Existentialism
the subjective knowing subject
 Lessons the Greeks
taught us

• repudiation of flesh
• essentialism/universalism/one and many
• essence precedes existence
• to know is to be
• meta-narratives
 The Meta-Narrative

• Meta = above or beyond

• Narrative = a story or explanation
• Meta-Narrative = a narrative about a
narrative
• a story about a story
• Since narrative = story and reality is a
narrative, all of reality is an interpretive affair
 The Meta-Narrative

• The Problem of Modernity:

• Since narrative = story and reality is a
narrative, all of reality is an interpretive
affair
• meaning loses its anchors
The Normativity
of Knowledge
Knowledge as a mode of being
“There are no moral phenomena at all, only a
moral interpretation of phenomena ... “

~ Frederich Nietzsche
Jack and Jill
 Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Up Jack got, and home did trot,

As fast as he could caper,
To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.

Then Jill came in, and she did grin,

To see Jack's paper plaster;
Her mother whipt her, across her knee,
For laughing at Jack's disaster.
TRUTH
Knowledge & Power
 Soren
Kierkegaard
Christianity, God and
the Individual
Kierkegaard: God and Ethics

• in the story of Abraham, he saw that authentic

existence can only be achieved through the
repudiation of universalized meaning or value
• ethics--the universalized will of human kind--
must be rejected to make room for the authentic
will of the individual
• this is his ‘teleological suspension of the ethical’
where meaning must be constructed anew at the
moment of every choice we make
Kierkegaard: To Know is to Be

• it is not the content of Abraham’s act but the

way in which he accomplishes it

• truth, then, is a mode of being rather than a

mode of knowing
Friedrich
Nietzsche

Destroyer of Worlds
“There are no moral phenomena at all, only a
moral interpretation of phenomena ... “

~ Frederich Nietzsche
 Background
• A philologist studies language scientifically through
tracing developments over time or by comparing
languages or varieties of a language, etc.
• Philology considers both form and meaning in
linguistic expression, combining linguistics and
literary studies
• An etymologist studies the origins of words, how
their meaning changes and develops over time
and how they fall into disuse, etc. This study is
etymology.
The Death of God
 The Death of God

• the death of objective values

• there simply are no universal moral
principles
 The Death of God

• to be ethical, is one way to avoid

facing oneself
• morality--Christian morality
especially--is cowardly
 If God is all the
values we inherited
and we killed Him ...
Freedom
Buridan’s Ass
The Overman
 Will to Power

a will to perfection, a will to strive for distinction

create oneself by overcoming those obstacles

that would stand in the way of self-realization
 Overman
“I teach you the overman. Man is something that
should be overcome. What have you done to
overcome him?”

“And life itself confided this secret to me: 'Behold,'

it said, 'I am that which must always overcome
itself . . . Whatever I create and however much I
love it--soon I must oppose it and my love, thus
my will wills it.”
 Your Values
What do you value and where do those
values come from?
 Inherited Values
• Accept people for who they • Respect; love; fighter;
are; Be true to others, confidence, non-
and ... to yourself; Love; submissive; Catholic;
Respect; Work hard for responsibility(GH)
what you want (MN)
• Men must not show
• Politeness; cherish emotion; Buddhism;
relationships (EC) family; health (NT)

• Never do to others what • Do unto others; political

you would not like to be efficacy; structure; respect;
done to you; The meaning egalitarianism; Western
of life is the pursue of aesthetic values (BM)
happiness (WY)
 Abandoned Values
• Discipline; Religion (MN) • Conformity; daring;
discipline; selfish (GH)
• Good people will go to
heaven after; bad people • Buddhism; family;
will go to hell; marriage; children's
Communism will occupy place; celebrations (NT)
the world and lead the
world to a better place • religion; democracy &
(WY) freedom; retributivism;
biological determinism;
• Catholicism; money stereotyping; Western
doesn't buy happiness superiority in art (BM)
(EC)
 Overman Values
• Do what makes you happy, • Teamwork; style; company
not what makes others we keep; education (NT)
happy; Independence –
• Shortcuts are not the
financially, school and
answer; do what makes
work; Everyone should be
you happy (EC)
treated equally (MN)
• Civil disobedience is
• There are no such visual
wrong; material wealth =
"God" (WY)
happiness; unconscripted
• Acceptance; adventure; war is sometimes OK;
bravery; independence; rehabilitation; scientism
open-mindedness (GH) (BM)
We are our choices
Nihilism
 Nihilism
the belief that all values are baseless and
that nothing can be known or communicated
 Congenital defect of
philosophers

“Instinctively they let ‘man’ hover before

them as an aeterna veritas ... A lack of
historical sense is the congenital defect of
all philosophers.”
 The intellectual
conscience
“I mean: the great majority of people does not
consider it contemptible to believe this or that
and to live accordingly, without first having
given themselves an account of the final and
most certain reasons pro and con, and without
even troubling themselves about such reasons
afterward ... ”
“... the most gifted men and the noblest
women still belong to this ‘great majority.’”
 Deniers of the flesh
“It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that
physics, too, is only an interpretation and exegesis of
the world (to suit us, if I may say so!) and not a world-
explanation; but insofar as it is based on belief in the
senses, it is regarded as more, and for a long time to
come must be regarded as more - namely, as an
explanation.”
“What is clear, what is ‘explained’? Only what can be
seen and felt - every problem has to be pursued to that
point ... ‘Where man cannot find anything to see or to
grasp, he has no further business.’”
 Deniers of the flesh

“Conversely, the charm of the Platonic way of thinking,

which was a noble way of thinking, consisted precisely in
resistance to obvious sense-evidence - perhaps among men
who enjoyed even stronger and more demanding senses
than our contemporaries, but who knew how to find a
higher triumph in remaining masters of their senses”
“and this by means of pale, cold, gray concept nets
which they threw over the motley whirl of the senses -
the mob of the senses, as Plato said. ...”
 Deniers of the flesh

“ ... In this overcoming of the world and interpreting of the

world in the manner of Plato, there was an enjoyment
different from that which the physicists of today offer us.”
 2 flaws in the traditional
approach to moral decision making

• Traditional ethics attempts to be

context-independent. That is, it is not
sensitive to the extent to which every
situation of moral choice is unique.
• Traditional ethics denigrates the
emotions in moral understanding.
 Two aspects of the
denigration of emotion

• The moral life demands the cultivation of

the moral emotions (i.e., people should be
taught how to empathize, care, take pity,
express regret or guilt, etc., and not just
how to reason correctly)
• This should then be reflected in the respect
shown to the moral emotions in moral
theory
 And so ...
• True moral understanding is deeply context-
dependent.
• This context is defined by our emotional
engagement with other agents. Because of this, it is
important to cultivate our emotional intelligence.
• If we do not do so, and insist instead on thinking of
morality as concerned above all with the application
of abstract rules, we will misunderstand the needs
and interests of other people.
The fable of intelligible
freedom

“[T]he act of a free will, [is] the primary cause of an

individual's existence. Man becomes that which he
wants to be; his volition precedes his existence.”
 The fable of intelligible
freedom

“No one is responsible for his deeds, no one for his nature; to
judge is to be unjust. This is also true when the individual
judges himself. The tenet is as bright as sunlight, and yet
everyone prefers to walk back into the shadow and untruth--
for fear of the consequences.”
 Double prehistory of
good and evil

“The concept of good and evil has a double prehistory: first of

all, in the soul of the ruling clans and castes. The man who has
the power to requite goodness with goodness, evil with evil,
and really does practice requital by being grateful and
vengeful, is called ‘good.’ The man who is unpowerful and
cannot requite is taken for bad.”
“Good and bad are for a time equivalent to noble and base,
master and slave. Conversely, one does not regard the enemy
as evil: he can requite.”
 Double prehistory of
good and evil

“[I]n the souls of oppressed, powerless men, every other man

is taken for hostile, inconsiderate, exploitative, cruel, sly,
whether he be noble or base. Evil is their epithet for man”
 A brief (Nietzschean)
history of morality
• Stage 1:
• The Master Morality that characterized the
ancient Greek and Roman world.
• The key feature of the noble type is his/
her refusal to PITY the weak: the weak
are simply inferior types. They are there
to be used as needed, and therefore have
no moral claims on those who use them.
 A brief (Nietzschean)
history of morality

• Stage 2:
• The Slave Morality that is Christianity
and that triumphs over pagan Rome
in 313 CE (when Constantine legalizes
Christianity throughout the Empire),
and more fully in 379 CE (when
Theodosius I makes Christianity the
official religion of the Empire).
 A brief (Nietzschean)
history of morality

• The key to this development is that the very

qualities that the nobles despised came to
be seen as the highest, most godly values.
Meekness, humility, charity, pity: these are
the qualities of the sort of people who have
become accustomed to SUFFERING. And
so suffering itself becomes the very symbol
of moral purity.
 A brief (Nietzschean)
history of morality

• Stage 3:
• The rise of the great moral systems,
like deontology and utilitarianism, in
the West. This begins in the Age of
Enlightenment (18th-century), and
continues still.
 A brief (Nietzschean)
history of morality

• The essence of modern morality is that it

is just a dressed-up Christian ethics.
However, it is either blithely ignorant of
its own historical origins, or it is aware of
but ashamed of them and therefore seeks
to cover them over. So the fundamental
feature of modern morality for Nietzsche
is its dishonesty and stupidity.
 Origin of Justice
“Justice (fairness) originates among approximately equal
powers [...] When there is no clearly recognizable
supreme power and a battle would lead to fruitless and
mutual injury, one begins to think of reaching an
understanding and negotiating the claims on both sides:
the initial character of justice is barter.”
“Thus, justice is requital and exchange on the assumption
of approximately equal positions of strength. For this
reason, revenge belongs initially to the realm of justice: it
is an exchange. Likewise gratitude.”
Man always acts for the good

“Socrates and Plato are right: whatever man does, he

always acts for the good; that is, in a way that seems
to him good (useful) according to the degree of his
intellect, the prevailing measure of his rationality.”
 The Cyclopses of culture

“[T]he wildest forces break the way, destroying at first, but yet
their activity was necessary, so that later a gentler civilization
might set up its house there. Frightful energies-that which is
called evil are the Cyclopean architects and pathmakers of
humanity.”
 Content of the conscience

“ ... is everything that was during the years of our

childhood regularly demanded of us without reason
by people we honoured or feared ... The belief in
authorities is the source of the conscience: it is
therefore not the voice of God in the heart of man but
the voice of some men in man.”
 Habit of seeing opposites
“The general imprecise way of observing sees
everywhere in nature opposites (as, e.g., ‘warm and
cold’) where they are, not opposites, but differences of
degree. This bad habit has led us into wanting to
comprehend and analyze the inner world, too, the
spiritual-moral world, in terms of such opposites.”
“An unspeakable amount of pain, arrogance, harshness,
estrangement, frigidity has entered into human feelings
because we think we see opposites instead of
transitions.”
Concept of morality of custom
“morality is nothing other (therefore no more!) than obedience to
customs, of whatever kind they may be; customs, however, are
the traditional way of behaving and evaluating.
“In things in which no tradition commands there is no
morality; and the less life is determined by tradition, the
smaller the circle of morality.
“The free human being is immoral because in all things he is
determined to depend upon himself and not upon a
tradition”
“What is tradition? A higher authority which one obeys, not
because it commands what is useful to us, but because it
commands.”
Concept of morality of custom
“Those moralists who, following in the footsteps of Socrates,
offer the individual a morality of self-control and temperance as
a means to his own advantage, as his personal key to happiness,
are the exceptions—and if it seems otherwise to us that is
because we have been brought up in their aftereffect:”
“they all take a new path under the highest disapprobation of all
advocates of the morality of custom—they cut themselves off
from the community, as immoral men, and are in the
profoundest sense evil.”
Thus to a virtuous Roman of the old stamp every Christian
who "considered first of all his own salvation" appeared—
evil.”
First proposition of civilization

“the mighty proposition with which civilization begins:

any custom is better than no custom.”
 Herd-Instinct
“Wherever we meet with a morality we find a valuation and
order of rank of the human impulses and activities.”
“These valuations and orders of rank are always the
expression of the needs of a community or herd: that which is
in the first place to its advantage - and in the second place
and third place - is also the authoritative standard for the
worth of every individual.”
“By morality the individual is taught to become a
function of the herd, and to ascribe to himself value only
as a function.”
 Moral Facts

“There are no moral phenomena at all, only a moral

interpretation of phenomena ... “
 On Master-Slave Morality
“There is master-morality and slave-morality; --I would at once add,
however, that in all higher and mixed civilisations, there are also attempts
at the reconciliation of the two moralities ... moral values have either
originated in a ruling caste, pleasantly conscious of being different from
the ruled--or among the ruled class, the slaves and dependents of all
sorts.
“In the first case, when it is the rulers who determine the conception
"good," it is the exalted, proud disposition which is regarded as the
distinguishing feature, and that which determines the order of rank”
The noble type of man separates from himself the beings in whom the
opposite of this exalted, proud disposition displays itself: he despises
them. Let it at once be noted that in this first kind of morality the
antithesis "good" and "bad" means practically the same as "noble" and
"despicable"
On Master-Slave Morality
“the antithesis "good" and "evil" is of a different origin. The cowardly,
the timid, the insignificant, and those thinking merely of narrow utility
are despised; moreover, also, the distrustful, with their constrained
glances, the self-abasing, the dog-like kind of men who let themselves
be abused, the mendicant flatterers, and above all the liars:--it is a
fundamental belief of all aristocrats that the common people are
untruthful. "We truthful ones"--the nobility in ancient Greece called
themselves”
“A morality of the ruling class, however, is more especially foreign and
irritating to present-day taste in the sternness of its principle that one
has duties only to one's equals; that one may act towards beings of a
lower rank, towards all that is foreign, just as seems good to one, or "as
the heart desires," and in any case "beyond good and evil": it is here
that sympathy and similar sentiments can have a place.”
On The Origin of “Good” & “Bad”
“The lordly right of giving names extends so far that one
should allow oneself to conceive the origin of language
itself as an expression of power on the part of the rulers:
they say "this is this and this," they seal every thing and
event with a sound and, as it were, take possession of it.”
“It follows from this origin that the word "good" was
definitely not linked from the first and by necessity to
"unegoistic" actions, as the superstition of these
genealogists of morality would have it. Rather it was
only when aristocratic value judgments”
 Will to Power & Morality
The tendency in every living thing to
dominate, overcome, exploit, and subjugate
everything that opposes it. For Nietzsche this
“force” exists as much in plants as in humans.
How Does The Will to Power
Relate to Morality

• morality is an attempt to deny this force,

to limit it, to discredit it.
• Why?
• Because morality, according to
Nietzsche, is all about “equating
another person’s will with our own”.
How Does The Will to Power
Relate to Morality?

• So, assuming that the other person is

weaker than me and is therefore afraid
of being exploited by me, my adopting
his/her will involves refraining from
exploiting him/her.
• If everyone does this, or if a critical
mass does it, the result will be a
denial of the will to power.
 God is Dead

• with the death of God, Judeo-Christian value system is

rendered empty

• morality is a political tool of sorts--subverting person’s

natural tendency toward becoming the living
manifestation of the Will to Power

• our only hope in overcoming this subversion is by

constructing meaning anew, with every choice we make

• this is his exhortation to all to become the Overman--to

overcome the self--and be the man of becoming
The Death of Modernity
 Postmodernity is ...

An attitude whereby one cultivates an “incredulity

toward meta-narratives.”

~Jean-François Lyotard
Postmodern Art & Architecture
Postmodern Art & Architecture
Is Nietzsche Right?
 Is Nietzsche Right?

• Deny that he has actually described us

correctly.
• Agree that he has described us correctly
but that the description is irrelevant to
the way we ought to be.
 Is Nietzsche Right?
• Descriptive statements (or “is” statements).
• Examples: “The earth is flat”; “I will arrive in
town at 5:00”; “I never get dressed before noon”;
“temperature is mean kinetic energy”.
• Evaluative statements (or “ought” statements).
• Examples: “I should get dressed before noon”;
“you should try not to laugh when George W.
Bush speaks”; “The state has no place in the
bedrooms of the nation (Trudeau)”
 “ Why do I live?”
Nowadays, in the century of difficult and pre6y sophis7cated life that brings you God has purpose for me in heaven, but I must experience life on earth and let
a lot of different situa7ons a lot of people have their life goals. I reckon that a these experiences mold me into becoming the person I am to become.
person without a life goal just was7ng his or her 7me. I live because I reckon that
I live right now because of my family and anyone close to me. I live right
life is a huge and delight giA that was presented by my parents as a result of love.
now to achieve one of my purpose in life is to break the family curse and be the
I can truly highlight that now I have a huge responsibility to become a person
first to graduate from college. I live right now to make God, my mother, my
that is going to fully support my family, and help my younger brother to do his
family and myself proud of becoming the best version of me. I live right now so I
first steps. In Ukrainian culture, we
can be a role model for children in the community that I grew up in, to be able to
value family a lot and always aim to help family members and respect family
see that there is a world bigger and brighter than the inner city community
tradi7ons. My parents gave me a great chance to succeed in life, but it is highly
partying, smoking, drinking, killing and having babies at a young age. I live right
significant to use it properly. With all respect to my family members, I can also
now because God has instilled something inside of me that I don’t know which
state that I live for myself too. I can describe it by saying that life is beau7ful and
adjectives to use to describe it. But it’s something that driving me to live,
every day contemporary people have been crea7ng something new that is
something that that’s pushing me regardless of each set back, each struggle, each
gorgeous, unique and a6rac7ve to me. I live because I want to experience new,
hurt. I live right now to get educated by the word of the Lord and use it as my
emo7ons, difficul7es, meet new people, visit those beau7ful places that we have
guidance in times of doubt or confusion to “Why do I Live”
around the world, and also to create a life, that will be the representa7on of me,
that is something that I want to leave aAer me. • Sasha
Overall, I want to recapitulate that I live because I want to experience the
world in all its colors, I reckon that we have only one life and we have to use
this gi; to the max.
• Georgiy

I believed that I was born for a reason with many purposes to fulfil. These
purposes were ordained by God Almighty and through growing, increasing
knowledge and experiences, I get closer to fulfil these purposes. I live to
understand my meaning of life and to help other while doing so. I believe that
with the right guidance from God, my faith and experiences will shape me into the
person that God wants me to be. I live because I am supposed to make a change in
someone’s life, whether it be a friend or a family or even a stranger. I live because
 “ Why do I wish for or do
anything?”
I think the things I wish for or do, have to be divided into two separate no ups and downs and excitement, does it even really feel like you’re living? This
categories. I think that the majority of the things I do or wish for are
dictated by society and what is expected of me at this stage of my life: is why I think people wish to do anything, for a way to have fulfilment in their life.
study, get a degree, get a job, be sociable. Are these things important to
me? Yes, they are, to a certain extent, but just because with these things I
• Will
will probably be able to get what I really wish for in the future.
The second category is made up by my feelings and instincts, which make
me wish for or do things because of love, hunger, sadness, or anger. I
think these are my purest and truest wishes that make me do things that I
really want to do or that I want to do at the moment, especially in the case
of anger and sadness, and that maybe I will later regret. I think this
category of wishes and things we do is the one I should always give
importance to, as they are based on instincts. Probably these instincts
have adapted through the years to the society we live in, getting more
intricated. However, I think that at their base there is survival like any other
animal or plant on the earth.
In fact, I think humans are intelligent and during their lifetime have created
amazing things; however, I also think that we are nothing more than
another block in this enormous puzzle that it is the universe. We just have
overcomplicated our lives as a consequence of living in an
overcomplicated society. Sometimes I do wonder how the world would be
if we were to start everything from zero, if we would have the same values,
wishes and we would do the same things
• Mariasole

There are many possibili7es for why someone might wish to do something. Self

pleasure, entertainment, to be6er yourself, to help others, for revenge… ext. To

put all these ac7ons together and to summarize why someone would do any of

these things, I would say it is for fulfilment in life. If your life is filled with nothing,
“ What is the universe?”
 “ Why do I exist?”
I believe that our true existence is the soul and the body is just a temporal However, I know that I must find my own meaning of life and I cannot allow
vessel to transport it in the earthly realm; therefore, our existence is tied to the others influence my purpose in life. I am aware that I am here on this earth to find
eternal. I also believe that death comes to take away the things of this here world my own meaning of life. I am certain I will not allow others religious views
but can not destroy the soul. With having that understanding of the soul, I see life on influence my true purpose in life. However, I am 100% certain that one day my life
earth as a temporal place where the only thing that will not fade away is what you will come to an end and I would like to figure out why I exist. This may take some
have done pertaining to the eternal. 7me but as I go through different stages in my life, I hope to find that answer on my
own.
Based on the bible and my belief in it, the bible says that heaven and earth
• Andrea
shall pass away but God words shall not pass away. In His word speaks of being
rewarded in the next life for the things you have done here on earth. A scripture that
refers to this is found in Matthew 6:19-20, where it urges us to store up treasures in
heaven where they will last forever, rather than on earth where they can be stolen or
destroyed. I believe that the way we decide to live our lives on earth will allow us to
receive rewards that will not be annihilated by death in this world.
The meaning that will never be annihilated by death is what you have done
for God while here on earth. The reason I believe that is because life on earth is
based on our choices, whether good or bad. However, the after life will not be much
of a choice, but rather based on the choices chosen on earth.
• Keron

This ques7on relates to me as I oAen find myself asking “what my true

purpose in life?”. I examine my life and oAen wonder if the choices I make will give
meaning to my life. I find people my age have already figured out their purpose in
life and I oAen feel as I have fallen behind. Society oAen dictates that in order to
have fulfillment in our lives we must first have a career, a family and a house.
However, I feel that these indicators which are dictated by society do not represent
true fulfillment in one’s life.
I believe I must be the best person I can be. I some7mes believe I exist to
make an impact in someone’s’ life, even if it the impact is small. I don’t believe that
I will ever invent an object that will change people’s lives but as long as I am able to
bring happiness to those around me, this will make me content.
 “ What will come of what I do today?”
Every day when you wake up there are millions of possibili7es for what might you. We are supposed to learn from our experience, even though it can be hard
because we are humans but that is when we rely on God for proper guidance in
happen and how that may affect you in the future. Everything done today posi7ve each situation. How we approach and choose to handle whatever happen to us
today will determine how much growth or reduction there is in our lives.
or nega7ve can affect how you live your life. This is why it is best to have a healthy
In conclusion, I believe that if I choose kind to someone today, I will grow
rou7ne, so that you can have a posi7ve outcome for the future. For example, say emotionally and become closer to God. And based on my experiences, that
kindness will come back around which might not be to you directly, but to
you wanted to become a professional golfer, and to do that you needed to
someone you love or care about when you least expect it. The same goes for if I
prac7ce almost every day for years, but you never can find 7me to fit it in. Then choose to be mean, God doesn’t like ugly so I try my best, with my imperfection
to be follow the guidance of the Lord so the reactions of my actions today can be a
you ask yourself what will come of what I do today? If there is no prac7ce today, good one in the future.
• Sasha
you will not be able to complete your goal in the future.

• Will

Every decision I take today will affect something in the future whether it be
good or bad. I believe that with every action there is a reaction. Everything that
happens today should therefore be analyzed thoroughly before making any
decision. I believe in the saying that “Everything happens for a reason” and the
reason for this belief is because I have experience this. Sometimes things happen
to us to test our heart and actions, our mind and body to see if they are cognitive
dissonance. I believe that my actions today will later either lead me closer to
becoming the person I want to be or give me a setback. In life we get situations
that we feel we should never face such as heartbreak, someone hurt you emotional
or physically and we wonder why. Our decision about how we are going to react to
each situation is important, but this was an experience that had to happen to mold
 “ Is there anything real in my life?”
If I was a religious person, I would have said the God is the only real thing in strictness, and I like who I am, but I want my brother to be even be6er and
my life. However, as someone who was raised Catholic and then forced to a6end a absolutely ready to help him in all his beginnings. Therefore, I can state that my
Pentecostal church, these experiences have changed my prospec7ve about love to my brother is the realest thing that I have right now.
religion.
Georgiy
Today, as a 32-year-old I believe the only real thing in my life is my family.
When I was in my early twen7es I was diagnosed with epilepsy and since then
have been on medica7on. When if was first diagnosed, my parents being religious
took me to church and believed I could be cured from my epilepsy.
A religious person would say I had no faith and that is why I couldn’t be
cured but I am aware that I was born this way and it is something I have to live
with. As I became older and con7nued to deal with my illness, I have learned to
live life day by day as tomorrow you never know what will happen. I have learned
that the only real thing in my life is my family as they have helped me in my 7mes
of need.
However, I know this is my current perspec7ve and as I age and experience
different things, there will be new real things or people in my life. This could be
children or a spouse but currently it is my family as they have supported me
through my journey with my illness. They helped me through a dark period in my
life, when there were many uncertain7es.
Andrea

The 21st century is full of a lot of fake things, nowadays, we can obtain a fake
informa7on and perceive it as truth. Fake emo7ons, is also a big and sad factor
that harms modern society. In this world some7mes you ask yourself, what is real
on my life? Friends? Love? Emo7ons? What? I can answer this ques7on, saying
that my love to my family members is one of those real things that surround me,
especially to my younger brother. I wanted to have a younger brother really much,
but my parents wanted a daughter, so I was the happiest person in the world when
they told me that we were going to have another partner of our family and he will
be male.
What is love for me? Love is when you ready to give your life for the person
that you love with all canners of your heart, love is when you cannot hold
emo7ons when this person tells you something pleasant. I was raised in love and
“ What is the meaning of my life?”
 “ Is there any meaning in my life that will not be
annihilated by the inevitability of death which
awaits me?”
I believe that our true existence is the soul and the body is just a temporal
vessel to transport it in the earthly realm; therefore, our existence is tied to the
eternal. I also believe that death comes to take away the things of this here world
but can not destroy the soul. With having that understanding of the soul, I see life
on earth as a temporal place where the only thing that will not fade away is what
you have done pertaining to the eternal.
Based on the bible and my belief in it, the bible says that heaven and earth
shall pass away but God words shall not pass away. In His word speaks of being
rewarded in the next life for the things you have done here on earth. A scripture
that refers to this is found in Matthew 6:19-20, where it urges us to store up
treasures in heaven where they will last forever, rather than on earth where they
can be stolen or destroyed. I believe that the way we decide to live our lives on
earth will allow us to receive rewards that will not be annihilated by death in this
world.
The meaning that will never be annihilated by death is what you have done
for God while here on earth. The reason I believe that is because life on earth is
based on our choices, whether good or bad. However, the after life will not be
much of a choice, but rather based on the choices chosen on earth.
• Keron
 “ What meaning has my finite existence in
an infinite universe?”
I believe that my finite existence in an infinite universe has no meaning. Although I want

to think my existence has some sort of meaning or impact in this universe, it simply is not

true. In a world with a popula7on of over 7 billion people, not even including the number

of people that have passed away over the previous thousands of years, one person is so

small and irrelevant to the universe. Everyone that lives ends up dying eventually, it is a

part of life, and the universe will con7nue the way it is meant to, regardless of when I or

anyone else dies. That is my realis7c opinion, although I guess one person’s finite

existence can change the universe in cases where people create things like the internet

and electricity that change the world, but even those things are finite and will one day be

completely irrelevant in an infinite universe.

• Riley
 “ How am I to live?”
I believe that you should live your life in the pursuit of happiness. Spend 7me doing However, I do not think that it is easy to live the best way possible, as this
implies a certain kind of freedom that very few people have.
things that gra7fy you. Understand the difference between things that provide instant I find myself agreeing with one of the points Tolstoy talks about in his book
gra7fica7on and long-term gra7fica7on. An example of long-term gra7fica7on could be
“A Confession”. The point discussed is about Epicureanism, where people
are aware that lifetime is limited and, therefore, they should enjoy the time
doing something that does not make you very happy in the moment but you know will they have.
However, this is not always the case. I am aware that I am lucky, I do not
benefit you in the end, while short term would be something that brings you immediate have the life of the serfs Tolstoy refers to, and I also do not live in the
conditions that some people live in 3rd world countries. However, I feel that
temporary gra7fica7on. Once you have this understanding of the two, try to find a to live my best life I would need to have a type of freedom that is hard to
have, especially at my age.
balance that you think will make you the happiest. Also I believe you should realize that
Therefore, the type of choices I can make to make my life better are
things that may make you happy today might not next year or next month so to keep limited, and even with these limited choices I almost never go with the
option that pleases me the most, but rather with the one that pleases other
adjus7ng what you spend your 7me and energy doing in order to con7nue to be as people who I love or the one that at the moment will cost me a sacrifice but
that should bring me happiness later on.
happy as possible. I think this way because life is so short and once you die you do not I think this is how I have been living my life so far. I am one of those
people that prefers to keep the best at last, hoping that there will always
know what happens, there could be nothing and this could be all you have so you
be something better around the corner. However, numerous times I have
should spend your 7me happy rather than was7ng 7me depressed or doing things you been proved that what was around the corner was not as good as I
expected.
do not actually want to do. The only real rule I would have is that you should not do So, I have started wondering, is it worth to put my life in stand-by, to
sacrifice in the meantime to be happy in the future? I still do not exactly
things that impede or hurt another person’s ability to be happy. Another part to this know the answer to this question, but I think sometimes it is worth and
others it is not.
would be to do things that truly make you happy and enjoy regardless of other people’s
I am starting to figure out that in my way of living I need to understand
opinions and judgements. what is worth sacrificing for and what it is not, and in these cases I should
just learn to enjoy the moment (Carpe Diem).
• Mariasole
• Riley

I think I am to live the best way possible as the time humans have to live is
relatively short if compared to the universe’s; plus, I do not know when I
will die, so this time could be even shorter than what I expect.
Jean Paul
Sartre
Resistance Fighter
Existentialist
Marxist
Author
 Existentialism Is A
Humanism (EIH)

• it is a defence of Sartre’s brand of

existentialism
• he in fact distanced himself from the
essay
 Quietism
“[S]ince [existentialists] ignore the commandments of
God and all values prescribed as eternal, nothing
remains but what is strictly voluntary. Everyone can
do what he likes, and will be incapable, from such a
point of view, of condemning either the point of view
or the action of anyone else.” p. 1

OR

Quietism is the attitude of people who say, “let

others do what I cannot do.” p. 10
If God is dead ...
then what?
 Existence v. Essence

• Knife-maker
• fusion of telos, idea, mode of
production
• Human-maker
Existentialism
Existence Precedes Essence
We are our choices
Existential Art
Existential Art
Existential Art
Subjectivity
 Subjectivity (Sense 1)

• we look to man as we find him in

reality, not as he is in theory
• it is in action that a person’s existence
is determined
• not some essence separate from lived
experience
 I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace
Sometimes the deuces
Its one life
And there's no returning, no revising
One life and so its time to open up your closet
~ Jerry Herman
The only person you are destined to become is the
person you decide to be.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Subjectivity (Sense 2)
• the absolute truth of consciousness as
it attains to itself
• there must be an absolute truth, and
there is such a truth which is simple,
easily attained and within the reach of
everybody;
• it consists in one’s immediate sense
of one’s self
 Essence vs.
Condition
it is impossible to find in each and every man
a universal essence that can be called
human nature, there is nevertheless a
human universality of condition.
 Anguish
When a man commits himself to anything,
fully realising that he is not only choosing
what he will be, but is thereby at the same
time a legislator deciding for the whole of
mankind – in such a moment a man cannot
escape from the sense of complete and
profound responsibility.
 Abandonment
“We are left alone, without excuse. That is
what I mean when I say that man is
condemned to be free. Condemned, because
he did not create himself, yet is
nevertheless at liberty, and from the
moment that he is thrown into this world he
is responsible for everything he does.”
 Despair
we limit ourselves to a reliance upon that
which is within our wills
 Optimism
What could be more optimistic than putting
the possibility of choice at the centre of
your life?
 Authenticity
Full commitment + integrity + good faith +
clearness = authenticity
 authenticity and
existence
existentialism places great emphasis on the worldly
or "situated" character of human thought and reason

it is only through the examination of lived

experience--our embeddedness in the world--that
we can glean anything meaningful about the human
experience

the measure of an authentic life lies in the integrity

of a narrative, that to be a self is to constitute a story
in which a kind of wholeness prevails, to be the
author of oneself as a unique individual
 authenticity and
existence
existentialism arises, then, when we accept that we cannot provide
substantive, universal norms for existing

there is a distinction between what I do as myself and what I do as

anyone would do it, e.g., to worship as everyone worships, to play
games as anyone plays them, etc.

so, to live according to the dictates of the norms which govern

worshipping or game play is to live as another, to live as all live

it is possible to live not according to the accepted norms governing

our interactions but as a being who constructs their own meaning--
to live a life where the projects in which I engage are my own.

this attitude is authenticity

Sartre
 Sartre
• it is in Sartre we have the form of existentialism familiar to most
of us
• what matters is the way of existing, not existence itself
• to be human is to have a dual nature that no other being has: to
be “en soi” (in itself) and “pour soi” (for itself), the latter being
unique to human reality
we are what we are not and are not what we are
• one’s identity is constituted neither by nature nor by culture--to
exist is to constitute your identity through authentic choice. Our
authentic existence, then, can only be determined within the
framework of an entire choice-metric--one’s entire life
 Sartre

• it is because there are others in the world that I can

take a third-person perspective on myself
• but, this is alienating in that our third person identity
is something given to us by the “Other”. The answer
is to transcend this ‘given’ identity and exist as an
authentic, self-making being through authentic choice
• choice cannot be simply “of the moment”--to be
authentic, I must understand my choice in light of the
potential wholeness of my existence
Existentialism
 existentialism

the philosophical theory which holds that

a further set of categories, governed by the
norm of authenticity, is necessary to
grasp human existence and its meaning
 Midterm Assignment
Mark Twain once said "It is curious that physical courage
should be so common in the world and moral courage so
rare." Using one or more of the theorists we have discussed
in class, examine how moral courage is needed to answer
the question of the meaning of life. HINT: the answer to the
question of the meaning of life seems to be tied to the idea
that the answer can only be found through living a certain
life. Why is that life so hard?

1 - 1.5 pages SINGLE SPACED, 12 FONT. DUE OCT.

19th IN CLASS.
 Kierkegaard

• in the story of Abraham, he saw that authentic

existence can only be achieved through the
repudiation of universalized meaning or value
• ethics--the universalized will of human kind--
must be rejected to make room for the authentic
will of the individual
• this is his ‘teleological suspension of the ethical’
where meaning must be constructed anew at the
moment of every choice we make
 Kierkegaard

• it is not the content of Abraham’s act but the

way in which he accomplishes it

• truth, then, is a mode of being rather than a

mode of knowing
 Nietzsche

• with the death of God, Judeo-Christian value system is

rendered empty

• morality is a political tool of sorts--subverting person’s

natural tendency toward becoming the living
manifestation of the Will to Power

• our only hope in overcoming this subversion is by

constructing meaning anew, with every choice we make

• this is his exhortation to all to become the Overman--to

overcome the self--and be the man of becoming
 existentialism

• three defining insights

• the human condition cannot be described using our inherited categories

• science cannot give us a complete description of what it is to be human

• quantified data cannot capture what is meaningful

 existentialism
• three defining insights

• value, or life’s meaningfulness, can only be determined by reference to the

subjective contexts within which our practices unfold

• subjectivity here does not mean arbitrariness or nihilism--context constrains the

possible meanings we can assign to our world

• context, then, provides one framework for the narrative unity necessary for
authentic existence, even in the face of the constant construction of self-hood--
our choices determine authenticity

• To be is to choose

• there is no reality except in action (p. 10)

Socrates - Tolstoy - Nietzsche - Sartre

Dialogue Confession Aphorisms Essay

Purpose of Defends his Narrative of expose Outlines human

Writing way of Life his conversion hypocrisy condition
Pre-revolutionary Turn of 20th C. Post-WWII
Setting Athens
Russia Germany France
Inner God v. The kingdom of Even if He existed
God God is within you
God is Dead it matters not
Public Gods
authority, value authority, value Modern world
Questions authenticity
of life, death of life, death view
The The faithless life knowledge is a
Existence
unexamined is meaningless; tool of power;
Main Claims precedes
life is not Rationality has reality is an
no answers
essence
worth living interpretation
Athens vs. Visigoths