Existentialism: Questions SEP 29

Friday, September 25, 2026

Questions SEP 29

Presentations-

Bella Ambriz-Kaag. Natalie Moreno-Wept. Nicholas-The Abysmal Hotel and The Horse. Vanshika-

Kaag 156-193

Is it generally true, do you think, that "men [and women] of knowledge... have never sought ourselves"? What do you think FN meant? Why should Faust desire a form of knowledge that is more than "just human"? 161
What did FN mean in calling himself "dynamite"? 158 Is philosophy and/or humanity well served by philosophers who exalt power and sow chaos?
Any comment on Hamlet's Yorick soliloquy? 159 What do you think/feel when contemplating a human skull?
Why would FN have found his old boarding house "revolting"? Have you ever been disappointed, on visiting the former haunts of a famous deceased person?
"...women philosophers have typically been better about actually6 playing with the kids." 164. Any comment? (For the record: I played with my kids a lot!). And: "Fatherhood has traditionally been about limiting a child's sense of possibility." 166. I know that wasn't the case for me, or for my kids. Was it for you?
Guests were "chatting happily about FN's final days." 168. Does it bother you to imagine random future strangers making light of your own eventual demise? Why would anyone ever do that? Have you ever?
What do you think of FN's "wish"? 173
Was Adorno right about how we become human? 176 Is one really “nothing”?
Is there a way to gain the benefit of “altitude” without suffering thee “pathos of distance”? 177
Is the line between madness and profundity really so fine? 179. If so, would it be prudent to live un-reflectively?
Is the case of Empedocles a cautionary tale for philosophers, especially those who propose a stark and instructive dialectic between seeming opposites like “love and strife”? 182 Had he really “transcended the long suffering of life” by ending it violently? 188
Do you think Nietzsche really was “aware of his exaggeration” in ECCE HOMO? 185 Was it a work of genius or madness? Or both?
“Bartleby doesn’t need to give a reason. This is a story about volition.” 191. Comment? Does volition really exempt reason?
Do most parents really try to instill a strong sense of free will in their kids? 192. Is there a way to do that without relinquishing appropriate parental authority?

Wept Ch18-20

"Virtually no one escapes the pain of love." 207. Is that really true? Or is it a myth foisted by the pop music industry, among others? Isn't the joy and reward of love at least as common?
Was FN right that no one can show anyone else the way out of despair? And is it really plausible that "all serious thinkers contemplate suicide"? 208
Do you ever deliberately assume the "cosmic perspective"? 209. Does it help?
"Teaching philosophy and using it in life are very different undertakings." Comment? [My comment: they're really not at all different for me, I think.]
Any comment on Paul Ree's and FN's different attitudes towards godlessness? 210
Do you have any experience of obsession comparable to Josef's with Bertha? If you knew you'd waste hundreds of days on a pointless obsession, would that cure you of it? 213
Is "anger discharge" therapeutic? 215
What does it mean to say that "time cannot be broken"? 223 Does the phrase "all in good time" suggest otherwise? Couldn't we all do a better job of time-management? Should we stop commodifying it ("time is $") and treat it instead as one of our most precious assets?
“More in love with desire than with the desired.” 228. Comment? Do YOU “manufacture your own icon” etc.? If so, does that make you religious… even if you renounce conventional faith?
Have philosophy departments trained “angst doctors”? 230. Should they?
“Living safely is dangerous.” Comment?
What does FN mean by “applied philosophy”? 232 Has its time come? Do we “kill gods but sanctify their replacements”? 233 Should we?
Do you “think best while walking”? 235 Do you think best alone, or in conversation?
Do you find it helpful to think of life as “a spark between two identical voids”? 238. Are they really identical?
Is it possible or desirable to believe and act consistently on the premise that “only this instant is real”? 240
Do you find cemeteries clarifying and perspective-giving? 241
“To love woman is to hate life!” 243 Is there any way to reconcile that statement with FN’s professed commitment to valuing THIS life, and no other?
Do you think most philosophy springs from “the drive to escape death’s oblivion”? 246. What else might it spring from?
How will you know when you’ve “consummated your life”? 248f. Is eternal recurrence life-changing, to you?
“The best teacher is one who learns from his student.” Comment?

6 comments:

BrentSeptember 28, 2026 at 10:31 AM
2. Nietzsche self-referentially using dynamite is appropriate in the sense that he was a very disruptive force. If he did not destabilize the foundations of western culture himself, he certainly shined a light on the issues that did. Nietzsche thought himself a liberating force, one that could inspire a new morality that replaced traditional values. In my opinion, he was more destabilizing than constructive. I enjoy Nietzsche because I can read him with an optimistic attitude regarding the motivation to manifest oneself in service to life, but I maintain he was a better diagnostician than provider of solutions. It's not obvious that his campaign against traditional morality was benevolently motivated. He may have been exhausting his power as best as he could, that is, by intellectually challenging convention. Perhaps he poked conceptual holes in custom because his physical body relegated this method to be the most potent application of his perceived personal power.

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Natalie MorenoSeptember 28, 2026 at 6:52 PM
What do you think of FN's "wish"? 173 Nietzsche wishes for anyone he cares for to suffer so that they may find strength and significance in their lives. He believed that suffering was a powerful tool in cultivating self-growth and greatness, so much so that he wished that on the ones he cared for most. Well, I am glad not to have been part of his inner circle, as it is a bit extreme. While I do agree that overcoming obstacles in life undeniably bring feelings of accomplishment and fulfillment, I cannot accept that it is only in suffering and desolation that we find worth in life.
Is the line between madness and profundity really so fine? 179. If so, would it be prudent to live un-reflectively? If profundity can only be found in a trance brought on by severe isolation and self-deprivation, then I don’t think it can be separated from madness at all. Luckily, though, I do not think that you must abandon all joy and interaction in your life to be profound. Practicing no reflection and over-indulgence in inward reflection pose equal threats to mental clarity.
“Bartleby doesn’t need to give a reason. This is a story about volition.” 191. Comment? Does volition really exempt reason? While you may act against reason of your own volition, I think it is impossible to sever this attachment entirely. If volition is independent from outside influence, it must be rooted in reason that guides the decision. If Bartleby truly chose to abandon his job and starve himself to death, there must have been a reason, or it is not possible that be made the decision at all.
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MarissaSeptember 29, 2026 at 7:55 AM
While reading the chapters for today, I got curious about Nietzsche’s death and went down a little rabbit hole. I found several pubmed articles where modern neurologists attempted to determine Nietzsche’s condition. The general modern consensus is that he did not have syphillis. I found one compelling research article that concluded he may have had something called CADASIL (an acronym for quite the mouthful of medical terminology). Basically, CADASIL is a hereditary neurological condition that he may have inherited from his father who died of a stroke. It’s a thickening of the blood vessels in the brain, and causes migraines, mini strokes, cognitive decline, and psychiatric symptoms similar to depression or bipolar disorder. Another popular theory is a brain tumor which would explain the blindness as well. I just thought it was interesting as we are looking into his decline, illness, and death. It looks like there are quite a few modern doctors who have been interested in researching his case.
Some Links: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18575181/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26465288/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17881977/
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Screens down. Engage!

In other words, ATTEND class in more than just the literal sense of the word. Please always direct your attention to whoever is speaking, whether Prof or student, and be prepared to participate--above all by listening thoughtfully, and contributing appropriately to discussion. That, along with presence and posted comments/questions, counts as PARTICIPATION (which can be a difference-maker in terms of the final grade... and far more importantly in the long run, in terms of the quality of your education).

COURSE GOALS (I refuse to use the cliche "Learning Outcomes" lingo favored by academic bureaucrats)

Many self-avowed Existentialists have a not-entirely-undeserved reputation for being sad, solemn, pessimistic, cynical, despairing, and world-weary (and this goes for both the Atheistic and Theistic branches, from Nietzsche to Sartre and Kierkegaard to Jaspers et al). But we must recall what Camus said about Sisyphus: we must imagine him HAPPY. I usually teach a course called The Philosophy of Happiness in the Fall. This is the first time I'm teaching Existentialism instead. But a personal GOAL is to say many of the same things I would have said in that class. To wit: A philosophy that takes human freedom and responsibility seriously really SHOULD pursue and value happiness. On my reading, this is what Existentialists and Pragmatists share: a commitment to free and intelligent action in service of human flourishing. So a primary GOAL of our course is to show that Existentialists can and should be happy. Another GOAL is to show that the best of Existentialism is also the best of Pragmatism. (I call myself, when pressed to produce labels, a pragmatic-stoic/naturalistic/humanistic/democratic and pluralistic epicurean .) More broadly, one of our GOALS is to survey the roots and branches of a philosophy that has long historical antecedents going back centuries, that got its wings from Nietzsche and Kierkegaard (and Emerson and Thoreau, in the space of intersection between it and Pragmatism) in the 19th century, and that gained a name and a following in the 20th century and beyond with Sarte, de Beauvoir, Camus, Husserl, Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, Merleau-Ponty and others... while finding common ground with the likes of William James and John Dewey and (later) Richard Rorty. And of course, our constant GOAL is to love learning about all this, and consequently to live better lives. jpo

Texts Fall '26

We'll read surveys and commentaries. But I urge you all to dip into primary sources when presenting and posting your reports. The projected "outcome": you'll learn a lot about Existentialism, you'll come to understand some of the Existentialists' salient connections with other philosophies and traditions, and you'll be motivated to apply the insights thus gained in pursuit of your own and others' well-being. You'll find that philosophy again has enhanced your life. It makes sense that we begin with Nietzsche, and specifically with John Kaag's book: he will be our invited Fall Lyceum speaker on October 2. I'm giving us a day off in early September; I expect you all to repay that by attending the Lyceum and meeting our author at the after-party. That's October 2, 5 PM in COE 164 and at a reception site tba... OUR REQUIRED TEXTS: 1) Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction... 2) John Kaag, Hiking With Nietzsche: Becoming Who You Are... 3) Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger,... 4) Mariana Allesandri, Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves through Dark Moods... RECOMMENDED: 5) Irvin Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept...6) The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction... ALSO RECOMMENDED (& on library reserve): Todd May, A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe... Susan Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters... Samuel Scheffler, Death and the Afterlife... Soren Kierkegaard, tba... William James, What Makes a Life Significant; Is Life Worth Living; On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings; tba...

Understood backwards, lived forwards

"Poor Nietzsche's antipathy"

For Nietzsche the saint represents little but sneakingness and slavishness. He is the sophisticated invalid, the degenerate par excellence, the man of insufficient vitality. His prevalence would put the human type in danger. “The sick are the greatest danger for the well. The weaker, not the stronger, are the strong's undoing..." Poor Nietzsche's antipathy is itself sickly enough, but we all know what he means, and he expresses well the clash between the two ideals. The carnivorous-minded “strong man,” the adult male and cannibal, can see nothing but mouldiness and morbidness in the saint's gentleness and self-severity, and regards him with pure loathing. The whole feud revolves essentially upon two pivots: Shall the seen world or the unseen world be our chief sphere of adaptation? and must our means of adaptation in this seen world be aggressiveness or non-resistance? The debate is serious. In some sense and to some degree both worlds must be acknowledged and taken account of; and in the seen world both aggressiveness and non-resistance are needful. It is a question of emphasis, of more or less. Is the saint's type or the strong-man's type the more ideal?" --William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture XV

Spinoza and James on true slave morality: to be free, don't just negate the bad; affirm the good

Spinoza long ago wrote in his Ethics that anything that a man can avoid under the notion that it is bad he may also avoid under the notion that something else is good. He who habitually acts sub specie mali, under the negative notion, the notion of the bad, is called a slave by Spinoza. To him who acts habitually under the notion of good he gives the name of freeman. See to it now, I beg you, that you make freemen of your pupils by habituating them to act, whenever possible, under the notion of a good. Get them habitually to tell the truth, not so much through showing them the wickedness of lying as by arousing their enthusiasm for honor and veracity. Wean them from their native cruelty by imparting to them some of your own positive sympathy with an animal's inner springs of joy. And, in the lessons which you may be legally obliged to conduct upon the bad effects of alcohol, lay less stress than the books do on the drunkard's stomach, kidneys, nerves, and social miseries, and more on the blessings of having an organism kept in lifelong possession of its full youthful elasticity by a sweet, sound blood, to which stimulants and narcotics are unknown, and to which the morning sun and air and dew will daily come as sufficiently powerful intoxicants... And if, in addition, you can also see him sub specie boni, and love him as well, you will be in the best possible position for becoming perfect teachers. --William James, Talks to Teachers XV

The Essence of Humanism (1905)

Humanism is a ferment that has ’come to stay.’ It is not a single hypothesis or theorem, and it dwells on no new facts. It is rather a slow shifting in the philosophic perspective, making things appear as from a new centre of interest or point of sight. Some writers are strongly conscious of the shifting, others half unconscious, even though their own vision may have undergone much change. The result is no small confusion in debate, the half-conscious humanists often taking part against the radical ones, as if they wished to count upon the other side... William James, continues: https://www.authorama.com/meaning-of-truth-6.html

Existentialism is a Humanism (1946)

My purpose here is to offer a defence of existentialism against several reproaches that have been laid against it. First, it has been reproached as an invitation to people to dwell in quietism of despair. For if every way to a solution is barred, one would have to regard any action in this world as entirely ineffective, and one would arrive finally at a contemplative philosophy. Moreover, since contemplation is a luxury, this would be only another bourgeois philosophy. This is, especially, the reproach made by the Communists... J-P Sartre, continues: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm

Essentially everything? Bad Faith!

"Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs. In More Everything Forever, science journalist Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow—and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass."

Simone and Henry

“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day.” ― Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex ///// "By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man’s morning work in this world? I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and I threw them out the window in disgust. How, then, could I have a furnished house? I would rather sit in the open air, for no dust gathers on the grass, unless where man has broken ground." --Henry David Thoreau, Walden

HDT

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”...I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.”

Revel and Ricard

"Jean Francois-Revel, a pillar of French intellectual life in our time, became world famous for his challenges to both Communism and Christianity. Twenty-seven years ago, his son, Matthieu Ricard, gave up a promising career as a scientist to study Tibetan Buddhism -- not as a detached observer but by immersing himself in its practice under the guidance of its greatest living masters. Meeting in an inn overlooking Katmandu, these two profoundly thoughtful men explored the questions that have occupied humankind throughout its history. Does life have meaning? What is consciousness? Is man free? What is the value of scientific and material progress? Why is there suffering, war, and hatred? They ask each other questions about ethics, rights, and responsibilities, about knowledge and belief, and they discuss frankly the differences in the way each has tried to make sense of his life..." g'r

Existentialism

Friday, September 25, 2026

Questions SEP 29

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