Existentialism Essays (Examples)

Of all the changes that I would feel if I were to embrace an existential philosophy, the most profound change would be that I would lose my empathy. Right now, I firmly believe in individual choice. However, I also believe that people's choices are shaped and changed by their histories. Therefore, I believe that people should be judged by their actions, but that those actions have to be taken in context of the entire life of the individual. Making all actions an effect of personal choice would prevent me from feeling empathy for those that I find to be unethical.

Having looked at the changes that embracing existentialism would have on my life, I am able to determine that existentialism is not the philosophy for me. I am far too social and empathetic of a person to believe that people are essentially alone in this world. Furthermore, I believe in…

Existentialism is one of the most talked about -- and least understood -- theories today. Broadly, existentialism is the philosophy of existence or experience. More specifically, existentialism is the philosophical cult of nihilism. In other words, existentialism represents the theory that is that each man exists as an individual in a purposeless universe, and that he must oppose this hostile environment through the exercise of his free will.

Camus stresses the idea of being present in the moment to make choices in his novel The Stranger, when Meursault screams, "we are all privileged." The Stranger was inspired by the works of Soren Kierkegaard and the German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger, and was particularly widely read around the mid-20th century alongside the works of the French writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and fellow writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. The main tenets of the movement are set…

Realistically Heidegger was at least vaguely a theist, which is rather contrary to the existentialist mind set of humanism, but his point was still existential and in his early work, at least he attempted to clearly deduce a way of stressing the need for the individual to seek answers through thought and identity, it was only in his later work that he stressed the transcendence of practical thought. To some degree as Flynn puts it Heidegger challenged the existentialists to stop losing the forest for the trees, by over emphasizing the concrete and practical examination over the whole of the greater "being." Yet, he also stresses that we are simply because we exist in the world with practical concerns of the every day and that to some degree this makes us universal to one another and therefore responsible for understanding self and society. (Flynn 51-54)

According to Heidegger the ontological…

Existentialism

'I should seek not the way, but my way." Rather than follow a strict set of rules about what school should or should not be like, the existentialist chooses his or her own vision of education. There is truly no one right way for students to learn or one method of teaching that is universally applicable. Existentialism classrooms therefore offer freedom for both educator and student. The existentialist model also encourages growth and creativity through limitless freedom.

As Blaise Pascal said, "Live today as if you were to die tomorrow." According to this philosophy, the students and teachers would do whatever they felt inspired to do at that moment, and curriculum would be loose. The existentialist teacher eschews structure. The existentialist does not attempt to become a specialist because to do so is too restricting. I agree with the quote, "Specialization diminishes a man-He is a creature of knowledge,…

1998). This is the context that favors ultimate questions by the very nature of our lives. Meaning can be constructed by making a choice in such absurd situation. Meursault's act of murder can be interpreted as an act of courage, a provocation he addressed to death and to uncertainty. Furthermore, extreme situations make hiding impossible and are considered a way of clarifying motives and drives. The existentialist theme of anxiety regarding life, death, contingencies, and extreme situations is obvious in this context and is related to the theme of absurd. For instance, Meursault, while imprisoned, in his cell he realized that he does not an appropriate way of escaping, also because he was never interested in ways of escaping before. However, it should be noticed that Camus' particular form of existentialism is also characterized by observation, detachment and a certain irony towards existence. Moreover, he does not seem to be…

Existentialism and Ed Dante

Jean Paul Sartre's philosophy of existentialism was radically different from previous systems of morality that attempted to determine which actions were inherently morally right and wrong. Sartre instead suggested that human beings are free, within the framework of the cosmic order, to do as they wished. This did not mean, however, that people could simply do what they wanted without consequences. Rather, it meant that their actions created those consequences -- their character and their fate. "The Traditional View (which Sartre argues against)" of morality is that "essence precedes action" (Banach 2006). A bad character, in other words, means that a human being will do bad things. In this traditional view 'Ed Dante' is a bad and immoral person, or at very least a weak and corruptible person, and because of his character he does unethical things.

But Sartre believed there was no inherent essence, good…

One can try to react against social norms by, for example, refusing to conform to sexual norms of morality, but this reaction is in and of itself an acknowledgement of the pervasiveness of the social ideal that Heidegger called inauthentic. Perhaps the classic example of this is the teenager that reacts against his or her parents by doing everything the opposite of what they advise, and thus only shows how deeply the parent's rules have become internalized in his or her consciousness. For the postmodernist, one cannot help but be engaged with the world. Unlike existentialists like Heidegger that saw people as chronically disengaged with reality, postmodernist thought sees engagement as a given. One cannot live outside of culture and language.

For the postmodernist, by rejecting the authentic self, a greater measure of freedom is actually achieved because the individual can both eschew either total obedience to a constructed social…

Existentialism: A History

Existentialism is a philosophical school of thought that addresses the "problem of being" (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2010). Existentialist questions involve the nature of man in relation to the universe, the subjective nature of "I" versus the objective "we," the creation and measure of meaning in a world with no intrinsic meaning, standards of morality in the absence of Divine Law (God), and the creation and measure of success in a world with no intrinsic standard of success. While the term "Existentialism" is often related with the European cultural movement of the 1940s and 50s, in which thinkers the likes of John Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvior rejected traditional institutions of self-description and traditional concepts of being in the world, it was the 19th century philosophers Kierkegaard and Nietzsche who inspired the reluctant "father" of Existentialism, Martin Heidegger, to first raise the question of the meaning of being…

Religion is "a tremendous gruesome shadow," (Nietzsche 167). Christianity, and all institutionalized religions like it, has no real truth to it. Therefore, the masses dilute the meaningless of their lives with lies. The thinkers of the world are responsible for the death of God in the idea that they no longer believe in Him. Yet, there is a multitude of others who still blindly follow in His shadow. It is therefore, the job of the thinkers in society to rid the world of a useless concept which no longer imparts any real sense of meaning into the world; " -- And we -- we shall have to vanquish his shadow," (Nietzsche 167). It is a form of nihilism, which Nietzsche wanted to avoid by looking deeper than its teachings. hen the masses found out the truth about the truth, he feared nihilism would take over and continue to spread a…

Existentialism

Filled with computers, books, and hands-on materials, the existentialist classroom is devoted to individual student development and creative expression. Existentialism adds metaphysical meaning to the classroom. Students learn material that is meaningful to them personally; they do not feel, as they do in other classrooms, that what they learn will have no bearing on the real world. Moreover, existentialist learning touches the very core of their existence, and helps them discover the meaning of life from their own perspective. Teachers offer reading materials they feel might be valuable in stimulating the students' level of inquiry. Books are not selected from an established canon of classics, but can also include modern sources that the teacher finds helpful. The humanities are emphasized in the existential classroom, but not necessarily at the expense of the sciences. However, when science or math is taught the teacher makes ample reference to metaphysical ideas to…

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views human existence as having characteristics, such as anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and consciousness of existing, that are primary and that cannot be reduced to or explained by a natural-scientific approach or any approach that attempts to detach itself." For existentialism, human beings can be understood only from the inside and it emphasizes action, freedom, and decision as fundamental to human existence and is fundamentally opposed to the rationalist tradition and to positivism (Wikipedia). The Stranger reflects existentialism that our world is a universe that has no place for us, in which our life makes no sense. In the novel, Meursault is portrayed as aloof, detached and unemotional. He does not think about events and the possible consequences. He also fails to express any emotion in his relationship with his friends. Meursault's complete indifference to society and human relationships causes him to…

Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre on Existentialism and Humanism

The Essentials of Essentialism

Martin Heidegger's philosophical opus is both deep and complex and a comprehensive examination of it here would be impossible. However it is possible to provide an overview of his essential teachings - of the essential aspects of his essentialism. Doing so will allow us, in later sections, to explore his criticisms of Jean-Paul Sartre's far more famous version of existentialism as well as to examine the ways in which - despite Heidegger's criticism of Sartre - the two are in many ways the same.

Heidegger, like all modern philosophers (and possibly the ancient ones as well), incorporated the work of a number of earlier thinkers into his own formulation of existentialism and his understanding of the nature of reality of the place of humans in the world. As an existentialist, Heidegger believed in a philosophy that was…

TESOL Philosophies

How I might implement the traditional philosophies in my teaching would be in this manner: idealism would be used to teach students that they should strive for something higher, some goal that is an ideal, a virtue, a good -- something like perfection, for example. It may not be possible, but by striving for it, we tend to achieve more than would otherwise be possible. Realism would be used in conjunction with ensuring that students nonetheless remain grounded in reality; for example, a student may want to be able to write a novel by the end of the year. This kind of thinking can be promoted along with idealism, but realism would be employed so as to not cause the student to be disappointed when the end of the year comes and the student cannot write a novel -- in this sense, I would say, "Yes, write a…

Existentialism Contextualized by Schizophrenia

The article analyzed in this assignment is Stadlen's "The simple words the people speak." This article deals with the phenomenon and question of existentialism. However, it does so from a viewpoint that considers this topic from the point-of-view of schizophrenia. In this article, the author is attempting to denote whether schizophrenia actually exists and what causes it (Stadlen, 2015). The article begins with the author quoting from a notable book about schizophrenia and existentialism, Sanity, adness and the Family, that serves as an overview of the work as a whole. The basis of the article is a review of an evening in which certain case studies were read aloud from this book, in addition to selected excerpts from Hamlet in which the prince's mother is questioning his sanity. Sanity, adness and the Family was comprised of the first-person narratives from young women who were diagnosed as…

By eliminating supposed purpose and meaning that derives from delusional cultural beliefs in Creators and supposed "Gods," existentialism actually allows individuals to create genuine meaning by defining its purpose realistically rather than supernaturally.

Personal Constructs:

Personal constructs comprise individual beliefs, responses, and expectations of the behavior of others based on the individual's cumulative personal interpretation of interpersonal relationships and experiences with other people. Personal constructs may differ substantially from person to person even though exposed to many similar experiences because of the influence of hereditary factors, family dynamics, and subtle natural idiosyncratic intellectual and psychological differences.

Constructive Alternativism:

Constructive alternativism is a psychological approach that, in general, rejects traditional models of psychological therapy in which therapists assume a leadership position in favor of a model in which therapists simply assist patients discover the truth by examining the patient's perspective. More specifically, constructive alternativism relies on data in the form of…

e. The lack of attachment to other people and things) is beneficial from an individual perspective, but damaging for society as a whole because it hinders advancement.

In reality however, in order to maintain such a belief in our own self-sufficiency and freedom of choice, we would have to rewrite the laws of human nature. As this is highly improbable, we are likely to continue in our flight from freedom for as long as we remain in existence. People are, after all, social creatures by nature and thus, according to Garcin, we "need the suffering of others to exist."

This is Sartre's way of arguing that existentialism is the only valid means of providing mankind with dignity, and life with meaning. Thus at the core of Sartre's suppositions is that the role of existentialism is vitally important in helping the individual to embrace freedom as a manifestation of nothingness and,…

Humans had to learn to use freedom in a positive, rather than a negative fashion, said Sartre.

A modern manager, cognizant of such critiques, thus must try to create a workplace where a sense of connection to the product, place, and community is fostered. For example, at Google, workers are encouraged to use company time and equipment to pursue their own projects. Google is a place where workers can eat free meals, take free fitness classes, and combine work and pleasure. This creates a sense of togetherness, rather than fosters angst, alienation and exploitation. Skinner's concept of behaviorism, or rewarding positive behavior, is transformed so that giving back to the organization with creative input and ideas is reinforced. Google's mindset shows a sophisticated evolution beyond the concept of giving a worker a crude 'carrot' in the form a small bonus when he or she succeeds in fulfilling a mechanical objective…

Sartre’s Existentialism
The fundamental point of Sartre’s (1946) lecture entitled “Existentialism is a Humanism” is that according to the French philosopher there is no God and this is what makes existence the precursor to essence. Man is born and lives and defines himself along the way or at the end in looking back at who he was and what he accomplished. Because there is no God, there is no set of rules of guide or goal driving or compelling man in the universe. Man has to determine his own course of action while simultaneously realizing that he is responsible for his action and also for guiding the fate of humanity. By “fashioning myself,” as Sartre (1946) puts it, “I fashion Man.” Sartre argues in his lecture that Christians opposed his philosophy of existentialism because it was immoral and thus pessimistic, but Sartre contended that it was neither. This paper will…

Existentialism and Humanism

Sartre's theory on bad faith and freedom emphasizes the relationship between these two concepts as being a paradox. The French philosopher believed that perspective is a significant element in determining whether or not a person does the right thing. As a consequence, he believed that while some people choose to take on particular attitudes, one might have a limited understanding of feelings fueling these individuals and can thus fail to observe the positive aspect of their actions.

A person is likely to act in disagreement with his or her principles in an attempt to put across socially-acceptable behaviors. hile it might seem that this person is certainly not free, the reality is that he or she chose to act in this way and can thus be considered to act on account of his or her freedom to choose. Sartre's idea of bad faith is strongly related to…

Humanism takes the position that the human intellect is sufficient to deduce moral principles and that all human beings have the same natural right to dignity and personal autonomy.

The humanistic perspective does not absolutely reject the underlying principles of psychoanalytical theory, but places more focus on conscious self-reflection than on any assumption that the roots of all human conduct is necessarily a function of repressed trauma, sexual urges, and unresolved psychological conflicts. Humanism also rejects anthropocentrism in that it does not consider human life to be different in kind from other biological life forms, but only different in degree of development and complexity.

Existentialism:

Existentialism rejects many of the same concepts as humanism in the realm of religious or supernatural sources of human morality. Whereas humanists start with an assumption that human beings are inherently good and that the prosperity of human societies is necessarily good, existentialism recognizes no…

Skepticism is defined as a school of philosophical thought where a person doubts the beliefs of another person or group. hile one person might believe wholeheartedly a certain political perspective or believe completely the dogma of a religion, a skeptic would have doubts about these beliefs or about the stories related to religion. Not only do they doubt organized religion, they also doubt the validity of socially constructed morals and laws. Sometimes they doubt the world as they witness it because they are unsure of the truth of reality as they perceive it through the senses (Butchvarov 1998). Like many philosophies, skepticism has origins in Ancient Greece. Pyrrho of Elis is credited with founding the philosophy, a branch of which was later named Pyrrhonism in his honor. The philosophy was expanded into countries throughout the known world, up to and including the early modern world. During the Enlightenment, skepticism branched…

Hence, "transcendence" a denial of the self at the core of Sartre's philosophy. Human beings are condemend to be free in that no religious or political doctrine is inherently or intrinisically correct in every situation. No schema can accord for every possible situation fo being or existance. All schemas that attempt to make a claim for their totality of their state of correctness at all times are thus acts of "bad faith," as they attempt to put artificial constraints on human freedom. Rather, for Sartre, life is simply what we make of it, diferent human existences bump up against one another in a random fashion. However, it should also be remembered that for Sartre, a state of human freedom also corresponded to responsibility to the world. Even free existances, not essences (i.e., human beings) are still responsible for the world, the horizon of meaning in which all free beings operate.…

The first principle of existentialism is subjectivity, in the sense that existence is subject to every man's desire. There are things which man can not control in his life, but he can assume his past and change himself if what he is does not correspond to his scale of values. Man is the only creator of himself and therefore, his own possessor. Which also makes him the only one who is responsible for his life. Subjectivity is to be understood from this perspective

However, the concept under discussion is a bit wider. It also refers to the fact that human nature is a limit for the human. People can not go beyond their own nature and capacity to build the world and ultimately themselves. When creating himself, man will obey certain criteria. Naturally, he will want for these criteria to be universal. That is, while man has the power to…

Existentialism takes the human subject -- the holistic human, and the internal conditions as the basis and start of the conceptual way of explaining life. Taking idealism From Descartes, Kant, and Hegel, then building upon it, existentialist thinkers strip away the external and look at questions that surround human existence, and the conditions of that existence, rather than hypothesizing or dreaming of different forms of being. Thus, the inward philosophical emotions, angst, dread, self-doubt, self-esteem, etc. are experiences of the historical process, and the process of learning and moving through "existence" into a less fragile, more concrete, way of self-actualization. The existentialist concept of freedom is the manner in which internal values are set and interact with external historical trends. ather than humans being primarily rational, they make decisions when and if they find meaning (Solomon)

Existentialism asserts that people actually make decisions based solely on the meaning to them…

Artists Since 1945

hat are the influences and events that caused Abstract Expressionism to develop? hat are the two modes of Abstract Expressionism? Compare and contrast these two modes and specially discuss the work of two artists from each mode. Share why you chose these four artist.

During and after orld ar II, artistic expression was destroyed in Europe. This is because, the onslaught of the Nazis created an environment of persecution. In some cases, these activities were based upon artists using their expressionism as a form of criticisms and social critiques. hile at other times; a host of individuals were persecuted because of their race or nationality. The result is that they fled to locations such as New York to be able to continue with their work. This played a major role in determining how Abstract Expressionism developed by taking a different approach that questioned and challenged the status…

Nietzsche's ideas center on the will-to-power to escape the triviality of the society. Nietzsche argued against the "slave mentality" that permeates society causing the people to live lives devoid of joy and grandeur (ibid).

Phenomenology

Phenomenology, on the other hand, focuses on the "essential structures found within the stream of conscious experience -- the stream of phenomena -- as these structures manifest themselves independently of the assumptions and presuppositions of science" (faxed material, date, p. 174).

Edmund Husserl, who is considered as the first great phenomenologist, developed transcendental phenomenology which very purpose is to investigate the phenomena of the world without making assumptions. This requires the exclusion of one's presupposition about the existence of the external, physical, and objective world. Phenomenology's end is to be able to describe the conscious experiences of human's "lifeworld" (ibid).

Heidegger, having heard Husserl's call for a need to develop a philosophical system which understands…

) and towards the more practical needs for Aryan survival.

c. hy did a growing number of Germans support Hitler and the Nazi Party in the years leading up to his appointment as chancellor?

There are many arguments to this question, but one that surfaces more often than others focuses on economics and self-preservation. The German people were humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles -- their military and economic system had been stripped away, their debt unbearable, and their economy was being controlled by other countries. The ideas of National Socialism were attractive to many: unification of the German Volk, reestablishing the German lands as a country dedicated to certain ideals, focusing on ethnic and linguistic similarities, the overthrow of Versailles, the idea of German self-determination, lebensraum (room for Germans to live, grow and prosper), and an improvement over the crippling inflation and economic woes of the eimar Government, seen…

Karel Reisz' 1981 motion picture The French Lieutenant's Woman is based on the novel and the director also seems to be appreciative in regard to postmodernism and existentialism when considering the elements that he introduces in the film. Reisz created his film by designing a story within a story as he presents viewers with an account involving the actors playing Victorian characters. The director is not apparently concerned about criticizing a Victorian society, as he apparently wants audiences to think about how dilemmas present in the nineteenth century could also emerge in the 1980s. Reisz was well aware that he needed to address existentialism in his film, and he knew that he needed to do so by combining concepts contemporary to him and elements originating in Victorian England.

While Fowles used the narrator's voice with the purpose of intervening at different moments in the novel, Reisz has characters in the…

Westerns soon developed into a staple of TV land. The independence and strength of the characters epitomized the ideals that made America so unique. Families sat down with their TV dinners to watch such shows as " Gunsmoke," the Lone Ranger," the Rifleman," Have Gun, Will Travel," and " Maverick." You were not anybody unless you could sing the theme songs of each show.

Moviegoers were also being drawn into the theaters by the monster/science-fiction movies. About 500 film features and shorts were produced under this broad theme in the 1950s and early 1960s, explains the 50s B-Movie website. ne might argue convincingly that never in the history of motion pictures has any other genre developed and multiplied so rapidly in so brief a period. As Paul Michael comments, "n a sheer statistical basis, the number of fantasy and horror films of the 1950s... has not been equaled in any…

141).

Even the most idealistic young teacher will quickly realize that while the dog did not eat the student's homework, something stopped the student from completing the assignment. eality will seep in, and the teacher will have to adapt to that reality. Existentialism may assist the good teacher in that adaptation process. The teacher that assimilates existentialism into the classroom can help the students understand that they must take responsibility for their own actions, their own deeds, and the homework or project that was (or was not) completed is solely due to their own efforts or lack thereof. The student that learns (and the teacher that teaches) the truths of distractions will both be rewarded accordingly. Distractions can be the cause of anger, anxiety, despair and boredom and if the unlucky student falls victim to those distractions or the underlying emotions brought on by those distractions, then more than just…

It is from this cultural paradigm that emerged the concept of "dread." This term was used as synonymous to "God-fearer," to describe the adherents to Rastafarianism. According to Rastafarian mysticism, JAH (God) was immediately present within each dread.

In European existentialism, the concept appears to be diametrically opposite to that within African philosophy. According to teven Kreis (2006), for example, existential dread is the result of the perceived absence of God or indeed any spirituality or deeper meaning in life. Whereas the Rastafarian dread immerses the soul within the consciousness of God, the existentialist searches for meaning in the very lack and absence of God. Like Rastafarianism, however, the existentialist concept provides meaning within itself: human life is meaningful because it is meaningless: meaning is found within physical and perceived existence.

ources

Arrayed Roots Media (2002). Rastafarian Cultural Page. http://www.geocities.com/arrayedroots/ARCul.html

Kreis, teven (2006). Lecture 12: The Existentialist Frame of Mind.…

Jean Paul Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir on Freedom, Being-for-Others, And Sartrean Despair

Simone de Beauvoir and JP Sartre were two famous existentialists that converged and diverged on various concepts. These included the existentialist concepts of freedom, being-for-others and transcendence or despair. Their converged and divergences will be addressed in this essay.

Sartre was one of the most famous existentialists of all times. For him, existence did not base itself on an ethos of God-ordained morality nor did it have any transcendental meaning. ather meaningfulness of life -- or liberty / freedom -- depended on the meaning that one arbitrarily accorded life and he claimed that man is "what he makes of himself," or in other words "in the end one is always responsible for what is made of one" In this way, Sartre's philosophy integrated both optimism and despair: optimism in the belief that one can resolutely make something…

murkiness of love tenderness can lead?" "How many times we will kill for love." "The rare thing herself felt in her breast a warmth that might be called love. She loved that sallow explorer. If she could have talked and had told him that she loved him, he would have been puffed up with vanity." All these settings represent different definition of "love."

The Smallest Woman in the World provides a poetic, at times poignant, perspective of love. Looking closely at the first quotation where the lady felt such perverse tenderness for the smallest of the African women claiming that an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. She was upset all day, almost as if she were missing something. Here, the woman seemed to have been concerned about the vulnerability of the Little Flower. Her words points at the need for companionship for the Little Flower, and…

Certainly, there are implications of idealism, realism, pragmatism, and even existentialism in teaching models; but when it comes to what works in the classroom, one can use a model based on utilitarianism with a constructivist bent and find their way through what has become a mire of philosophical argument. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical thing one can do is any action that will maximize the happiness within an organization or society. Actions have quantitative outcomes and the ethical choices that lead to the "greatest good for the greatest number" are the appropriate decisions, even if that means subsuming the rights of certain individuals. It is considered to be a consequential outlook in the sense that while outcomes cannot be predicted the judgment of an action is based on the outcome -- or, "the ends justify the means." Deontology is similar, arguing that there are norms and truths that are…

This is a journey that requires the utmost steadfastness and the ability of face the truth. In existentialist terms, the world and all experience is essentially absurd and the more one questions the meaning of existence, the more the irrationality and absurdity of existence is revealed. However, this reality must be faced with acceptance and equanimity.

In the case of the protagonist of this short story, he is embedded in ordinary, everyday existence and refuses to acknowledge the absurdity of existence. Ziegler, like most people, is comfortable to hide behind a wall of logic and scientific rationality; the life of non-authentic existence. However, this illusion is destroyed by the alchemist's pellet that that undermines the illusion that the world is rational or structured in an orderly way.

What the author of this story is attempting to say is that the reality of existence must be faced in the existential journey…

Philosophy

While there is plenty to criticize in the work of Descartes, Locke, and Hume, one cannot justifiably claim that Jose Vasconcelos criticisms of traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge apply to these theorists if only because Vasconcelos' criticisms do not really apply to anything, as his criticisms are largely based on straw men. This is not to say that traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge should be free from criticism, but rather that the problems with these traditional views are more fundamental than Vasconcelos realizes, to the point that Vasconcelos suffers from many of these same issues. Essentially, both Vasconcelos and the previously mentioned authors suffer from a simply ignorance regarding the functioning of the human brain, the nature of consciousness and memory, and the evolutionary processes by which organisms and ideas evolve, with this ignorance born out of an implicit or explicit maintenance of…

life is an issue that has been plaguing thoughtful people since the first Cro-magnons evolved into modern homo sapiens with the power to think rationally and creatively, and most importantly, self-consciously. Aside from humorous attempts to explain the meaning of life such as Monty Python's movie The Meaning of Life, the question is a serious one. It cuts to the core of every human life, causing the individual to question his or her purpose and mode of living. Many people look to religious guidance as a means of discovering meaning in life, and religion remains the most effective way of providing people with a roadmap. Even if the absolute meaning of life is not revealed, we can at least learn to accept that God has a plan and that plan is inherently meaningful. Philosophers, however, have debated the efficacy of religion's ability to provide life with meaning. Existentialism is the…

Generally, it works by either giving a reward for an encouraged behavior, or taking something away for an undesirable behavior. y doing this, the patient often increases the good behaviors and uses the bad behaviors less often, although this conditioning may take awhile if the rewards and removals are not sufficient to entice the patient into doing better.

Existentialism is important to discuss here as well, and is often seen to be a very drastic way to examine human behavior. There are two types of existentialism. One is Atheistic Existentialism, and the other is Theistic Existentialism.

Atheistic existentialism has its basis in the statement that the entire cosmos is composed only of matter, and human beings see reality in two forms. Those forms are subjective and objective. People who believe in Atheistic Existentialism do not believe that anyone or anything specific made the world. They do not know whether it…

Educational Philosophy

The four Educational Philosophies

Essentialism

Essentialism argues that a common core of knowledge needs to be passed to learners in a disciplined and systematic manner. The concentration in this traditional viewpoint is on moral and intellectual standards that academic institutions should educate. The curriculum focuses on knowledge, skills, and academic rigor. Although this academic viewpoint is similar in some ways to Perennialism, Essentialism accepts the idea that this core curriculum may change. Education should be realistic, preparing learners to become useful people in the society. It should concentrate on facts and "the fundamentals," training learners to speak, write, read and think clearly and rationally. Schools must not try to set or influence guidelines. Students should be trained self-discipline, respect for authority, and hard work. Instructors are to help learners keep their non-productive intuition in checks, such as mindlessness or aggression. This strategy was in response to progressivism techniques…

Personality Theories

PERSONALITY VS SITUATION

Personality refers to the unique set of relatively constant behaviors and mental processes in a person and his or her interactions with the environment (Kevin 2011). It is generally accepted that personality is influenced by genetics in the form of dispositions or temperament at 40-60% and by the environment. The tasks of the psychologist are to characterize and describe personality traits, investigate the relationship between these traits and behavior, and understand and predict behavior from these traits. The approaches to the study of personality are descriptive; biological or genetic; learning; psychodynamic; and humanistic, existential or phenomenological (Kevin).

Existentialism vs. Humanism

Existentialism is difficult to define as those who conceived it denied they started it or it even started (Corbett, 1985). It can be vaguely described as a spirit or atmosphere of one's response to human existence. Among its precursors were Soren Kierkegaard and Fredrich Nietzsche.…

If dread enters as the knowledge that there is no knowledge from which to derive a decision, yet decision is all there is, then we reach a complicated idea of what comprises the individual. If there were a concrete and appreciable version of each person, ready at any time to assess, then the concept of dread would have less terrible implications. The fact is, when penetrated by the nothing of pure possibility, the reach of this nothing is beyond almost all conception. There never really is an individual, just some ongoing process of change. The nothing alienates the individual further than from mere others and the world. The nothing of dread brings into its fold, the individual. The individual supports this nothing and yet must determine itself on such grounds. hereas before, we had the Kierkegaardian maxim of individual as truth, we now have no grounds for determining anything. The…

My personal reflections on these existential givens will impact my practice as an existential counselor. Although the influence of my personal views is significant to me, they will not inhibit the progress made by a client. Sharing a sense of commonality with the client, including the questioning of life's significance, will better assist with having insights into their feelings (Geller 2003).

The aim of existential psychotherapy is to reflect upon and understand life as each person experiences it in order to overcome problematic circumstances to achieve resolution (Deurzen & Kenward 2005). Existential therapy considers the views of the person in relation with fundamental and difficult factors of existence. By focusing on the client's struggle with human existence and acceptance of the confines of the human condition, it empowers the individual to better reflect on their situation, cope with their dilemma, face their circumstances, and think for themselves (Deurzen 1997, pp.…

Existentialist thought is not a particularly easy or simple concept for the aspiring philosopher to apply generally while promoting universal principles. Frederick Nietzsche is considered by most as the purest form of an existential philosophical author. Nietzsche's works, although extremely aesthetically pleasing, are also a practical but mystical approach to metaphysics and the inner workings of the mind. In another example, Aleister Crowley, in his own and unique voice, echoed many of the existential thought processes Frederick Nietzsche emotionally and effectively created in his brilliant works of philosophical writings. The purpose of this essay is to promote Aleister Crowley as an existentialist thinker in the same vein as Nietzsche. I will describe and highlight Frederick Nietzsche most prominent and distinguishable traits that significantly align with those of Crowley's to demonstrate this relationship in order to promote and create new applications towards understanding and relating important information in an academic setting.…

Good Life

What is Good Life?

The Consequentialism Debate

Utilitarian reasoning is regarded as "consequentialist." The other approach of human actions' analysis is called "deontologist" reasoning. Utilitarian and deontological reasoning have very little in common. They are similar only in the sense that they both attempt to establish which human actions are appropriate and which ones are not. Apart from that, there is no other similarity. The differences arise in their adopted approaches in attempting to establish and distinguish the right actions and behavior from what is wrong (van Staveren, 2007).

As the term implies, judgments of "consequentiality" are founded on the consequences of an individual's actions. Here, an action is categorized as right or wrong based on the results of actions. Its ethics have nothing to do with whatever the individual intended to do. Taking an extreme case, assume that I am driving and I notice a person I…

Synthesize traditional and progressive education for today's students. Education digest. Vol. 68, Issue 7, 4-8. etrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=12&sid=90682ec6-64e1-4958-adc2-32dc1555fcc4%40sessionmgr13&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&an=9317873

Cohen, L.M. & Gelbrich, J. (1999). Philosophical perspectives in education. Oregon State University, School of Education. etrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html

Moser, .D. (1951, July). The educational philopophy of William T. Harris. Peabody Journal of education. Vol. 29, No. 1, 14-33 etrieved January 17, 2011, from http://www. Jstor, org/stable/1489104

Nehring, J.H. (2006, February 1). Progressive vs. traditional: eframing an old debate. Education week. Vol. 25, Issue 21, 32-33. etrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=12&sid=90682ec6-64e1-4958-adc2-32dc1555fcc4%40sessionmgr13&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&an=19705742

Neil, J. (2005, January). John Dewey: Philosophy of education. Experimental learning. Wilderdom.com. etrieved January 17, 2011, from http://wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

Sternberg, J., & Zhang, L. (2005, Summer). Styles of thinking as a basis of differntiated instruction. Theory into practice, 44(3), 245-253. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. etrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=111&sid=4dc68d17-580a=4983=af18=762283ca50ef%40sessionmgr114

It is key to understanding the author's view of love and even her own status as a woman and as a thinker. Of course, the book can simply be read as a love story of infidelity and sexual liberty gone wrong in the face of an ever-changing political society in a state of national and European chaos. But the Mandarins de Beauvoir referred to were also the elite, the intellectual elites of Chinese society who held themselves above from the common peasants.

Thus, by calling her fellow Left Bank intellectuals 'Mandarins' De Beauvoir symbolically calls upon her fellow intellectuals to become part and parcel of the political fray, rather than wasting their energies with entangling personal alliances that can be just as dissipating as the betrayals of Vichy and the subsequent alliances that sapped the French nation of its own vital energies. She calls upon the intellectual Mandarins of French…

Frankl proposes that "he who can cling to no end point, to no time in the future, to no point of support, is in danger of allowing himself to collapse inwardly." [15]

However that point might alter as the person grows. It happens and should happen in the process of living because no one can cling to just one meaning all his life. Meaning when realized alters and take on another shape and that forms the crux of Logotherapy. The role of the therapist in this regard is only to facilitate the process. he/she cannot give a person meaning to a life that is lived by the patient. The therapist must help resolve any past issues which are retarding the personal growth of the individual. He should try to untie the spiritual or philosophical 'knots' that have developed to help the patient become healthier.

What is needed here is to…

Educational Philosophies

Pragmatism

Pragmatism emerged from the writings of John Dewey who believed that experimentation was the best approach for educating young minds. For example, pragmatists feel that field trips, educational excursions etc. are more effective in teaching students about the world instead of audio-visual aids. Pragmatism includes such as thoughts as futurism, and educational humanism and econstructionism. Pragmatic education philosophy doesn't assign a traditional role to the teachers who are only seen as guides and not exactly more knowledgeable beings. George . Knight in his book on education philosophies explained that pragmatism focuses on real life experiences as the main source of knowledge and education. They gives the example of field trips as he says that for a child to learn about dairy products, its better to take him to a barn and let him experience the whole thing himself instead of showing him a movie on the subject.…

He can then be influenced to live what he now understands but has yet to do. The therapist or doctor must encourage the patient or awaken his social interest and raise his level of energy along with it. y developing a genuine human relationship with the patient, the therapist or doctor can re-establish the basic form of social interest, which the patient can use in transferring it to others. oth therapist and patient must realize that the latter's ultimate cure can come only from him.

Adler's approach has similarities with that of Socrates (Stein 1991). Socrates exhorted others to "know thyself," while Adler urged that people should think for themselves (Meyer 1980 as qtd in Stein 1991). Like Socrates, he would lead the person or patient through a series of questions to a contradiction within himself as revealed by his own answers. oth philosophers were committed to the search for…

in "Piaf," Pam Gems provides a view into the life of the great French singer and arguably the greatest singer of her generation -- Edith Piaf. (Fildier and Primack, 1981), the slices that the playwright provides, more than adequately trace her life. Edith was born a waif on the streets of Paris (literally under a lamp-post). Abandoned by her parents -- a drunken street singer for a mother and a circus acrobat father -- Edith learns to fend for herself from the very beginning. As a natural consequence of her surroundings, she makes the acquaintance of several ne'er do wells. She rises above the lifestyles of the girls she grows up with who prostitute themselves for a living in the hope that they will eventually meet a benefactor with whom they can settle. Edith has a talent for singing and she indulges this interest by singing loudly in the streets.…

Nearing the end of the 1960s, the analytic or language philosophy became the central focus point which led to the isolation of the classroom setting and the problems that came with it (Greene, 2000).

Most of the educational philosophers of the time were inclined towards restricting themselves to the official aspects and problems like the sovereignty of the system without any influence from the society and the surrounding environment and the assessment of the calls and school structure conducted for its growth or for the progression of the epistemology that it embodied (Greene, 2000).

All those setups that seemed to be coming across as invasive or seemed to add a personalized bias where it didn't belong were quickly identified and removed. This was one of the reasons that led to the obsession of the possible consequences that could exist due to the practicality of the philosophical theories. Inflexibility was adeptly…

C. Philosophical aspects of existentialism as applied to psychology and therapy.

D. Kierkegaard and German existentialism.

E. Sartre and French existentialism.

F. Religious aspects of existentialism.

G. Humanistic aspects of existentialism.

II. Tenets of Christian therapy

A. Historical origins of Christian therapy.

B. Relationship of Christian therapy to Jungian therapy.

C. Function of Christian therapy.

1. Reconciliation of Christian beliefs and daily stressors

2. Reconciliation of Christian advocacy of selflessness and modern capitalist society

D. Goals of Christian therapy.

III. Intersection of existential psychology and modern Christian thought.

A. Exploration of ways in which Christian thought and humanistic discourses intersect

B. Exploration of the ways in which the practice of Christian therapy and humanistically-based modes of therapy intersect.

C. Expectations of Christian clients.

1. Will Christian clients feel that they are being appropriately served by existential psychology given its roots in humanistic and philosophical traditions rather than in Christian doctrine?…

" (Gibbs 226) Alvardo de Campos is a naval engineer by profession and while his earlier writings are positive, his work develops characteristics of existential angst. Furthermore, what is intriguing is that all of these fictive authors created by Pessoa interact with one another and even translate each other's works. (Gibbs 226)

One critic notes that "Fernando Pessoa invented at least 72 fictive identities. "His jostling aliases...expressed his belief that the individual subject -- the core of European thought -- is an illusion." (Gray 52) This view goes to the heart of the matter, as will be discussed in the following sections of this paper; namely that the creation of these fictive identities emphasizes and highlights the modern crisis of identity and the existential and postmodern view that the self as a coherent and continuous entity is an illusion. The following extract emphasizes this central point and also allows for…

Collapsing Certainties

Theme of Collapsing Uncertainties

The Collapsing Birth Rate in the Developed orld

Human beings perceive events, individuals, and objects in different manners in relation to the circumstances and understanding. This is vital towards the development of concept of reality with the aim of continuous leadership, caring, and forms of goodness. This is an indication that human beings believe in whatever they see and purport to be ideal thus generation of meaning and form of understanding or knowledge for the purposes of guidance and leadership. Various personalities have focused on the examination of the concept of collapsing uncertainties. Some of these personalities include Timothy Eves, Plato, and Sartre. Sartre focuses on the examination of the concept of hell or the world of darkness through integration of the No Exit play. This is ideal for effective understanding and development of the forms of goodness in relation to reality and knowledge.…

Disillusionment and the Harlem enaissance and Post-Modernism

Distortion of the American Dream

The American dream has been as old as the American constitution. From the text, there is a highlight of the American dream and its distortion over years. It is presented as an old dream, which is as old as the Constitution of the United States of America. According to the text, those who framed the American dream were engaged the country in a state where everyone will gain the good as from working hard. Through working hard, people will be able to make it possible to attain different levels of their fulfillments. Nonetheless, today many things have changed with the changes in time (Hemingway, 2013). With the aspects of capitalism and materialism taking root in every society, the dream has been distorted. The possible supports for a statement that many of the people live within their required states…

Therefore, it is necessary to account for the acquisition of habits.

Due to certain limitations of the behaviorism approach, there have been revisions to the theory over the century. For example, although behaviorism helped people to forecast, alter, and change behavior over time, it did not attempt nor intend to understand how or why the theory worked. The present-day social cognitive approach asserts that behavior is results from an ongoing reciprocal three-way relationship among the individual (cognition), the environment (physical context, which consists of the organizational structure and design, social context or other people), and the person's past behavior. This broader view, called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) incorporates the cognitive in addition to the behavioral approaches to therapy and view people "as active seekers and interpreters of information, not just responders to environmental influences" (Nevid, 2007, p. 484). Many psychologists now believe that behavior is understood best by studying the…

pragmatism and analytic philosophy uniquely American movements? What elements of American culture (way of life) connect to why those two movements evolved in the U.S. What ideas make them different from the way Europeans of the same period were thinking?

Pragmatism could be called a kind of anti-philosophy. It stresses 'what works' rather than attempts to provide an overarching theory about the nature of the universe. William James, the founder of American pragmatism called ideas 'road maps,' rather than tools that were valuable in and of themselves. Abstract philosophy could not improve human existence. Pragmatists believed that philosophical ideas were valuable based upon the demonstrated benefit that they have to individuals and society, not as metaphysical abstractions.

The concept of pragmatism was well-suited to the American idea that class was an irrational idea, and that hard work should demonstrate one's merit. Proof was in the 'pudding' or the execution, not…

Pouliuli, a short novel by Albert endt, is a tragic story with many complex, interwoven themes. This essay will examine these themes, in detail, and attempt to determine the main arguments that are exposed in this novel. Pouliuli is critical of political maneuvering, and the betrayal of friends, family and community for personal gain. Underlying these themes is the common theme of the dangers of placing self-interest above individual responsibility, and the potential dangers of existentialism. Pouliuli offers insight into both Samoan and white cultures, and a unique insight into the human condition.

endt's novel is set in a traditional Samoan community, and draws extensively upon Polynesian culture. Pouliuli is populated by both mythological beings and beings that are very much real, and that exist in the present place and time.

In Pouliuli, the protagonist is a man named Faleasa Osovae. Faleasa Osovae is the seventy-six-year-old chieftain of the Samoan…

Counseling Theory

Existential therapy, person-centered therapy, and gestalt therapy all fall under the rubric of humanistic psychology. They share a considerable amount of theory, philosophy, and practice. Yet each of these practices is stemmed in its own theoretical framework; therefore, existential, person-centered, and gestalt therapies differ in key ways. ecent scholarship on existential, person-centered, and gestalt therapies builds on the rich canon of literature in these three core humanistic traditions, but is more than just summative. The following review of literature shows how existential therapy, person-centered therapy, and gestalt therapy are practiced in the 21st century, and in so doing, reveals the similarities and differences between these three humanistic psychological frameworks.

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy has been called "a way of thinking rather than…a particular style of practicing," (Corey, 2008, p. 216). Corey (2008) claims that existential therapy is "not a separate school or a neatly defined, systematic model with…

Husserl, Language & Consciousness: econciliation of Edmund Husserl's Fourth Logical Investigation and Fifth logical investigation

Husserl's theory of consciousness in the fifth Logical Investigation is reported to be "one of the most profound and one of the most difficult theories of consciousness to have as yet been developed." (Smith, 1977) The account of consciousness given by Husserl is descriptive "in terms of a sensation, an intentional act that interprets the sensation, and an intentional object that is referred to by means of the interpretation of the sensation." (Smith, 1977)

The primary efforts of Husserl are committed to an analysis of the relation between what he refers to as 'matter' and 'quality' of the intentional act, and how these two components can be used to understand Brentano's famous proposal that "every act is either a presentation or is founded upon presentation." (Smith, 1977) It is stated that no matter the "brilliance…