1. Existentialism and the Return to Being
Chapter 13
Existentialism and the Return to Being

2. Existentialism
Meaning isn’t given…..

3. How did the horrors of World War I and World War II inspire existentialist insights? Why was Heidegger so concerned with the question of Being? What is Dasein? What does it mean to be inauthentic? What is the difference between Being-in-itself and Being-for-itself? What is bad faith? Why does Beauvoir call women “the second sex”? Why does Beauvoir claim that many women are in bad faith?

4. Does Science Rob Us of Meaning?
If science tells us that humans are just mere things governed by the laws of cause and effect, how can we be great and noble?

5. Do you think that we should use our knowledge of economics and human psychology to manage people scientifically, for the greater good of all? Why, or why not?

6. The Decline of the West?
Do you agree with Oswald Spengler that history is characterized by the rise and fall of different cultures?

7. If Spengler is right…
…does this mean that contemporary American culture will eventually fall, just as did ancient Rome and the Ottoman Empire? Do you believe this?

8. What might bring about the fall of American culture
What might bring about the fall of American culture? Or, if you think that it will not fall— WHY NOT?

9. Loneliness
How might this contribute to the rise of totalitarian governments? How else might people respond to widespread loneliness?

10. Do you believe that humans have inherent worth, or do you think they only have instrumental value for other ends? If you think that humans have inherent worth, is this because of their status as humans, or because of capacities that humans typically possess?

11. If you think that humans are inherently valuable because of their capacities, do you value humans who lack these capacities? If so—WHY?

12. What is so special about being a human, no matter how impaired?
If you think that humans are inherently valuable just because they are humans….
WHY?
What is so special about being a human, no matter how impaired?

13. The Muselmann Is a Muselmann inherently valuable?
What if he was permanently a Muselmann, without hope of being anything else ever again?
Are persons in persistent vegetative states valuable?
Why do you think as you do?

14. Martin Heidegger
What is Being? Why should we reestablish the integration of human existence with it?

15. Are Humans Things?
Why, or why not? Why do you think as you do? What was Plato’s mistake, according to Heidegger? Is Heidegger right?

16. …are there beings at all in the universe, instead of nothing?
Why….
…are there beings at all in the universe, instead of nothing?

17. “There”, as in “there-then”, or “there-now”
Dasein Da
Sein
“There”, as in “there-then”, or “there-now”
“to be”

18. What are the essential properties of being human?
Dasein
What are the essential properties of being human?

19. The Grim Reaper?
If offered the chance of immortality, would you take it? How might death give human life meaning?

20. What was Heidegger’s diagnoses of the disease of his time?
Inauthenticity
What was Heidegger’s diagnoses of the disease of his time?
Do you agree with him?

21. Is this a bad thing, or a good thing?
What is “Americanism”?
Is this a bad thing, or a good thing?
WHY?

22. Tradition
Do you think it is important for us to learn about how we have traditionally thought? Why, or why not?

23. Should we…
…embrace consumer culture? If not, why not—and what should we embrace instead? If so, why?

24. What are the differences between the two?
Heidegger and Nazism
Similarities?
Differences?
What are the similarities between Heidegger’s philosophical approach and that of the Nazis?
What are the differences between the two?

25. Fascinated by Heidegger, enemy of the Nazis
Jean-Paul Sartre
Fascinated by Heidegger, enemy of the Nazis

26. BEING for Sartre
Being-in-itself
Being-for-itself

27. How does Sartre’s account of Being differ from that of Heidegger?

28. God? Or human activity?
Does your life have any meaning? If so, where does this meaning come from?

29. Freedom?
What does it mean to be “free”? Is freedom always a good thing? Can you think of any times when you would have preferred to have had less freedom?

30. Fame?
Would you like to be a celebrity? Why, or why not? How is this question relevant to Sartre’s existentialism?

31. Could Sartre and de Beauvoir have easily led conventional, middle-class lives? Could they be said to have been conforming in living as they did? Why do you think as you do?

32. Are women objectified—and do they allow this?
Simone de Beauvoir
Are women objectified—and do they allow this?

33. What is…
…the myth of the eternal feminine? Have you, or any of your friends, bought into this myth? Can this question be fully answered by both men and women?

34. Otherness
What is “otherness”? Are you an “Other” to somebody else—or are others only Others to you?

35. Is female biology unfair. If so, how. If not—why not
Is female biology unfair? If so, how? If not—why not? In what ways could Beauvoir be considered a feminist?

36. Top Ten Reasons to be an Existentialist
10) You get to choose… everything! 9) You can define yourself 8) No need to get married! (Unless you want to.) 7) No need for the cold rationality of Plato and Aristotle 6) Your fear of death can lead to love of the universe

37. 5) You can find the true form of the human couple 4) Your friends won’t think you look silly in a beret 3) You get to be like Brad Pitt in Fight Club 2) You can build the world you live in 1) You get to stand in the manifestation of Being

38. Wondrous Distress in Existentialism
How does existential thought differ from the more rational schools that preceded it? Which approach to philosophy do you prefer? Which do you believe is closer to the Truth— or is this a misleading question?

39. How is existentialism close to a pure manifestation of philosophical thinking as wondrous distress?