Good Life Final Exam

- for awhile, Tolstoy was living by and promoting his personal truth: "it was necessary to live in such a way as to derive the greatest comfort for oneself and one's family." - he found, however, that he could not answer questions like "why? well, and then?" - questions that probed at the meaning of existence - he then sees the truth that each day and night take him closer to death, and that is the only truth; everything else is a lie - scientific revolution changed the way we see nature; it was a move from cosmos to a cold mathematical landscape - the universe provides no answer to your life's meaning b/c scientifically, life has no meaning - also realized we cannot creating meaning internally because we're all going to die and everything we care about will stop existing

Tolstoy had happiness, but when he realized he had no meaning, he lost his happiness - cannot have a happy life without it being meaningful too!

- "rational" conclusion/knowledge is that life has no meaning (scientifically this is true) - however, what changed his mind and allowed him to find meaning in life is acceptance of "irrational knowledge" - otherwise known as faith

faith is "irrational knowledge" - there cannot be human life without it - faith draws a bridge between the finite life of man and a sense of the infinite-- something that cannot be taken away by suffering or even death - because it transcend death it transcends the limited life of man that has no meaning, and thus faith provides meaning

not sure actually, but I think meaning - believes that existence itself is meaningless but he still tries to secure happiness out of it

- "why not suicide?" - there is no meaning in life, so why not kill ourselves? - answer to this question: ???

- Sisyphus's passions AND tortures make him the absurd hero - he imagines Sisyphus triumphing over his task through his scorn of the gods (his fate), his hatred for death, and his passion for life --> all these things are Sisyphus's acceptance as a form of defiance - if this myth is tragic it's because its hero is conscious but embracing a particular attitude allows him to rise above his fate!

- thinks hope is disastrous because it has the potential to rob us of anything we could have in this life - he thinks hope is living for a future that will never happen, and thinks it is a delusion we must destroy - how we can avoid despair: letting go of meaning and picking up happiness (?)

the relation between us and the universe - absurd is the paradox: life is meaningless but we can't stop asking why - absurd is the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any - consciousness is key; there is a moment you become conscious, become struck with awareness of the meaningless of it all, of the absurd

- happiness is acceptance that life has no meaning and just being content with living in the absurd - believes that believing in God makes you God's subject - allows you no freedom - Camus doesn't believe in God - by that he's also admitting God is not all powerful - but this gives you freedom because you are not in some other power's hands

meaning

- for Frankl, conditions were so bad that suicide wasn't even necessary to think about; likelihood of survival was so low anyway - men encouraged each other to refrain from suicide by realizing their uniqueness that gives an individual meaning to existence; no one else can do exactly what you can do

the only things that were valuable were everything that was connected with the immediate task of keeping yourself and your closest friends alive - b/c of this it was easy for people to lose their morals and values: "under the influence of a world which no longer recognized the value of human life and human dignity, which had robbed man of his will and had made him an object to be exterminated (having planned, however, to make full use of him first- to the last ounce of his physical resources)- under this influence the personal ego finally suffered a loss of values" - ethics were put in jeopardized because they didn't fall under category of immediate means to survival

- Camus thinks hope is dangerous, but Frankl thinks you need hope to survive - thinks you need some kind of future goal to orient yourself toward in order to maintain hope

choosing your attitude in any set of given circumstances - compares with Epictetus because he thought that inner tranquility came from realizing what was in our control and what wasn't, and in case of concentration camps basically only thing that was in their control was their attitudes

life in a concentration camp is considered a "provisional existence" - takes you off track to aim for happiness - not a full existence; nothing to do anymore.. you've lost your way

meaning can be found in suffering - you must make it your task in life, accept it - if life has meaning at all, there must be a meaning in suffering - in other words, you do not suffer for nothing; it is an essential part of life

Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual - these tasks vary person to person, hour by hour

to suffer

the "wonderful feeling" that s/he's been through the worst of it, the worst of any kind of suffering, and only thing left to fate is God (not necessarily scary)

Johannes de Silentio (John of the silence) - pseudonym claims to have no faith of any sort

story of Abraham asked to sacrifice his son - wants to show that one can't understand Abraham, it's to understand Abraham's behavior and challenge the ideas of Abraham's faith

- faith is trust! - obedience is not enough for faith, you must not only abide by guidelines but you must fully trust in it -

faith is a double movement 1) infinite resignation - when you have the courage to fully and completely throw yourself into life without holding back, and then you lose it--> you find you can never have the "princess" 2) faith/absurd - you need infinite resignation before you can achieve faith - need to recognize precarious nature of your happiness + meaning

- infinite resignation is one's acceptance of the loss of meaning + happiness; fully letting go of the world - giving up possibility of having meaning and happiness in life - this impossibility becomes a part of your identity - it is a way of holding on in the loss of meaning + happiness

- notion that everything is possible for God - a movement of trust - you take a stand in receiving world back and opening yourself up to possibility of happiness + meaning again

in infinite resignation, you sew a shirt with your tears and this shirt is stronger than armor - your pain itself becomes a way of keeping meaning alive - you must sew the shirt yourself - In infinite resignation there is peace and rest in the pain--that is, if the movement is done properly

moving on and accepting when you can't have something, but still being devoted to whatever it is

regain what is lost by means of the absurd

- knight of infinite resignation: someone who does movement of infinite resignation perfectly - knight of faith: someone who does the double movement of faith perfectly - the knight of faith has undergone the double movement of infinite resignation and the leap of faith into the absurd by which the knight regains everything he has lost - knight of infinite resignation is completely rational and self-sufficient - The knight of faith goes one step further than knight of resignation and says: "Nevertheless I have faith that I will get her--that is, by virtue of the absurd, by virtue of the fact that for God all things are possible." According to the understanding, this is impossible, and the knight of faith is resigned to that fact. But faith is beyond the understanding, and the knight has faith.

- Epictetus: in infinite resignation, you come to terms with your life losing meaning and happiness and come to terms with it; inner tranquility (like Epictetus) - Camus: ???

when the ethical is suspended for a higher purpose, for a higher end! - think Abraham... Abraham's relation to ethical is something he puts on hold to trust in God

- Kant puts ethical life of duty above everything, differs from this ethical suspension

next (?)