Martin Striz (striz1@MARSHALL.EDU)
Thu, 6 Nov 1997 06:21:11 +0100
Those were interesting thoughts that you posted Steve, and I was happy
to see you take an interest in one of my favorite philosophers, Sartre.
:) The author of that infamous line, "Hell is other people."
I've been reviewing phenomenology and found that Sartre's version is
much different from Husserl's. The attack I made on phenomenology in my
essay pretty much amounts to a straw man, since I was apparently
attacking only certain aspects of both philosophers' versions of this
concept. I think I will take the phenomenology stuff out since it is
not really an ontological position, but rather a way of doing ontology
(compare to James' Pragmatism).
Here's a summary of Sartre's beliefs, it will shed some light on the
Freedom thoughts:
-----------------------------------------
Being has been the subject of a great amount of philosophical inquiry
during the 20th century. Jean-Paul Sartre was fascinated by this study
and
concentrated several works to the development of his ideas about being
in
general and consciousness in particular. Sartre begins his philosophy
with
the assertion that existence precedes essence. Then Sartre discusses the
two basic categories of being: first "being-in-itself" [ętre en-soi] and
then "being-for-itself" [ętre pour-soi]. Sartre continues his discussion
of
being with references to the concept of Bad faith and then deals with
the
other beings that we experience as we live through our short existence
on
this planet.
>From the time of Plato’s stay on this planet, essence has been said to
precede existence. Sartre attempts to move away from this statement of
essence preceding existence to his assertion that existence precedes
essence. Humanity’s nature, according to Sartre, is not an existence
that
was created by God. If I were to create a tool, I would think of the
tool
before I created the tool. I would thus create an essence of the tool
before the tool actually existed. The tool would have a purpose and
would
participate in my conception of what the tool was and what it is to be
used
to accomplish. In the past, people have been thought of as a creation of
a
maker, that is the creator who is known as God. Our thoughts of God,
according to Sartre, classify God as a supernatural tool creator. Thus
each
human is the fulfillment of the essence that God has created for each
individual.
However, Sartre denies the very existence of God based on what he
perceives
as a logical contradiction. God, according to Sartre, must be
"being-in-itself" and "being-for- itself" simultaneously. Therefore,
God,
being eternal, is his own essence, "being-in-itself," and he
simultaneously
posits the essence he wishes to move towards, "being-for-itself." God
then
seems to be what he is while he is moving to what he wants to become
which
he already is. This statement for Sartre is a contradiction that may not
be
overcome. Thus God is dismissed and humanity is abandoned without a
creator
to give essence to humanity. Essence for humanity comes when I am thrown
into the world, confront myself and then decide how I wish to define
myself. Before I confront myself, I simply exist as "being-in-itself"
without a pre-defined essence. Sartre wishes for humanity to understand
that I am simply what I wish to be as I move through this world. While
this
seems to leave humanity as whatever humanity wishes to be as it moves
through the world, Sartre’s simple assertion is that humanity has more
dignity than inanimate objects that exist in the world.
Inanimate objects exist in the world as "being-in-itself" which is
complete
and unchanging. According to Sartre "being-in-itself" is defined as
"Uncreated, without reason for being, without connection with any other
being, being-in-itself is superfluous for all eternity." This type of
being
is clearly exhibited by inanimate objects such as stones, desks and
chairs.
This mode of being is not exclusive to inanimate objects. This mode of
beings is shared by humanity which exist in the realm of
"being-in-itself"
and "being-for-itself." This is the only type of being that exists in
humanity before humanity confronts itself and decides what it wishes to
be
and gives itself essence. "Being-in-itself" is fixed and
indistinguishable
as clearly illustrated by the description of the character Roquentin
from
Nausea. "The root [of the tree], the park gates, the bench, the sparse
grass, all that had vanished: the diversity of things ad melted leaving
soft, monstrous masses, all in disorder naked." The world without
consciousness is "being-in-itself."
Consciousness provides the meaning of the world constituting
"being-for-itself." Humanity, according to Sartre, possesses
consciousness
or "being-for-itself" as humanity passes through the world. The being
that
humanity possesses is dynamic, developing and without discernible
organization. This "being-for-itself" is solely a characteristic of
humanity and is allows for the freedom that humans enjoy. While this
freedom is not absolute, this freedom is complete and this freedom
allows
for humans to make choices.
"Being-for-itself" is revealed through three different processes and
these
processes are: interrogation, destruction and negative judgment. The
basis
of all understanding of "being-for-itself" results through negation.
Interrogation is a form of non-being that presupposes a lack of
knowledge.
This lack of knowledge prompts individuals to ask questions that are
answered in either the positive or negative. If a question is answered
in
the negative, then a form of non-being exists as one option of being has
been eliminated. Similarly if the question is answered in the positive a
different form of non-being exits as the individual now realizes what is
not in existence. Destruction or the disorganization of objects also
revels
knowledge as humanity must exist to identify the order or form that are
destroyed during destruction. This statement does not mean that
destruction
may not occur without the existence of humanity; however, in the most
strict understanding destruction requires order that only humanity may
provide. Negative judgment may be defined as the denial of the existence
of
possibilities based on observations of the natural world.
Since non-being is continually revealed by interrogation, destruction
and
negative judgment, being is the background for the non-being which we
experience. A being must exist to generate this non-being and that being
is
"being-for-itself" or humanity. Reality ceases to exist when
"being-for-itself," which orders all being, ceases to exist. Human
consciousness introduces non-being to the world and thus defines the
world.
Without humanity witnessing the world around itself, the division and
organization that the world around us seems to possess ceases to exist
for
this order is imposed by our minds. Human consciousness has the ability
to
create non-being and this form of negation, according to Sartre takes
place
in all forms of knowledge.
The question then rises "How does the ‘being-in-itself’ coexist with the
‘being-for-itself’ in humanity?" To answer this question the individual
must resort to an example from the world around us all. As I sit at the
keyboard composing this paper, I exist as "being-in-itself." After a
period
of time, the me that is sitting in the chair may begin to reflect upon
the
state of the me and arrive at a state of consciousness from negation
that
clearly describes the me. I then arrive at the concept of the
transcendent
ego which realizes the fact that I am typing a paper on Sartre. Right
now I
am not doing a great number of things so through negation consciousness
arrives at the conclusion of "I am typing a paper."
Based on the comprehension of the fact that all human knowledge comes
from
negation, human consciousness denies the possibilities forced upon
itself
from outside sources. This understanding of rejection of the attempts of
outside forces to impose their will upon the individual and make the
individual into "being-in-itself" yields a person who has created
himself
as "being-for-itself." Since humanity’s being is not given by any
external
values, humanity need not justify itself against values from external
sources. This freedom that humanity possesses must be understood in
light
of thus understanding of being with the acknowledgment of outside forces
that do act upon individuals.
To deny the ability to choose our course of action and rely on some
outside
force such as faith, heredity or passion is to be guilty of what Sartre
refers to as bad faith [mauvais foi]. This bad faith or inauthenticity
is a
form of self-deception where actions are not viewed in the light of
their
true motives. A young man who wishes to court a lady and yet acts
discretely as if he is not interested in her and then convinces himself
he
is not interested is playing a role. In this playing of the role, he is
hiding his true personality behind the facade of indifference. For
Sartre
then authenticity and honesty will help a person reach to his/her form
of
being that further reveals humanity’s freedom.
Humanity’s freedom is clearly understood by consciousness of anguish.
Anguish is the fear of oneself or the possibilities that will result
from
choices made through the freedom that the individual experiences. The
usual
answer to this anguish is flight as humans attempt to avoid the reality
of
the situations that they face. Sartre also states that a human response
to
this anguish is to subscribe to deterministic philosophies that provide
that humanity does not hold any responsibility for its actions and
should,
therefore, no longer concern itself with the problems of anguish.
The freedom that humanity experiences through anguish is interrupted by
the
existence of other humans. When an individual sees another individual,
he/she objectifies the other and by this objectification removes the
freedom of the other individual. To regain his/her freedom the other
individual must in turn objectify the other person making them an object
in
world that he/she exists. Human freedom must also acknowledge the
"facticity" of the world that surrounds each person. While individuals
might create meaning for the objects we experience in the world, an
individual may not change the physical presence.
Negation and non-being put forth an emptiness that is the very core of
human consciousness. From humanity’s consciousness, which is purely
subjective according to Sartre, is derived the existence of non-being
that
defines all objects in human experience. "Being-for-itself" defines the
world by a process of negation and every judgment made by humans is a
form
of negation. Human consciousness is a form of non-being that is derived
from the negation of the self. Since humanity is outside of
"being-in-itself," it is free to determine its course through the world
it
creates.
Humanity is free; an individual is "being-for-itself" and is thus
freedom.
Since Sartre’s belief is that man has been thrown into this world, he
believes that man is condemned. However, man is free because as soon as
the
individual becomes conscious of himself, he becomes responsible for all
of
his actions. MAN IS ABANDONED BY GOD AND CONDEMNED TO
BE FREE..
------------------------------------------------------------
The problem I see with your views, Stephen, although they are very
insightful, is that Dynamic Quality plays the role of a godhead. Since
it is all of existence, the 'now,' and since all values come from it,
then DQ would also have to be both being-in-itself (actuality) and
being-for-itself (potency). Why? Because DQ is both everything that we
don't perceive yet (potency) and everything that we perceive at the
moment of perception, right now (actuality). And Sartre shows that a
thing cannot be both its actuality and its potency, since then it would
already have to be that which it is trying to become, which is a logical
contradiction. So I don't know how much Sartre's philosophy can be
compared to DQ, but I'm pretty sure he would reject it based on his
ontological stance.
Your thoughts?
Martin
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