Against this we have an opposing tendency: ‘Human kind cannot bear very much reality.’ I want to look at existentialism under two categories though it belongs with neither of them. It belongs properly, perhaps, in the field of religion, but it is to be met with in philosophy and psychology. Existentialism is both philosophy in a special sense and a valency. This doesn’t quite coincide with theory and practice but it may be a helpful division into two parts. Wittgenstein remarked that the purpose of philosophy was to show ‘the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.’ Though not a fashionable definition this should satisfy the existentialist that we deal with problems upon whose issue much depends. Totally unfashionable would be the definition given by Marcus Aurelius: To be a philosopher is to keep unsullied and unscathed the divine spirit within him. This serves to restore a balance, in favour of the historic concerns of the search for wisdom, after the twentieth century’s discovery of linguistic criticism.
Those who know Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, or the shorter Wisdom of the West, will remember his great difficulty in focusing on (French) Existentialism as a form of philosophy at all. Existentialism is not in itself any kind of goal of thought, or final destination: it is more like a station on the way, or perhaps a station waiting room. It does not seem to be a position on which one takes a stand, affording a basis for unity with others of like persuasion. It is no vehicle for agreement. On the contrary, one may be locked in opposition, as for example the Christian existentialist with the Marxist existentialist. Let us say that existentialism is a set of answers to certain philosophical problems when these are understood as the problems you must live with whether you are a philosopher or not. These are not conceptual problems but problems of living.
The Essay on Continental Philosophy’s Existentialism and Phenomenology
Various identifiable schools of thought such as: existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, deconstruction, and critical theory can be found within Continental philosophy. Existentialism and phenomenology can be traced back to the 19th century and to the pre-Socratics. A few of the main themes from existentialism are: ·Traditional and academic philosophy is sterile and remote from the concerns ...
It takes me perhaps half of my life to reach the conclusion: I am alive. Most of the rest of my life passes before I recognize: I shall die. There is also the problem of reaching a basis for a relationship to ‘Thou’ – to the other person. Such questions do not elicit ‘answers’ from people. The answers lie in what the questions do to people. From my primitive memories of the 0-level chemistry syllabus I recall that valency describes the capacity of an element to combine with another. Let us look at how this viewpoint combines with certain others, and at some of the practical consequences of such a viewpoint. Existentialism has as much to say about the approaches to therapy as about the therapy itself. This is the therapy of backstage, of the staff room, of what you are left with when it’s all over, of what you set out with.
One should not pretend that one doesn’t exist, in the interest either of slick professionalism or scientific detachment. There is no science without the activity of scientists. Objectivity becomes much easier in the relaxation that sets in when one acknowledges one’s own part. The particular dilemma thus effectively solved has two well-known horns. The horn of detachment aspires to a purist methodology. On the other horn one must flounder around in an infinite flux of alternative realities.
This is no better, and denies that one’s self is real, and that there is such a thing as truth. (In actuality each one of us lives as if truth exists, no matter what lip-service one pays to ingenious relativistic ideas.) Objectivity is not the product of methodological purity; in other words, is not the sorcerer’s hat to be put on to make the apprentice temporarily something he isn’t. Objectivity comes as a change of personality in the course of emancipation from the claims of the ego. To the long-standing paradox, which has always fascinated me, of the participant-observer I should like to add another: detachment-through- involvement. An initial position in therapy comes from an interest in ‘What is happening?’ and ‘What do I do about it?’ (diagnosis leading to action).
The Essay on Vietnam War Country People Suffering
Vietnam The U. S. war in Vietnam was the longest and sec and most costly in U. S. history. It last from the mid 1950's until 1975 and cost the United States over $150 billion. Most believe the war was a mistake, some, claimed they don't know what the U. S. should have done differently, and yet others don't have "a clear idea" what the war was about and can't remember which side we supported. The ...
But often action comes to consist in being with your client, listening searchingly (there is a special loss of self involved in listening), and thereafter simply knowing about this story, and bearing this knowledge.
Thus one’s presence – or those features of one’s self over which one has no control – is what is effective. Healing occurs elusively, incidentally. To our chagrin we often don’t see it or get to hear about it. With communications theory there are a number of points of contact. Contact itself is one. Instinctively we seem to know that there are no techniques involved here, because any technique entails the interposition of a method between oneself and the other person. Meeting is another. One meets in order to meet, not in order to achieve such-and-such.
However the individual has always the potential of becoming responsible, and thus the pattern, for instance the dyadic system in the case of a marriage, has no ultimate autonomy or life of its own. With construct theory existentialism shares an interest in people’s beliefs, though perhaps systems of value are of more importance than ways of thought. Ways of making sense we seem to choose. Values we choose but it turns out we are more chosen by them’. What we are, what we do and what we practise are more important than what we think, what we say and what we preach. A system of value: ‘On the whole people either love people and use things or use people and love things.’ We are free but cannot avoid suffering. Suffering defeats the notion of progress, the myth of our time.
The mission to relieve suffering is the mission of Canute. There is no place for suffering in any system of value unless as the cardinal value. This must be a turning-upside-down of all of our conceptions: what we most fear and avoid becomes the single means to the peace and relief that come when one is freed of oneself. The task is to find suffering’s place in life, to work with suffering. With non-directive and humanistic psychology generally there are wide fronts in common and to some extent a shared vocabulary: identity, autonomy, authenticity. The corollary of the egocentric predicament is the surrender precisely to those forces that threaten to overwhelm the ego and which, in Freudian theory (doctrine) at least, remain menacing and amoral, beyond reclamation. The problem is one of communication with what lies beyond one’s control. Ultimately Jung is saner here and offers hope of eventual unity and reconciliation within the self.
The Essay on Methods Of Euthanasia People Die Life
Intentionally making someone die, rather than allowing that person to die naturally is the definition of euthanasia according to the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force (Euthanasia: Answer to Frequently Asked Questions, 1). This definition, itself, does not sound very appealing. The practice of euthanasia in any shape or form should never be legalized in the United States and should be banned ...
With Jung, too, there is the shared sense of the individuals journey through life, respect for that path and its uniqueness, and for the therapist the adventure and privilege of being able to meet the client at whatever point he has reached on: that journey. In therapy there can be a juxtaposition of life’s ultimates with the smallest moment, of what is ultimate with what is most immediate. One legacy of existentialist influence is perhaps the feeling that there is a native enmity between ideology and reality, between ideology and humanity. Thus, … Freud’s own existence as a person pointed beyond the deterministic presuppositions of his theory … Freud’s own largeness and depth of humanity as a man surpassed his scientific theories.1 (May paraphrasing Binswanger).
Finally, a word about the individual, who must in a way be set apart from the social group before he can join it. The community is best served by true individuals..
