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FORCE AWAKENS
On Being an Existentialist
Stuart Greenstreet tells us what existentialism is
Authenticity and the Treatment of Depression
Alisa Anokhina on how existentialist thinking could help
Is Kierkegaard Still Relevant Today?
Lucian Lupescu says he dares us to live
Simones Existentialist Ethics
Anja Steinbauer on de Beauvoirs Ethics of Ambiguity
Existentialism as Punk Philosophy
Stuart Hanscomb explains existentialism through punk rock
The Absurd Heroics of Monsieur Mersault
Alex Holzman reveals Albert Camus absurd vision of heroism
Why Camus Was Not An Existentialist
Greg Stone spills the beings
all the consequences of this
Kile Jones argues that only atheists make authentic existentialists
Contributing Editors
EXISTENTIALISM
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Editorial
4 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Hopeful Editorial
fear that its moral algorithm might subordinate their own safety or that of their
loved ones to that of a greater number of
strangers outside the car. This means that
the advantage of self-drive cars saving more
lives may be lost if people are unwilling to
use them.
Self-driving car
News
was asked to give lectures all over
Germany. Perhaps this new volume can
throw light on the controversial thinkers
allure.
Nussbaum Wins Kyoto Prize
Prominent American philosopher
Martha Nussbaum of the University of
Chicago has been given the Kyoto Prize in
Arts and Philosophy by Japans Inamori
Foundation. The annual prize, one of the
top international honours for scholarly
work, is given only once every four years in
the sub-category of thought and ethics.
The Foundation says that Professor Nussbaum has led global discourse on philosophical topics that influence the human
condition in profound ways, including
contemporary theories of justice, law,
education, feminism and international
development assistance, adding that she
established a new theory of justice that
ensures the inclusion of the weak and
marginalized, who are deprived of opportunities to develop their capabilities in
society, and has proposed ways to apply
this theory in the real world.
Bishops, Ethics and Politics
For the first time in their history,
Catholic bishops from both sides of the
Atlantic have published a common position
on a political issue. The Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
treaty will, when completed, directly affect
the lives of almost a billion people in the
EU and the USA, as well as having a
profound impact on many other countries.
Seeing that the debate concerning of the
agreement is highly polarized, the
Commission of the Bishops Conferences
of the European Community (COMECE)
and the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have jointly
announced a toolbox of nine moral principles for the evaluation of TTIP. While
they acknowledge that trade can be truly
beneficial for all, they say it must be structured in such a way as to help reduce
inequality and injustice.
Existentialism
On Being An Existentialist
Stuart Greenstreet chooses to tell us how to become authentically existentialist.
Basics
When readers of the Parisian newspaper Le Monde began to
take notice of existentialism, the newspaper published an article in December 1945 to tell them what it meant. Although it
did its best, Le Monde finally felt it had to admit that Existentialism, like faith, cannot be explained; it can only be lived.
Why is existentialism like faith? Because to base ones conduct on a belief that one is free to choose is an act of faith, for
theres no way of knowing for sure whether its true or false.
And what makes existentialism hard to explain? Perhaps it is its
claim that no objective moral order exists, independently of
Existentialism
Existentialism
Creating Yourself
Elizabeth Bevington
2016
gle to free their country, or to resign themselves to Nazi domination. They had to choose, and it was a time when they faced
their freedom in great anguish. Some were unable to bear the
thought of their freedom, and in order to escape its pressure
adopted the cover of what Sartre called bad faith, perhaps the
most important concept of his philosophy. (Note how he too
turned to the word faith.) Someone is in bad faith when, in
order to protect himself from the anxiety of having to choose,
he pretends to himself that he is not as free as he actually is. It
is a specific kind of self-deception, a core betrayal of ones self.
A common type of bad faith is the denial of ones freedom in
the form of an excuse, typically beginning with I couldnt help
it We hear this in the excuse made by those Nazi soldiers
who insisted I could not do otherwise or I was just doing my
duty. One can always do otherwise: one can quit, or run away,
or even choose to be shot. The cost might enormous even
ones life but it is never a case of cannot, always of will not. They
chose to continue to obey orders: it was not determined by their
nature. Existentialism doesnt allow excuses. There is never a
legitimate reason for denying ones freedom. No matter how
oppressed we may be by our situation or circumstances, we
know we can always imagine alternatives and act on them too,
if were brave enough. The only way to stay in good faith is honestly to continually own up and respond to being free to choose,
and accountable for whatever you decide to do.
Thinking & Living
I detect in the language I use here the characteristic missionary tone of existentialism, which implores us all to experience our freedom to choose, and to practice it. Existentialism is a
coherent theory rooted in an idealist (that is, a consciousnessbased) metaphysics; but it is not enough merely to understand
it intellectually in that way. To grasp it properly, one has to
engage with it as a practical and committed philosophy in
other words, to commit to being an existentialist. Then you
would see yourself as free and autonomous in way you did not
recognize before, and by so doing acquire the power to transcend your facticity.
Facticity and transcendence are the grand concepts of existentialism. Our facticity defines our situation and who we are up
to this point in our lives. Transcendence opens up the world of
possibilities: what we can now go on to make of that situation
and of ourselves, given who or what we have become so far.
Existentialism is absolutely not academic. It is the antithesis of the purely analytical (normally Anglo-American)
approach to philosophy, the prime purpose of which seems to
be to deliver mental hygiene. The whole point of existentialism is to practice its liberating ideas, to apply them to becoming
the person one chooses to be.
That we can be the authors of our own lives and characters
strikes me as a very appealing thought. It means that a life can
in a sense itself become the stuff of art something to be
shaped according to ones own vision of oneself.
STUART GREENSTREET 2016
Existentialism
olloquially, the word depression is often used for listlessness, extreme sadness, or a profound sense of loss.
Its no wonder that so many people with a diagnosis of
depression struggle to be taken seriously: to the unaffected, the
problem sounds akin to a diagnosis of sadness. But sadness, in
fact, is not the only or even the main complaint: a clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder requires at least five symptoms, and only one of those refers to a depressed mood.
Depression is exhausting. Feelings of listlessness and fatigue
saturate life, and everyday tasks become laborious, as though
wading through tar. Things which previously gave joy or rest
become encumbering; socializing is a chore. Shadows creep
across the walls of the mind. Depression is not the same as sadness. Sadness is transient depression is pervasive.
Depression is like schizophrenia in the sense that both are
disorders of perception. It is difficult to accept the extent to
which our emotions warp our reality. Writer Andrew Solomon
has said that, in a depressed state, you think that the veil has
been taken away, the veil of happiness, and that now you are
seeing truly (see www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_depression_the_secret_we_share). The depressive comes to believe the
worthlessness either their own or the worlds and this belief
appears infallible, despite evidence to the contrary.
The nature of the link between perception and reality is perhaps one of the oldest philosophical debates. The debate is also
one without a resolution. Even if what we perceive as reality
might not be reality, we have no choice but to continue behaving as if it were. Yet from a neuropsychological perspective, the
possibility that our grasp of reality is limited, or even corrupted,
is almost a certainty. Our brains provide our only window to the
world, and, like any other organ, theyre fallible and prone to
malfunction. Our brains are capable of creating false memories;
we mistake dreams for reality; and we fall for optical illusions.
Hallucinogenic drugs systematically distort perception.
Existentialist philosophers discuss the nature of experience
from the perspective of meaning and morality, arguing that the
world is intrinsically meaningless. This realisation can be the
source of anguish and anxiety: if life is intrinsically meaningless, then why live? The existentialist solution to this nihilistic
dread is autonomy. Within existentialist philosophy, the onus is
on us to define our values, and to act in a way that is consistent
with them, so shaping our selves. We are thus to reject the
social roles and assumptions thrust upon us by others, and discover our authentic selves. The self only becomes authentic
when it is consciously constructed; until we do that we are
merely a patchwork of our genes, culture, upbringing, and
experiences. Discovering the authentic self also means making
decisions about the version of reality we choose to accept. By
definition, this process is subjective. And it can be applied to
help treat clinical depression.
People who have overcome depression talk about it as a
restorative process: a disintegration and subsequent rebuilding
Alisa Anokhina obtained her PhD in Psychology at University College London. She works in London as a research psychologist.
August/September 2016 Philosophy Now 9
Existentialism
Is Kierkegaard Still Relevant Today?
Lucian Lupescu says the disputatious Dane dares us to live.
Kierkegaard used pseudonyms to, in a way, distance himself from the ideas in each book.
Each persona is an embodiment of a way of
seeing the world, a way of living your life.
Across his works he suggests three main
paths of life: the aesthetic, the ethical, and
the religious (for him, Christian). The aesthete sees the world through an interesting/boring dichotomy. For him, life is made
to live, to experience, and there are no serious
choices. Life is immediacy. For the ethicist, on
the contrary, there are only serious choices. For
him, life is what you make of it. It is not enough to
just live it; you must make concrete choices that will
give shape to your existence, to your self. Life is responsibility. The ethicists dichotomy is, lets say, good versus evil.
The Christian, on the other hand, acknowledges that you
cannot succeed in creating a perfect self. But through faith in
Gods forgiveness you can accept your imperfect condition, and
live your life as yourself. However, although these options look
a lot like they represent ultimate solutions, Kierkegaards life
possibilities are just that possibilities. None of them represents an ultimate truth. As Kierkegaard sees them, they are
merely choices that one can make in ones life.
Kierkegaards Socratic approach is still relevant because of
its focus on the individual. Each of us feels the need for purpose. What Kierkegaard, and Socrates, teach us, is that this
purpose can be gained only by our choices, our actions, the
way we live our lives. No one, neither philosopher nor priest,
can tell us who or what we are, or what we should do. We must
discover and decide that for ourselves, in our inner, most intimate place, where we can make our true self come to light,
then shine upon our own, singular path. It is important for us
to know ourselves, to discover what are really our values, our
beliefs our truths in order to live a more fulfilling life. It is
important to know who we truly are, so that nobody can
manipulate us into doing what is contrary to our inner selves.
Kierkegaard does not present us with absolute, objective
truths, but challenges us to discover subjective truths for ourselves. He proposes to encourage us to become independent:
The phrase know yourself means: separate yourself from the
other (The Concept of Irony, 1841, trans H.V. Hong and E.H.
Hong, p.177, 1989). In the end, what Kierkegaard does is dare
us to live, by choosing how we live, and by taking responsibility
for our lives. Can we rise to his expectations?
LUCIAN LUPESCU 2016
Existentialism
Simone de Beauvoir
Portrait by
Gail Campbell
2016
Existentialism
August/September 2016
desire, and the body. Hegel was the Prog Rock of philosophy.
Right Guard will not help you here: Extremes
The most radical element of this anti stance, inheres as
much in the subversive nature of existentialisms metaphors and
stories as in its theory of the human situation (as valid as that
theory is).
Punk was a politics of energy (Stewart Home, The Assault
on Culture, 1988), and also traded in extremes: short songs
aggressively delivered, Mohican haircuts, ripped PVC, and the
pogo dance. The medium, like the message, was intense and to
the point. Similarly, the existential in Kafka is firmly linked to
the surreal and grotesque worlds of dung beetles, hunger artists,
and burrow-dwellers; Camus presents murder, despotism,
plagues, and the punishment of Sisyphus; Sartre began with the
neo-horror of Nausea (1938) and moved on to suicide squads,
jealous assassins, and condemned prisoners; Kierkegaard used
seducers and infanticide to illuminate the human condition; and
Nietzsche styled himself as the anti-Christ. Since human existence is so vividly exposed by exploring its boundaries, extreme
situations present the existentialist with a perfect method.
The Filth and the Fury: Passion
Punk broke out across the face of Britain like a disfiguring
rash (Stuart Maconie, Cider With Roadies, 2004). The Sex Pistols were an attraction/repulsion machine (Englands Dreaming). At a punk gig, to be spat at was a compliment. The emotions and moods at the epicentre of existentialism are anxiety
and disgust. Anxiety recognizes the instability and contingency
in life; and disgust is often manifested as anger and cynicism
towards a complacent bourgeoisie who are insensitive to possibility and the fragility of their forms of life. In the grotesque or
immoral lurks a strange beauty that corresponds with the unsettling ambivalence that often results from existential aesthetics.
Babylons Burning: Inclusive
We refer to authors as existential as much because of their
anti-systematising intensity as for their distinctive ideas. This is
not a trivial point. The style models both the fact that only you
can know what its like to be you, and the desire to inspire the
reader to wake up and take responsibility. Kafka wanted to
shake us awake; Kierkegaard described his life as an epigram
calculated to make people aware; and Sartre stressed that existentialism is a philosophy of action, not quietism. We are all the
philosophers of our own lives. Existentialism is therefore inclusive. Punk attitude is reacting from your own self, your own
spirit ... and not accepting whats supposed to be established.
(Jim Jarmusch, in Don Letts film Punk Attitude, 2005). We can
all live authentically. Anyone can start a band. Bassist Sid
Vicious became the whole point of the Sex Pistols and couldnt
even play his instrument.
Existentialism
Like the boiling lines of the punk cartoon Roobarb and Custard, existence is shaky, and the unemployed are more aware of
this than most. A career and the training or education it
implies is a source of stability which can create a halo that falsifies existence as a whole. The punk is granted no such illusion. Cult punk spoken word guru Henry Rollins wasnt
aiming at anything like a career in music, but he was dedicated
to punk and to the spirit of his band Black Flag. Nor did he
aim to be a stand up comedian, but he turned his hand to
something like it, and the results are his highly unusual spoken
word performances. Hes an amateur and an auteur, himself
inspired by Dostoyevsky and by Nietzsches pithy one liners.
He imagines Nietzsches return as a stand up comic: Theres
the crazy crowd at the back Whatever doesnt kill you makes
you stronger! (Sweatbox, 1992).
Existentialism
August/September 2016
Existentialism
Sisyphus, the proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the
whole extent of his wretched condition; it is what he thinks of during his
descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns
his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn if the
descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy.
this. For the legal system, crimes must have intent; there must
have been a motive. So as a matter of course, Meursault is
(justly) condemned by this institutional reaction to the absurd.
But in a certain sense, the legal system has become another
component of Meursaults consciousness of absurdity.
He is sentenced to death, the most severe punishment
allowable by law. The absurd has ensnared Meursault, just as it
did Sisyphus, snatched from the sea and sand to his toilsome
stone. Led to his cell, Meursault is expected to either repent
and surrender to the whims of man, or suffer in terror until
the drop of the blade. This expectation is predicated upon
both his consciousness of experiencing imprisonment and an
expectation of a consciousness of fear, to be terminated by his
death. And for a time it works as intended: Meursault quakes
in his bunk each morning, awaiting the heavy footsteps of the
guard coming to take him to his end. It is not until after his
climactic rage against the prison chaplain that Meursaults
deconstruction of traditional expectations becomes clear.
Meursault was content with the pleasures and passions of
his world. He loved and longed for the sea and the bends of
the coast, the alluring touch of a young lover, and the other
aesthetic joys of a casual life, just as did (or does) Sisyphus.
When asked by the chaplain what hed desire in death, Meursault replies curtly that he desires nothing more or less than
his own life again what else could a man desire at the end?
In the face of religion, Meursault remains unrepentant.
And in the face of society, he feels no guilt. He does not suffer
the concerns of others, nor does he submit to a fear of the
absurd. The absurdity of Meursaults world personified and
punctuated by his companions, the Arabs, the magistrate, the
prosecutor, the judges, and the priest seeks to collapse him
into a choiceless object, whose only remaining transcendence
will be his suffering and death. But Meursault, the Algerian
Sisyphus, resists this reduction to a choiceless nothingness,
and in doing so, affirms his own transcendence. At the sight of
his own great stone tumbling down for the final time, Meursault merely shrugs his shoulders and begins his descent.
Absurd Heroics
It is only conscious life that separates us from death, and
death can only come at the end of consciousness. Yet we fear it
as though it is something to be suffered, like an illness. Rather,
death is simply a bracketing of conscious life no different in
function than birth. Fear of death is in actuality an expression
of love for life. It is the fear of an unknown that steals our possibilities from us. But it is only while fearful that one can
choose instead to be brave; and it is only while brave that one
can be a hero. Meursault routinely demonstrates radical bravery in the face of the absurd. He is not a good man; but he
attains a level of authenticity that few ever mimic. And he
faces death with contentedness, taking responsibility for the
man he chose to be. Thus he opens himself to the happiness
of Sisyphus. Hades kneels before Chaos, and Meursault awaits
the scornful cries, comforted by their familiarity.
ALEX HOLZMAN 2016
Alex Holzman is studying Political Science, Philosophy, and Psychology at The College of New Jersey.
Existentialism
Why Camus Was NOT An Existentialist
Greg Stone presents the evidence.
Sisyphus sighs
16 Philosophy Now August/September 2016
Greg Stone is a media consultant, independent producer and existential thinker in the Boston area.
Albert Camus
by Woodrow Cowher
More work of his can be seen at
instagram.com/woodrawspictures
Existentialism
Tragedy
Before the rise of German, and in turn French, existentialism, tragedy was considered primarily a poetic and literary style.
We can think of Aeschylus Oresteia, Sophocles Oedipus Rex, or
Euripides Alcestis as well-known examples of tragedy. Centuries
later, in Germany, the writings of Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Jaspers. elevated tragedy outside of literary expression to a place of philosophical and existential importance.
Arthur Schopenhauers magnum opus, The World as Will and
Representation (1818) raises tragedy to the summit of poetic art
as it expresses the terrible side of life; Nietzsches early work
The Birth of Tragedy (1872) argues strongly for a Dionysian revelry in tragedy; and Jaspers Tragedy Is Not Enough (1969) finds
tragedy to be a condition for the experience of transcendence.
Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) was an existentialist philosopher
who saw tragedy as a launching pad for authentic faith. What
he calls tragic knowledge or absolute and radical tragedy, is
comparable to Sartres or Camus notions of meaninglessness
or absurdity. Jaspers kind of tragedy is opposed to salvation or
redemption, since they are both answers to it. As Jaspers says,
tragedy is not enough implying that we can, and ought to,
move beyond the brute tragedy of existence. He says that the
chance of being saved destroys the tragic sense of being
trapped without chance of escape. In contrast, many atheist
existentialists see the whole of human existence as tragic.
The fact that Jaspers retains his ideas in the face of the tragic
nature of existence shows how he differs from atheist existentialists (e.g. Heidegger, Sartre, Camus). These myself included
argue that the tragic nature of existence does not have an
answer; it is just how existence is. We cannot escape it, avoid it,
or supply a remedy for it. Therefore I argue that the atheist
existentialists develop a more authentic form of existentialism,
since they accept absolute tragedy and do not seek to dodge its
consequences. Sartre says, when we speak of forlornness, a
term Heidegger was fond of, we mean only that God does not
exist and that we have to face all the consequences of this (Existentialism and Human Emotions, 1957). So Sartre and other atheist existentialists face all the consequences of this while religious existentialists (such as Kierkegaard, Jaspers, and Marcel)
do not. They would be uneasy with Sartres notion, put forward
in his novel Nausea (1938), which carries radical tragedy to its
logical conclusion: Every existing thing is born without reason,
prolongs itself out of weakness and dies by chance.
Dread
Sren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) examined the philosophical, psychological, and theological implications of angest
18 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Existentialism
weak, and passive, a victim of forces beyond his control.
The greatness of Nietzsches philosophy is that it encourages, uplifts, empowers, and revitalizes. It tells the individual
to conquer fear and self-pity by affirming her unique power in
the world. He tells us that the greatness and fruitfulness and
the greatest enjoyment of existence is: to live dangerously.
Build your cities under Vesuvius! Send your ships into
uncharted seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves! Be
robbers and conquerors, as long as you cannot be rulers and
owners, you lovers of knowledge! (The Gay Science, 1882).
Nietzsche, who was at once an admirer of Schopenhauer, later
rejected Schopenhauers idea that one should resign oneself to
the cosmic Will. Nietzsche would rather think of the individual as actively engaged in the world, and not, like Schopenhauer or Kafka, as a passive product of circumstances.
Kafka, by contrast, shows how powerless humans are in the
face of forces beyond their control. His most popular fiction,
The Metamorphosis (1915) is the story of Gregor Samsa, who
awakes to find himself turned into a monstrous vermin (usually thought of as a cockroach). He cannot answer his door, he
can barely move, and the struggles he endures to get out of bed
seem almost endless: no matter how hard he threw himself
onto his right side, he always rocked onto his back again. The
Metamorphosis has been thought to represent many different
aspects of Kafkas life and thought; but no matter what one
thinks the story is an allegory of, the theme of powerlessness is
central. The never-ending struggle of any of Gregors projects
is illustrative of the torment experienced by those who feel
powerless. If placed in Camus story The Myth of Sisyphus,
20 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Existentialism
Gregor Samsa would spend his whole time struggling to move
the boulder, and one can only imagine him unhappy.
Kafkas protagonists are all similar. In The Trial (1925), Josef
K. is hauled off by authorities he does not meet for a crime of
which he is not even aware. At the end of his thirty-first year of
incarceration, Josef K. is executed. In The Castle (1926), protagonist K. is sent (the story never says by whom) as a land-surveyor
to a remote mountain village surrounding a castle. He is sent to
and fro, never being able to meet Count Westwest and so begin
his task. He ends up in a constant war against the invisible
bureaucracy and social norms of the village. He eventually dies
there, never knowing what his purpose was, never completing
his task, and never coming to terms with the strangeness of the
village. Each of these characters are subject to the whims of
powers outside of their control. Although they try, they never
accomplish any meaningful changes in the lot they were given.
As Sartre would say, they prolong out of weakness.
Wisdom involves knowing when you can change things and
when you cannot. Reinhold Niebuhr contemplated this and
composed his famous Serenity Prayer, which asks God to
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the
difference. This prayer contains a kernel of truth. Whether or
not we ought to orientate ourselves in a manner similar to
Nietzsche or Kafka is a different question. I am of the opinion
that even though the world is much as Kafka depicts it, we
should still have a Nietzschean orientation. We ought to act as
if we can change things, conquer fears, and affirm our lives. As
Sartre constantly points out, the responsibility of our lives, our
projects, and our personalities, is on ourselves. We are the
authors of our own life stories.
Absurdity
Absurdity is another important theme in existentialism.
Absurdity in the existentialist sense is the contrast between
human values, hopes and projects, and a universe which seems
mockingly indifferent to them. Kierkegaard wrote about it in
his Fear and Trembling (1843), The Sickness Unto Death (1849),
and in his posthumously collected Journals and Papers (1967).
In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard praises Abraham because
he believed on the strength of the absurd. In his Journals and
Papers, Kierkegaard juxtaposes understanding and the absurd:
Faith hopes for this life also, but, note well, by virtue of the
absurd, not by virtue of human understanding. He also thinks
that to see God or to see the miracle is by virtue of the
absurd, for understanding must step aside. In this way
Kierkegaard uses absurdity to express the limits of reason, and
especially of pure reason. In this sense, Kierkegaard is in
agreement with atheist existentialists, who often speak of the
impotence of human reason; but he is in disagreement with
them when he speaks of a God reached by the leap of faith.
Against Kierkegaard, Albert Camus (1913-1960) treats
absurdity not just as something opposed to reason, but as a central quality of human existence. In The Stranger (1942), Camus
protagonist Meursault does not conform to the social system he
is born into because he sees life as absurd. Camus says of him
that he is condemned because he does not play the game. In
The Plague (1947), Camus uses an epidemic to reveal the absur-
Existentialism
where humans are forlorn and abandoned, is frightening to
many people. This may be what keeps many people believing
in God. However, I think, as Christopher Hitchens did, that
the idea of Gods non-existence may be disturbing at first, but
eventually you come to understand how horrific the idea of the
existence of God itself seems. Atheists may be without universal values, but at least were not constantly watched and
judged. This idea of God is similar to Orwells Big Brother: the
elusive ruler who controls everything, whom you must fear
and love, and who watches your every thought. This kind of
God-created world is also distressing and disturbing.
Atheistic Existentialists Take These Themes
To Their Logical Conclusions
When Sartre says, God does not exist and we have to face
all the consequences of this he is saying that we should take
the idea of a Godless world to its conclusions. In other words,
tragedy, anxiety, powerlessness, and absurdity fit perfectly with
a Godless world, but when theyre given religious spin they
lose their strength and fecundity. Tragedy, taken to its logical
conclusion, is absolute; anxiety, taken to its logical conclusion,
is anxiety without an answer; powerlessness, taken to its logical
conclusion, shows how embedded we are in this world; and
absurdity, taken to its logical conclusion, is complete. To live
authentically in the face of these themes is not to supply an
answer to them, but to know there is none.
One of the main reasons why I think atheistic existentialism
is more authentic than religious existentialism, is that the
former accepts the idea of radical responsibility. This kind of
responsibility usually associated with Sartre says that we
cannot look beyond ourselves to find accountability. Its true
that Kierkegaard, Jaspers, and Marcel also place responsibility
in the agency of the individual; but they do so thinking that
God is watching, even if we do not take the leap of faith, or
accept the mystery of being, transcendence, or the encompassing. This is incompatible with an absolute idea of human
responsibility. Walter Kaufmann got it right when discussing
Sartre. He wrote, All mans alibis are unacceptable: no gods
are responsible for his condition; no original sin; no heredity
and no environment; no race, no caste, no father, and no
mother; no wrong-headed education, no governess, no
teacher (Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, 1956). The
God of religious existentialism, no matter how elusive, mysterious, and paradoxical, is still an alibi.
Camus wrote an interesting story about the uselessness of
God when facing despair and other existential crises. In Irony
(1937), Camus tells of an old woman who is slowly dying and
is terrified by her isolation, and of dying alone, even though
shes religious; her whole life was reduced to God. She finds
comfort only in a young man who tries his best to listen to and
care for her. When the old womans relatives leave for the
movies, the young man hesitates out of pity: then she saw that
the one person who had taken an interest in her was leaving.
She didnt want to be alone. She could already feel the horror
of loneliness, the long, sleepless hours, the frustrating intimacy
with God. She was afraid, could now only rely on man God
was of no use for her. All He did was cut her off from people
and make her lonely. This story illustrates that not even God
22 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
can experience your pain and death for you. Your pain and
your death are yours only. So even in the face of the most difficult existential experience, God is of no use to us. The
responsibility can be only on the individual.
Atheistic Existentialism Provides A Life-Affirming
Philosophy For The Twenty-First Century
If atheist existentialism takes tragedy, anxiety, powerlessness,
and absurdity seriously and to their logical conclusions, then it
is easy to see how this can give us a radical and life-affirming
philosophy for the twenty-first century. If we accept the themes
of the existentialist literature with seriousness, and if all responsibility is on us, then since the themes of existentialism cannot
be answered, remedied, or overcome, they should be embraced
and used as a way of affirming ones individuality and as an
impetus towards living authentically. What follows from this is
a philosophy of action. And if there were ever a time when an
existential philosophy of human responsibility were needed, it
would surely be now. Political unrest, globalization, social
change, and the loss of modernist certainties, are only a few of
the paradigm shifts occurring at the present time. Feeling powerless is an all-too-common phenomenon in the twenty-first
century. Resignation and life; have become almost synonymous, since political, social, and individual change often appear
to be utterly beyond our power. The bombardment of information also stirs a sense of confusion, skepticism, and disdain.
The thinking of the millennial generation mirrors atheistic
existentialism in many ways. Its focus on the individual, on
doubt, and on disenchantment with political systems, echoes
French intellectual life from the forties through the sixties.
Although we are offered many solutions to our current
predicament New Age spirituality, religious hope, psychics,
consumer commodities, lifestyle enhancers, pharmaceuticals
none of these offers seem authentic or realistic. They are
simply veils that hide the void between the haves (who present
themselves as happy) and the have-nots (who have limited
venues to present themselves at all). Instead of examining and
evaluating the ways in which people orient their lives, we are
offered quick and easy answers. But we dont need answers
as much as we need honesty. Atheistic existentialism can help
modern society by providing people with a philosophy that
accepts the tragedy and absurdity of existence while promoting
responsibility and authentic living. It can help people move
past resignation into an orientation that affirms the uniqueness
of the individual and her projects. Her subjectivity, when seen
in relationship to others, can create a sense of sympathy and
empathy. So against the idea of an infinite distance between
the self and the Other (see Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and
Infinity, 1961), I believe genuine and authentic communication
can take place, even if made difficult by the distance between
the individuals authentic private self and her public expressions. Existentialism provides an ethic that honors individual
projects and social responsibility, and encourages the sympathy
and empathy that arise through communication.
KILE JONES 2016
that God doesnt exist. In this case, the fact of the matter is
totally independent of us. In the case of Oswalds involvement
or lack of involvement in the assassination of President
Kennedy, Oswald was the one who made the fact what it is.
We, looking back on the incident and the evidence, do not.
This illustrates an obvious but rather important point. To the
extent that people act, they clearly do make various things the
case and various things not the case. If I place my coffee cup on
the table, Ive made it a fact that the coffee cup is on the table
and Ive made it a falsehood that the coffee cup is in the cupboard. This is because I can interact with the physical world and
change physical states of affairs, thus to that extent determining
what the physical facts are. There are, however, facts beyond
physical facts. For example, sometimes our actions take on
meaning and so create facts because of institutional rules that are
in place. When a sufficient number of individuals on a colleges
board of trustees all vote to divest the colleges holdings in Company X, then it becomes a matter of institutional fact that the
college is not to hold shares in Company X. Similarly, when the
Pope speaks ex cathedra [meaning, with the agreement of all the
cardinals, Ed] on matters of faith or morals, he makes it the case
that those things become, as a matter of fact, Catholic doctrine.
They will be Catholic doctrine whether other Catholics (and
non-Catholics) agree with the proclamation or not, and regardless of whether we even care.
In these and myriad other ways, people do determine the
facts in the sense of make them.
Something Can Be A Fact Even If We Cant Know It
Consider the claim, At precisely the moment that the US
National Institute of Standards and Technologys atomic clock
struck 15:00:00 on the afternoon of March 4, 2015, there were
an odd number of people inside the New York Public Librarys
Main Reading Room. This claim is either true or false: it either
was the case that an odd number of people were (completely)
inside the room at that time, or it was not the case. Now, if it was
the case, then the claim would express a fact. If it wasnt the case,
it would express merely an alleged fact, which was (in fact) false.
Notice, however, that we probably cant know whether the claim
is true or false which is to say that we cant know whether it is
a fact or not. Such is life. There are, quite literally, an infinite
number of possible claims that we could make that we know
must be either true or false (it is a fact that there is a fact about
it!), but we cannot possibly figure out their truth-values. For
another example, it either is or is not a fact that Julius Caesar
was red-green color blind; but it is doubtful that anyone will
ever now know what the fact of the matter is.
Facts Are Not Properly Contrasted With Opinions
As I mentioned at the outset, facts are often presented as
the opposite of opinions. Justin P. McBrayer, a philosophy professor at Fort Lewis College, Colorado, reported in the New
York Times' blog, The Stone in 2015(Why Our Children Dont
Think There Are Moral Facts) that national education standards in the United States require elementary school children
to learn to categorize statements according to whether they
express facts or express opinions the assumption being that
all of the statements with which theyre provided express either
24 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Conclusion
Properly understood, the term fact refers to a state of
affairs or an aspect of reality, not to a class of beliefs. By contrast, opinions and considered judgments are types of beliefs,
and those labels are most usefully used to distinguish sufficiently well-supported from insufficiently well-supported
beliefs. The primary thing these distinctions reveal is that it is
inappropriate to contrast facts with opinions. To do so is to
make a category mistake: it is to treat facts in themselves as a
species of beliefs. Of course we have beliefs about what the
facts are, and there are also psychological facts about what
individuals believe. However, maintaining a fact-opinion
dichotomy only serves to cloud discussions that would be more
productively oriented towards figuring out whether our beliefs
are justified and whether they conform to the facts.
DR CHRISTOFFER S. LAMMER-HEINDEL 2016
26 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
If you look closely enough at a rule, the cosmos will appear in all its physical, metaphysical, moral and spiritual aspects, presenting you a lifes work.
Ted Cohen
28 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Baseball
Chris Christensen is a delivery driver in Portland, Oregon. In addition to studying philosophy, he and his wife Bobbie produce a blog,
Red Stitches: Mostly Baseball.
August/September 2016 Philosophy Now 29
& God
David Glass and Mark McCartney say Ockhams razor doesnt cut it with God.
the world Two thousand years ago, it was perfectly reasonable to invoke God as an explanation for natural phenomena;
now, we can do much better. (The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity, eds J.B. Stump and A.G. Padgett, p.196,
2012).
But some caution is needed. If Ockhams razor is used properly it can be a very helpful tool, but if used incorrectly it can
become a dangerous instrument. First, consider a scenario
where Ockhams razor works. Suppose your car wont start.
Two possible explanations are a) that the battery is faulty and b)
that the starter motor is faulty. You call a mechanic who quickly
determines that there is indeed a problem with the battery.
Since this would explain why the car didnt start, there is no
longer any reason to think that there is a problem with the
starter motor. Ockhams razor removes the need for the further
explanation. Or to put it another way, the truth of the faulty
battery hypothesis has explained away the faulty starter motor
hypothesis. Of course, it is possible that there is a problem with
both the battery and the starter motor. That cannot be ruled out
until the car starts, but it would be really unlucky; based on the
evidence so far and the application of Ockhams razor, one
explanation is sufficient.
Now consider another scenario. A road traffic accident has
taken place near a set of traffic lights. Based on preliminary evidence relating to the scene and the condition of one of the drivers, the police propose two possible explanations: a) that the
driver of one of the cars went through a red light and b) that
this same driver had been drinking. Sure enough, further evidence confirms that the driver had indeed been drinking.
Could we now apply Ockhams razor as before and conclude
that there is no longer any reason to think the car went
through a red light? No, in this case it is quite plausible to
think that the two explanations go together. The two hypotheses are needed to account for all the evidence and alcohol consumption could explain why the driver went through a red
light. It would be inappropriate to apply Ockhams razor in this
case since doing so could very easily lead us astray.
Cut Here!
So how do you decide in a particular case whether Ockhams
razor can be applied legitimately to use one hypothesis, A, to dismiss another hypothesis, B? In some recent work (Can evidence
for design be explained away?, in Probability in the Philosophy of
Religion, eds J. Chandler and V. Harrison, 2012; and Explaining
and explaining away in science and religion, Theology and Science,
12(4), 2014), weve proposed both a formal account based on
accept what science tells us about the world, while also accepting that science is fallible. In some cases, the truth of a hypothesis could make the application of Ockhams razor much more
plausible, as it did in the earlier example of the car not starting.
In other cases, like the road traffic example, Ockhams razor
does not apply and so Question 4 is not relevant. Learning the
truth of one hypothesis in this case does not undermine, and
may well enhance, the other. Even in cases where Ockhams
razor might be applicable, the mere possibility of one hypothesis being true is not sufficient for its application. For example,
in the case of the car not starting, Ockhams razor can be
applied once we have good reason to believe that there is a
problem with the battery, but the mere possibility of there
being such a problem would not merit application of the razor.
This is relevant here because sometimes ideas that are not scientifically well established are appealed to by atheists in just
this way. For example, in response to the apparent fine-tuning
of natural laws as evidence for God, it is sometimes claimed
that the possibility of a multiverse removes the need for God.
Whatever the merits of fine-tuning arguments, it should be
clear that pointing to the mere possibility of a multiverse is
inadequate as a response.
Evolving Explanations
The most famous specific topic in science which might be
thought to explain God away is, of course, evolution and
Philosophical Haiku
design. Given the success of Darwins theory of evolution by
natural selection (and so a positive answer to Question 4),
does it remove the need for God as an explanation of intelligent life? In response to Question 1, evolution and God are
not mutually exclusive. Some people might claim that evolution requires atheism, but this far outstrips any claim that scientific evidence can establish. Besides, those like Dawkins,
who use evolution to argue against God do so not on the
basis of their logical incompatibility, but in terms of
Ockhams razor since evolution is claimed to remove, not disprove, God.
With regards to Question 2, there are multiple reasons
that could be given by theists for thinking that evolution
depends on God. Clearly, evolution requires an orderly,
physical universe with appropriate scientific laws in place as
well as the very fine-tuning of its physical parameters. All of
these features of the universe form the basis of some of the
main theistic arguments found in the contemporary literature. As with our earlier discussion of Question 2, proponents of an evolutionary case against God will reject these
arguments, but given their relevance they cannot be set aside
without begging the question. In other words, showing that
evolution explains God away will require detailed arguments
to show that the features of the world that are necessary for
evolution do not also support a belief in God.
With regards to Question 3, the likelihood of intelligent
life having arisen solely through unguided evolutionary
processes is far from clear. This is not a criticism of the
theory of natural selection, but just recognises that the evolution of intelligent life might well be dependent on some
highly fortuitous events having occurred in the history of life
on Earth. Richard Dawkins, for example, says of the origin of
life as well as other evolutionary transitions that they might
have needed to be bridged by sheer luck (The God Delusion,
p.140). Irrespective of whether, and if so how, God might
have guided natural processes to bring about intelligent life,
this suggests a negative answer to Question 3 and so raises a
serious problem for attempts to apply Ockhams razor in this
context. This brief discussion of evolution suggests that it is
very doubtful that Ockhams razor can be applied here. And if
it cant be applied here, it seems unlikely it can be applied
successfully anywhere in an attempt to explain God away.
In conclusion, we have attempted to show why using science and Ockhams razor to explain God away is very
unlikely to be successful. No doubt it is a tempting strategy
for some atheists. Its appeal both to science and to a legitimate tool of scientific reasoning the razor itself seems to
offer the possibility of a powerful and straightforward argument against theism that circumvents the need to get
involved in the details of standard philosophical arguments
for the existence of God. However, our analysis of the valid
uses of Ockhams razor suggests that nothing could be further from the truth.
ierkegaard is seen today as one of the founders of existentialism, with its emphasis on the need to choose for oneself how to
find meaning in this godless life. But existentialism of this kind is
not exactly what Kierkegaard had in mind. Over the course of his short
life, and writing under a bewildering range of pseudonyms (which helpfully allowed him to criticise his own works later on), he knitted
together the disparate skeins of moral psychology and Christian theology to form an elaborate garment quite unlike anything seen before
(and not necessarily one youd want to wear out of the house). Projecting his own misery onto the world, he diagnosed a collective case of
despair as the worlds great ill. Many people dont even realise they are
suffering this despair, foolishly mistaking it for joy thats how ignorant
people can be! Youre laughing, but really you should be crying!
We are free to choose for ourselves how we will live, and indeed we
must do so this is the human condition. Yet Kierkegaard argued that
with no philosophical basis for the spirit, theres no basis for composed
selfhood, so we are left to drift hither and yon at the whims of the tide,
directionless, lost, and bewildered. Thus, in the spiritual wasteland that
is the world, people turn to religious cults, worship false idols such as
Beauty, delude themselves with utopian political visions (quo vadis,
Proudhon?), or just wearily give themselves up to insanity (my preferred approach) anything to escape the frightening emptiness. But in
his humorous [sic] analysis of this condition entitled The Sickness unto
Death (1849), Kierkegaard held out the possibility of meaningful existence. We can establish a basis for our selves by accepting the possibility of a transcendent power through faith. But we are in error if we
seek this condition through the exercise of reason it is not for reason
to comprehend the mysteries of faith. In this, Kierkegaard sounds
much like William James, who talked of the will to believe.
Shortly before he died, Kierkegaard spoke with a friend, saying, I
pray to be free of despair at the time of my death. Dont we all.
???
The following answers to this key philosophical question each win a random book.
August/September 2016
into which they are incarnated. For instance, it has never been
the case (as far as we know) in any culture, at any time, that a
man (even the chief) can take whichever woman he wants to be
his wife. In Britain today she has to be over sixteen, and in
other countries her age may be higher or lower. Also, someone
has to give consent to the marriage; either the woman herself,
or her family, or the elders of the tribe, or the chiefs other
wives! Whatever the subjective cultural differences, the same
objective moral principle applies.
We can no more invent a subjective morality than we can
invent a new primary colour. We can no more come up with a
novel morality which is in no way connected to an objective
morality than we can come up with a new way of breathing.
KARL WRAY
CARLISLE, CUMBRIA
??
August/September 2016
??
of a critically ill child, or lying to someone over the whereabouts of your friend whom they express an intention to kill.
However, people would not necessarily give the same reasons
why these are exceptions to the rule. Some may argue there is
greater moral responsibility to a friend than to a stranger, so,
in this circumstance, lying in their defence is acceptable; but
others may argue a hierarchy of moral actions: so although
lying, or stealing, is ethically wrong, not acting to prevent a
murder, or to save the life of a child, is a far greater wrong.
Others still may stress the importance of social mores in ethical situations.
In conclusion, despite a widespread belief there are things
that are inherently morally correct apart from in exceptional
circumstances, there is lack of consensus on what these exemptions are, or when and why they are acceptable. This is what
makes debate over whether there is truly an objective morality
uncertain, and makes moral philosophy the challenging preoccupation it is.
JONATHAN TIPTON
PRESTON, LANCASHIRE
he common belief is that there are two kinds of knowledge: subjective and objective. The latter is held to be
more certain than the former, and is usually contrasted with it.
However, the distinction is ultimately untenable. Objective
knowledge is actually derived from subjective knowledge. This
is because of the absolute privacy of conscious experience,
which ensures that there can be no composite or collective
view of reality. So every so-called objective fact is derivative
that is, it is derived from the private observations of individuals
insofar as they seem to agree with each other.
The process of arriving at a moral truth is in principle
exactly the same as that: by inquiry and agreement among
autonomous individuals. The status of a value would thus be
no less (and no more) objective than that of a fact. (Unfortunately, in traditional societies, it is the authority of the past
which is usually deferred to.)
Moreover, no objective facts can be arrived at unless certain values are observed. These values are arrived at in the
same way as we arrive at facts: namely by mutual agreement.
They include (1) Respect for reason and truth, (2) Recognition
of knowledge, (3) Respect for each others freedom and autonomy, (4) Respect for each others conscious experience, and (5)
Frankness, even where this involves admitting ones own mistakes. It will be seen that the Golden Rule is implicit here. We
require therefore moral values when seeking out facts values
are at the root of so-called facts. And we may assert that both
facts and values are derived from individual human experience,
and so are as objective, or not, as each other.
GRAHAM DUNSTAN MARTIN
EDINBURGH
In honour both of Albert Camus and William Shakespeare, the next
question is: To Be or Not To Be What Is The Answer?
Please both give and justify your sagacity in less than 400 words. The
prize is a semi-random book from our book mountain. Subject lines
should be marked Question of the Month, and must be received by
17th October 2016. If you want a chance of getting a book, please
include your physical address. Submission is permission to reproduce your answer physically and electronically. Thanks.
The Consequences of
Accepting
Consequentialism
Katy Baker on the demands of consequentialist theories of morality.
Jim finds himself in the central square of a small South American town.
Tied up against the wall are a row of twenty Indians, most terrified, a few
defiant, in front of them several armed men in uniform. A heavy man in a
sweat-stained khaki shirt turns out to be the captain in charge and, after a
good deal of questioning of Jim which establishes that he got there by
accident while on a botanical expedition, explains that the Indians are a
random group of the inhabitants who, after recent acts of protest against
the government, are just about to be killed to remind other possible protestors of the advantages of not protesting. However, since Jim is an honoured visitor from another land, the captain is happy to offer him a guests
privilege of killing one of the Indians himself. If Jim accepts, then as a special mark of the occasion, the other Indians will be let off. Of course, if Jim
refuses, then there is no special occasion, and Pedro here will do what he
was about to do when Jim arrived, and kill them all... The men against the
wall and the other villagers understand the situation, and are obviously
begging him to accept. What should he do?
Bernard Williams in the book Utilitarianism: For and Against,
by J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, 1973
sequentialism disregards the agents own personal commitments and allows for negative responsibility. I intend to show
that expecting individuals to take an impersonal standpoint in a
decision that so greatly affects them is unrealistic and leads to
alienation. Consequentialists may try to respond by arguing
that alienation and taking an impersonal standpoint can be a
virtue, but this seems a high price to pay if the agent is
expected to disregard her most fundamental relationships, leaving her deeply unhappy. For a theory often touted as promoting happiness, this is a problem.
A Utilitarian Approach
Consequentialism focuses on promoting the best consequences, but what kind of consequences are the best? The bestknown consequentialist ethical theory is utilitarianism, which
says that the wrongness or rightness of an action depends on
the amount of overall good or utility that is produced. So, to
decide whether or not to take some step, we must calculate
whether it will produce the best overall outcome for the highest number of people. Many utilitarians take a hedonistic
approach, saying that utility equates to happiness, so we should
act to produce the greatest happiness, and to minimize pain
and unhappiness. For example, if I have the choice between
saving one of my two cats, Benjy and Oliver, from a house fire,
I should save the cat that would produce the most utility over
the other one. So, if Oliver had a wide network of adoring cat
lovers because of his friendly, playful nature, unlike Benjy who
prefers a life of peaceful solitude I should save Oliver as this
would cause the least pain and produce the most pleasure for
the people that know him. For consequentialism, life is a numbers game; an action should aim to make the majority happy,
regardless of who they are, and should aim to go for actions
that produce minimal pain. Williams furthers this explanation;
making the best of a bad job is one of its maxims, and it will
have something to say even on the difference between massacring seven million, and massacring seven million and one
(Consequentialism and its Critics, 1988). So whilst both acts are
morally abhorrent, the consequentialist will inevitably say that
if these are the only options available then not only should we
choose to massacre seven million, but that it would be right to
do so. What matters is not so much the horrific act in itself but
the outcome of that act.
Jim & The Indians
As consequentialism only looks at the consequences it
allows for negative responsibility; that is, being held morally
accountable not for some action, but for failing to act to prevent bad things happening. Also, it does not matter who performs the action, only the action itself as Williams example
shows.
For the consequentialist it is obvious that the right choice
for Jim would be to kill one Indian in order to save the lives of
the other nineteen. If Jim refuses to kill anyone then he is
therefore responsible for the deaths of the others. From a
consequentialist point of view it doesnt matter who commits
the murder, merely the amount of lives lost in the end, so Jim
would be just as responsible for the deaths as the captain is
surely an absurd outcome. So what exactly is wrong with it?
By saying that Jim should shoot the one Indian the consequentialist fails to take into account the impact that this would
have on Jims life. In one moment Jim goes from being a
tourist in a foreign country to becoming a murderer for the
sake of morality. He is likely to have his own commitments in
which murder (rather than letting others die) would go
against his most fundamental beliefs. Does the pain that Jim
Letters
When inspiration strikes, dont bottle it up!
Write to me at: Philosophy Now
43a Jerningham Road London SE14 5NQ, U.K.
or email rick.lewis@philosophynow.org
Keep them short and keep them coming!
The Reflective Turn
DEAR EDITOR: I read Tim Wilkinsons
article on mirrors (PN 114) with interest
as, many years ago, I came up with a
different theory of why mirrors appear
to reverse left and right but not up and
down. My argument is that the effect is
due to the direction in which we turn
round the axis around which we rotate
when we change from looking at an
object to looking at its reflection.
Imagine that you are standing in
front of a large mirror and that, behind
you, is a large square. Each corner of the
square is coloured differently. You turn
from looking at the actual square to
looking at its reflection in the mirror.
The reflection appears to reverse the left
and right side of the square, but not to
reverse top and bottom. Now imagine
you are a different kind of creature, that
turns round by turning head over heels
(in other words, by rotating vertically
around a horizontal axis, instead of
around the vertical axis as we usually
do). Now when you rotate from looking
at the square to looking at its reflection,
the square seems to get turned upside
down, but what appeared to be on the
left still appears on the left when you
look at the reflection. This principle can
be illustrated by a tree reflected in a
lake. In going from looking at the tree to
looking at its reflection, we rotate our
line of sight vertically (around a horizontal axis ). What is on the left of the
tree still appears to be on the left of the
reflection, but what is at the top of the
tree is at the bottom of the reflection.
My point is that reflection inverts along
the direction in which we rotate our line
of sight when we go from looking at the
object to looking at the reflection. If we
usually turned around a horizontal axis,
rather than a vertical one, we would
think that mirrors inverted up and down
but not left and right. Perhaps somewhere in the universe there is a species
thats puzzled about why mirrors do that.
PETER SPURRIER, HALSTEAD, ESSEX
Scientific Limits
DEAR EDITOR: Grant Bartley in his editorial in Issue 114 is too timid and too brave.
If some scientists think of philosophy as a
poor mans version of science this is good.
Gives everyone involved something to
argue about. The fact is, everyone has a
license to think: its called a brain, and
moreover you can think about anything at
all. Absolutely anything. Wow! And if you
take advantage of this freedom you are
doing philosophy. Science is a fairly
respectable part of that. So is mathematics,
a different part. But that leaves an awful
lot of other things to think about. And
what is being done by engineers and scientists these days would have been dismissed
as philosophical lunacy a century ago.
On the other hand the idea that you get
any help from Kant in understanding
space and time is rather silly. A philosopher argued that Einstein had to be wrong
because he contradicted Kant. Einstein
and others had a far deeper insight than
Kant. Argue with me about this when you
understand what the Lorentz group has to
do with space and time.
MIKE ALDER, PERTH, AUSTRALIA
DEAR EDITOR: Some scientists believe
that philosophy is unnecessary for understanding our world, but I dont think we
could have survived the mental distress
and chaos experienced after the calamitous
events of the Holocaust and the dropping
of the atomic bombs on Japan without
engaging in philosophy. Im sure science
alone couldnt have dealt with the mental
and moral anguish we faced after those
events. Moreover, I think that if we were
left with only cold scientific thinking we
could easily have fallen into repeating
those events. Its mostly through philosophizing about them that weve gained an
understanding into what triggered them,
which then put us on a course of trying to
avoid repeating them. Its not science
alone that has given us the understanding
and fortitude to overcome our history.
DAVID AIRTH, TORONTO
Letters
Cambridge employed only female lecturers. She also suggested that women, when
busy having children, tend to publish less
than men, putting them at a disadvantage
when looking for academic jobs. Having
two children myself, I know that there
isnt the time to read the journals and
books one would want to, let alone
produce publications (and I wouldnt
change a second of it, by the way).
Warnock also mentions the concentration of women in the soft subjects of
philosophy, in particular religion and
ethics. One reason she gives for the interest in religion is that women were often
locked in their traditional, supportive,
probably religious role in the family.
Another is that they have divided lives,
and so whilst trying to keep many plates
spinning, tend to excel at the subjects that
take less concentration. She speaks autobiographically here, referring to the soft
subjects as not requiring the hours in the
library, or even hours sitting undisturbed
as you work out a logical problem. I was
riled by this. So men are able to sit peacefully and do modal logic, but women can
think about God while they sweep the
floors?! However, I also have to admit
that Im writing parts of this letter while
getting the kids tea ready. I also remember a PhD student writing to me (yes, a
letter on paper) after my first year undergraduate exams, telling me to select the
modules that would get me more
respect in the department namely, not
religion and ethics. Unfortunately I had
already decided to do a dissertation on
neo-Wittgensteinian fideism by then; but
I also took philosophy of mind and metaphysics. But, again, whatever the reasons
for the lack of women in the hard
subject, the solution is not to remove
these elements from courses.
I dont claim to have the answers. I
cant claim to be a career philosopher. I
teach, I write, I get involved in projects. I
have rarely experienced any discrimination, probably because I never climbed
high enough up the academic ladder.
There have been encounters with male
academics where I have felt that I was
viewed as inferior, but I was not sure what
the reason was. I did consider that it
might be because I am female; but I also
considered that it might be because I have
a Brummy accent, or (more likely) not
enough letters after my name. There have
certainly been times when I have begun to
lose confidence, to question myself and
Letters
Standard Model of particle physics. This
model comprises fields, together with 17
particles. Tegmark claims that these
fields and particles have no properties
other than purely mathematical ones, so
at its root physical reality is mathematical. As we move up the physical scale
through atoms, cells, organisms, stars,
galaxies, new properties emerge, providing us with a conceptual framework
which allows us to understand the world,
but they are not fundamental to reality.
Tegmark refers to them as baggage.
Intelligent beings from another galaxy,
or intelligent machines here, are likely
to use utterly different concepts.
In regard to mathematics, Tegmark is
a Platonist as opposed to a formalist.
Platonists view mathematical objects as
real: they objectively exist outside of physical space and time quite independently of
our knowledge of them. Here mathematicians are somewhat like scientists in
discovering and exploring a pre-existing
reality, which will remain unchanged for
all time. In contrast, formalism, which
was introduced by David Hilbert, holds
that all mathematics can be reduced to
rules for manipulating formulas. It has
been claimed that most mathematicians
are Platonists on week-days when they are
working, but formalists on Sundays when,
in philosophical mode, they reflect on
their work. The question seems
completely irresolvable. But one can see
that Tegmark being a Platonist might
make MUH attractive to him. I strongly
recommend that Philosophy Now readers
read Tegmarks excellent book, which is
written in an engaging style.
JOHN RADCLIFFE,
WELWYN GARDEN CITY
DEAR EDITOR: I enjoyed Sam Woolfes
article on Max Tegmarks hierarchy of
multiverses, but Woolfe let Tegmark off
lightly in terms of any discussion of
weaknesses and gaps in his position. For
example, Tegmark assumes that his four
levels of multiverses form a consistent
hierarchy, but his Level I and II multiverses are not purely quantum mechanical as his Level III is, but rather, cosmological in scale; and since quantum
theory and relativity are still not fully
unified, his assumption of congruency is
dubious. Secondly, Tegmark is somewhat suspicious of infinities in physics.
Understandably so, but he is surprisingly silent about the role of infinities in
Books
Modality & Explanatory Reasoning
by Boris Kment
YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM
only drew a game yesterday. But things could
very easily have been different. If your
goalkeeper had been standing two inches to
the right at the crucial moment, the opposing team would not have scored the fateful
goal and your team would have won. Still
annoyed this morning, you dropped a cup
and it fell to the floor. Given that you
dropped the cup, it was very likely to fall. It
might not have fallen, but only if there had
been a sudden updraught of air. Unlike
with the goal, the outcome could only have
been different if something quite extraordinary had happened.
When philosophers try to get a grip on
the idea that some things could easily have
been different, while other things could
only have been different in quite extraordinary circumstances, they talk about possible
worlds. We live in the actual world, where
44 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Book Reviews
Books
Books
The Making of An
Atheist
by Jason Spiegel
Paul Vitz
in such a being is an important one. Arguments from divine hiddenness and other
reasons for non-belief have been predominant in philosophy, and a good answer to
these arguments would be an important step
in making a case for theism. Its clear, however, that Spiegel is far off the mark. Resorting to an over-easy explanation those who
disagree with me are immoral is rarely a
good tactic in rational disagreement. His
tired arguments have already been decisively
refuted, and if Spiegel had bothered to do
his research, he might have seen this.
Spiegels egregious thesis about non-belief
strikes out on nearly all counts, and only
serves to move the debate backwards.
At the end of a section entitled Where
Atheists are Correct, Spiegel writes that
Christians should be epistemically humble:
they should admit that the supernatural is
mysterious, especially with regard to the
Trinity and other doctrinal positions.
When Christians err, either through
hypocrisy, malpractice by the church, or
overconfidence in theological matters,
Christians should be grateful for atheists
perceptiveness in pointing them out; we
should be willing to repent of these
errors. This advice seems relevant to the
content of his own book, and we should
hope that he takes it.
MATT DESTEFANO 2016
Matt is a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Arizona. His main interests are in
philosophy of mind and cognitive science. He also
has substantial interests in philosophy of religion.
The Making of An Atheist: How Immorality
Leads to Unbelief by Jason Spiegel, Moody Publishers,
2010, $12.99, ISBN: 978-0-8024-7611-1
Book Reviews
Books
Berkeleys Puzzle
by John Campbell &
Quassim Cassam
STAR WARS:
The Force Awakens
Films
ow do you reboot a classic sci fi franchise under new corporate and directorial control while pleasing loyal
legions of international fans? You give it to
J.J. Abrams, apparently as his recent bigbudget Star Trek and Star Wars films both
demonstrate. The six original episodes of the
Star Wars franchise are ripe for philosophical,
psychological, and religious analysis. But
what Abrams brings to the newest installment, Episode VII: The Force Awakens
(2015), also demands a meta-philosophical
approach.
Seeing Double
The internal mythology of Star Wars rests
on a kind of dualism, with the dark and light
sides of the Force, but Episode VII also deals
with a lot of doubles. Critics have pointed
out how in The Force Awakens Rey doubles
for Luke Skywalker, Finn as both comic
relief and a source of moral ambiguity doubles for Han Solo, and once again we have a
wise, short, and comically odd character in
the form of Maz Kanata (cf Yoda). The idea
of doubles is a recurrent trope of fiction,
which has taken basic problems of reality
and appearance from the very start of philosophy. Think for instance of Plato and Aristotles use of the idea of mimesis artistic
creation understood as the re-presentation
of nature. The doubles theme also appears
in the double consciousness of W.E.B.
Dreyja vu:
two apparent
orphans
48 Philosophy Now
August/September 2016
Running Circles
In his book Truth and Method (1960),
Hans-Georg Gadamer wrote, The circle of
whole and part is not dissolved in perfect
understanding, but, on the contrary, is most
fully realized. Correspondingly, each of the
Star Wars films needs to be interpreted in
terms of the whole story cycle. Our understanding and appreciation of these films is
dependent upon what has come before and
what we know is coming or anticipate coming later in the saga. (Episode VII does the latter brilliantly in withholding the person of
Luke Skywalker for so long.)
In the original film, Darth Vader taunted
Obi-Wan Kenobi with the words, The circle
is now complete. To complete the narrative
circle, the heavy emphasis on the doubling of
characters, situations, and plot in The Force
Awakens will have to be redeemed by
Episode VIII, in which our investment in the
new characters must be rewarded by taking
real risks in a darker, more psychologicallydriven plot, as The Empire Strikes Back did in
1980.
Alternatively, it might be said that, on the
contrary, Star Wars seems to be trapped
within its own narrative structures, endlessly
replicating doubles of its original characters
and setting them against each other in new
concatenations. Perhaps this is done intentionally by the filmmakers, bringing us back
to the mythological origins of the film saga
by invoking the concept of eternal recurrence or the karmic cycle.
Films
even Han Solos demanding epistemic standards.
A galaxy of adventure
reawakens
Looks familiar:
Not the first vision of universal order
ho are you, and who am I? As a reader of Philosophy Now you have probably come across such
questions many times. We ask them in metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, epistemology, as well as the
philosophy of psychology and related areas. However,
nowhere does the problem of the supposed identity of self and
other wreak havoc as it does in the area of human relationships moral, social and political.
When we think about who we are, we also think about who
we are not; we define ourselves off against an other. How do
we deal with the existence of the other?
G.W.F. Hegel thought that the encounter
between two self-conscious beings is best
described as a life-and-death struggle.
Luckily, not all encounters with others are
like that. We can develop sincere bonds,
friendships that mean happiness rather
than a threat. However, as the existence of
racism, xenophobia, sexism and other
kinds of prejudice suggest, there is plenty
of potential for it to go wrong.
Why do we ever react to the existence
to other people with prejudice and rejection? Many explanations of the causes of
prejudice have been suggested. Philosophical, psychological and sociological theories abound: social inequality, peer pressure, the desire to elevate ones own status,
the horns effect, in-group bias, tribalism and many more.
Immanuel Kant thought that prejudice arises from a natural
preference for oneself and ones interests over those of others.
However, although this kind of logical egoism affects most of
us, it is the ability to relativise this selfishness and put it in
proper social perspective that allows us to overcome prejudice.
One of the worst forms of prejudice, and strangely also
perhaps the one that is easiest to understand is xenophobia: we
tend to fear what we dont know, and we exaggerate what
were afraid of. There seem to be so many things that divide
us, and in a climate of social uncertainty and injustices it is
tempting to focus on these. We have seen the rise of this to a
worrying degree in all corners of the globe.
There are many reasons to be deeply worried about xenophobia and other forms of social prejudice: reasons connected
with flawed moral thinking, reasons having to do with devastating political and social consequences. In many ways, prejudice is the nemesis of the philosopher. It is one of the things to
which Philosophy Now tries to draw attention with its annual
Award For Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity: prejudice annuls truth.
Brief Lives
ne of the intellectual
crutches youre first
given as a Western
student of Chinese philosophy is the idea of Confucius
as Socrates, Mencius as Plato,
and Xunzi as Aristotle. Thus
we remember Confucius
(551-479 BCE) as the foundational moralist who speaks
only through his students;
Mencius (372-289 BCE) as
the eloquent inheritor of the
founder whose praise contained a subtle push of his
masters words in a new
How do we make a society that works? direction; and Xunzi (c.320235 BCE) as the logician who
put everything together. Theres broad truth in that. Like most
crutches, this gets you walking but not incredibly well. For
theres also a good deal in the comparison that blanches one of
the most interesting figures in world philosophy for Xunzi
was a fearless thinker who trimmed philosophy of any clutter
that didnt address the question, How do we make a society
that works?
A Long Life Briefly Related
For all of Xunzis importance in the Chinese tradition, we
know virtually nothing about him. The two earliest sources we
have are those of Sze-ma Chien, written a hundred years after
Xunzis death, and Liu Hsian, about another fifty years after
that. These accounts begin with Xunzi entering the court of
the king of Tsi around 270 BCE, at the age of fifty. The king
actively cultivated the development of philosophy by founding
a college at Tsi-hsia and luring eminent philosophers there
through the granting of honorary ranks.
Of course, we all know what happens when you get a group
of eminent philosophers together. Envy and the mad scramble
for status bred the usual slander, and Xunzi, as the most
famous philosopher of the time, received the brunt of these
sotto voce machinations. The king ultimately dismissed him,
and he was left to wander China in search of a wise royal
master who would heed his anti-war, pro-Confucian counsel.
Now, speaking against war during the Warring States era of
Chinese history might seem like a hard sell; and it was. Xunzi
never found his wise, peace-loving ruler, and instead settled for
a lowly position as a district magistrate for Prince Chuinshen. He held that position until his eighty-third year, when
his prince was assassinated and the new ruler promptly
drummed Xunzi out of office, prompting him to retire from
public work. At 82, he probably deserved the rest.
This course of career was typical for a philosopher in ancient
China. During that era, philosophy went hand in hand with
52 Philosophy Now August/September 2016
Brief Lives
as good as seizing the opportunity and acting? How can relying on things
increasing of themselves be as good as putting forth ones energy and
developing things? How can thinking of things and comparing them be as
good as looking after things and not losing them? How can wishing that
things may come to pass be as good as taking what one has and bringing
things to pass? Therefore if a person neglects what men can do and seeks
for what Heaven does, he fails to understand the nature of things (ibid).
Dale DeBakcsy writes the History of Humanism feature at TheHumanist.com and is the co-writer of the twice-weekly history and
philosophy webcomic Frederick the Great: A Most Lamentable
Comedy.
August/September 2016 Philosophy Now 53
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Change
&
Time
T
in
Wonderland
56 Philosophy Now
Permissiveness Problems
There are at least two problems with this
seemingly innocent truism. The first is that
it is difficult to see how we get from a general permissiveness to the distinctive aspects
of time we have already alluded to: duration
(the quantity of time changes take); location
(when the changes occur); and temporal
relations between events (simultaneity and
precedence). The second is the danger of
translating permission into causation.
There are many problems with the idea of
time as a cause, or, more generally, of time
being characterised by something it does.
If time itself really were a cause, then
every event would have two causes: the
cause in the usual sense of a prior event,
such as lightning causing thunder; and a
second cause, time. This would be an example of what philosophers call causal overdetermination. More worryingly, it is difficult to see how the two causes could work
together to assume joint responsibility for
the effect. How, anyway, would time operate at a particular point (in space and time)
to bring about a particular effect? And given
that time is homogenous and is present at
all times, it is even more difficult to see how
it could make a distinctive contribution to
the unfolding of events, helping to cause
this event rather than that. There is also an
important ambiguity in the notion of time
as a cause, identified by W.H. NewtonSmith in The Structure of Time (1980). Newton-Smith distinguishes date causation
(with each moment in time putatively
bringing its distinctive causal contribution
to the unfolding of events) from duration
causation (where the causal contribution of
time would be a reflection of the quantity of
time deployed). The idea of date causation,
however, merely reflects the fact that cer-
August/September 2016
allis
T
in
Wonderland
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