Existentialism

Humanity, the universal, is more real than any individual man. ~Irrational Man

This is a much abbreviated account of the Platonic Ideal. Existentialism rebels from just this type of abstraction.

An interesting parallel to Utilitarianism, which holds that the value of a man is determined by his contribution to the collective good, is Platonism which subjugates the value of the individual to the collective (the universal - the abstract), a move thought to be justified by pure reason (or rationality?). Existentialism questions the justification.

Kant's Categorical Imperative, too. It is precisely because of our reasoning capacities that we are moral agents. For Kant, our moral agency is rooted in our reason. But what is this necessary connection between morality and reason? Why is reason so privileged?

For man to enter history as the rational animal, it was necessary for him to be convinced that the objects of his reasoning, the Ideas, were more real than his own individual person or the particular objects that made up his world. ~Irrational Man

But what if things are the other way around.

I gave a talk on Existentialism 36 hours ago. I feel like I could give another talk.

funk

I feel kind of reckless. And now vain because all I ever do is talk about myself which makes me feel odd and embarrassed. I'm in a funky mood right now where everything's a glaze and I don't know what I'm supposed to want. I don't know what I want and I rarely try to think about it. A lot of times you don't know you would have wanted something unless you try it. I usually just do things and assume I will be happy once I'm finished and can think about them in retrospect. Could you live your whole life doing things you think you will be happy about in the future? I guess that's what people do.

favorite series ever (right now)

Mad Men (AMC) - Wisdom from the 1960s

On Advertising (1):

On Sex:

On City Folk versus Country Folk:

On the Future:

On the Past:

On Dating:

On Psychiatrists:

On Love:

On Marriage:

On Business:

On Advertising (2):

On Restaurants:

On Clients:

On Grief:

college --> parties --> drinking

Why do I get so excited about the idea of drinking? The thought of downing a few beers with a group of friends is wildly compelling, isn't it? Friends, alcohol, good times...right? I guess this all started when I was a freshman. Curiosity. Experimentation. Good times. [Bad times.] Formation of strong associations. Fond memories. Future projections. Temptation. For all you know, this sequence of events might describe my becoming an avid library book reader. In fact, it's a pattern that describes a broad range of human activity.

Moderation in all things, right? But what about the things that make us happy? Shouldn't we want to maximize the things in that category? I'm not making any arguments here, just asking asking you to think about a few questions and their ramifications. Okay. That's all.