Thinkbomb 1: Existence and essence
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Pre-modern or traditional philosophers commonly believed that humans are endowed with an "essence" that dictates what our goals in life ought to be. In this brief lecture, Professor Van Norden explains "teleology" and the classic debate between Aristotle and Sartre over whether "existence precedes essence." He also explains why conservatives tend to favor Aristotle and progressives tend to favor Sartre.
Philosophical "thinkbombs" are brief lectures or discussions designed to provoke discussion. The concept of a "thinkbomb" was pioneered by the late, great philosopher Ken Knisely.
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Thank you for this enlightening Thinkbomb! I would be very interested in knowing some philosphers who were able to elegantly combine these two viewpoints! Can you suggest some names?
@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy
3 жыл бұрын
Charles Taylor has some interesting work attempting to find a middle ground between the two views. He specifically responds to Sartre in his essay "What Is Human Agency?"
He did the Chad vs Soy meme in thumbnail
@soldierofchrist1096
Ай бұрын
Aristotle and Aquinas: the true chads of philosophy
The quotation from Sartre actually refers to "Fascism" not "Nazism," and is found in his "Existentialism Is a Humanism" (which is a great introduction to his philosophy): "Tomorrow, after my death, some men may decide to establish Fascism, and the others may be so cowardly or so slack as to let them do so. If so, Fascism will then be the truth of man, and so much the worse for us. In reality, things will be such as men have decided they shall be." (www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/sartre.htm)
What if our essence is our existence?
@bradleymarshall5489
28 күн бұрын
Then you would be God. That’s Aquinas’s de ente argument for God. In order for essence and existence to become compounded there must be one who essence is identical to his essence
With all due respect, I think this is a dud. Thinkbomb: essentia involvit existentiam.
@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy
3 жыл бұрын
Can you say more about how you think the video fails?
@johanbosmans1965
3 жыл бұрын
@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy I can. If you are of the opinion that essence is intimately linked with existence, then it is nonsense that one would precede the other. That would be in contradiction with "intimately linked with". In all my reading i'm looking for these kind of authors. So from this angle, your video failed my expectations. As a matter of fact, all my writing is an attempt to explain why your video fails for me. Unfortunately most of it is in Dutch, although you can find an essay in English on Wittgenstein if you are interested. Kind regards. vijfvoortwaalf.blogspot.com/