Kierkegaard

1. Kierkegaard's rhetoric is on the basis that it is extremely difficult to become who you are for two reasons. One social identities were unusually fluid and there was a proliferation of normalizing institutions which produced pseudo-individuals. Through this rhetoric he focused on the individual rather than the “crowd”.
2. Hegel says that absolute knowledge is available by virtue of a science of logic. Kierkegaard thinks that it scientific knowledge is the largest obstacle to redemption. He also says that instead of giving people knowledge we should seek out what people try to pass as knowledge. Kierkegaard inverts Hegel’s dialectic.
3. He states that we should see worldly things in their spiritual opposites. As an example he says we should see hope as in hopelessness. He uses to establish the distance human beings and God have. That as humans we rely on God and he is merciful.
4. Kierkegaard's stages are the aesthetic, ethical, religious stages.
1. Aesthetic: This stage is subdivided into three parts were in the lowest part of the aesthetic stage the human being lives to please physical desires, in a “drink, eat, be merry” lifestyle. Then he moves to the “busy man of affairs” this is where the man is still living for a worldly and selfish pleasure the pleasure is that of success in the world, such as making a clever business deal. Then comes the appreciation of culture such as art, music, literature.
2. Ethical: This stages is when the human makes a commitment to one particular role, in relationship to persons and life. In this stage the person has a genuine and non-fragmented identity, role, and place in life, defined by his commitment to others and self, and has now chosen himself whereas before, in the aesthetic stage, there was no self behind the empty and transient role. In this stage instead of acting for self-pleasure, one's actions in the role are motivated by the commitment to others. The person in the ethical stage considers the needs of others and community when making decisions.
3. Religious: This stage is when the human gives up all material object to follow God. This is the hardest stage because the gain is not a material gain, but rather a spiritual gain.
5. Is based on Abraham's would-be sacrifice of his son Isaac is not for the sake of social norms, but is the result of a “teleological suspension of the ethical”. That is, Abraham recognizes a duty to something higher than both his social duty not to kill an innocent person and his personal commitment to his beloved son, viz. his duty to obey God's commands.
6. He uses this story because Abraham was about to commit murder and was going to kill his son Isaac, in order to commit to God. In this example Abraham is forced to disregard ethical demands for a higher authority.
7. A knight of faith never gives up hope in God. He believes God's promise and goodness, though it was not logical given what he was asked to do. He believes two mutually exclusive ideas at the same time, what Kierkegaard calls "divine madness." This is Kierkegaard's "double movement of infinity." The wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.
8. It outlines a theory of human development in which consciousness progresses from an essentially hedonistic, aesthetic mode to one characterized by ethical imperatives arising from the maturing of human conscience.
9. Deals primarily with the Christian conception of agape love in contrast with erotic love or preferential love given to friends and family. Kierkegaard uses this value virtue to understand the existence and relationship of the individual Christian. Many of the chapters take a mention of love from the New Testament and center reflections about the transfer of individuals from secular modes (the stages of the aesthetic and ethical) to genuine religious experience and existence. The actual relationships and experiences of disciples and of Christ are characterized here as tangible models for behavior.

sources:  

"Kierkegaard." Kierkegaard. Accessed February 2, 2015. http://www.kareyperkins.com/percy/kierkegaard.html.

 McDonald, William. "Søren Kierkegaard." Stanford University. December 3, 1996. Accessed February 2, 2015. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/.html.

New Friends

I really enjoyed being able to meet a lot of people through the greet and meet today during class. Last year we did this for Anthropology, but this was different. During Anthropology we searched for an answer to a question and we tried to understand their view on the United States. This time around nothing was forced it all came naturally. If they wanted to interact with us and answer our questions and go in deeper conversations it was up to them, it wasn't forced. I think the major difference was that in Anthropology the questions were framed around the same question while here it was really open to anything. Also they weren't being filled so that also helped them express themselves freely.

Final debate

At first the debate was incredibly intimidating and frightening, but once we started little by little the debates became easier. At least I wasn't that scared of having to discuss our government for a solid hour and half. Debating helped understand the forms of government and being able to realize how philosophy plays a role in each one. I think that was the purpose of the debate to reach a certain understanding of the different types of government and be able to relate them back into philosophy. Overall I enjoyed the debate a lot, I learned a lot from it and had fun. I think the highlights had to be the Republic dressing up and the electric shovel. Beside the arguments and rebuttal that Max had with the majority of the presidents having a military background. The debate in a way represented the highest form of knowledge. It allowed us to discuss the different types of government and defend our points of view so that in itself is knowledge.

Timarchy

Timarchy might have been most common in the Spartan government, but it is still prevalent now. Just by glancing over the yearly budget plan for the United States, you can tell that we still emphasize the military. For the Fiscal year of 2015, the United States government allotted 109k to the defense department. The United States puts emphasize on having a military background. Nearly all our presidents served in the army and many politicians have some tie to the military. If we take a close look at the United States, we can see that many parts of our society glorify being part of the military. We also have several foundations that are aimed to help our troops such as USAA. To be part of the United States military is seen an honor.

Debate day one

The debate today was a nice way to lead into the rest of the questions. I personally liked how we rebutted and how we also answered our question. It also helped a lot to receive feedback from how the points were being awarded. It helps me see how the further debates will be and how the points will be awarded. So far I think as a group we have done a good job, but we could definitely use more examples and dressing up wouldn't hurt. I look forward to the next debate and being able to improve in our response to questions.

plato's metaphor of the sun

http://outre-monde.com/2010/09/25/platonic-myths-the-sun-line-and-cave/

So the metaphor of the Sun is basically stating that by having light that is provided by the Sun you are able to see the truth. This is because the light gives you visibility and this allows you to see the truth. Without the sun their would be darkness and you wouldn't be able to see clearly and the truth wouldn't be visible. This part relates also to the allegory of the Cave. The Sun is also connected to the Good and the Good is science and the truth. The Good is also responsible for all existence but with out the sun the Good wouldn't be apparent. In that way the Good and the Sun both depend on each other and can't exist without the other.   

Soul

Hinduism seems the soul as the main part that they take care of.



The soul is seen as the only part that Allah
sees and therefore must be taken care of.  










 Native Americans see the soul
as this

This version of the soul reveals that
it is made up of several parts that
all work together to make
the soul divine enough to
be judged by god. 

Plato describes the soul as being mad up of three components that



The soul is seen as a mix of both evil and
good. That the soul can't be purely just one single thing.

These different version of the soul reveal that the human condition is not innately designed to know the difference between malice and good. The human condition is made up of several things and in order for it to reach potential it has to be able to conduct itself in a way that all its components work well together. All these different versions try to explain how the soul is this divine component of the human. The only difficulty within all these versions is that all off them have a different definition of what the soul is. Not having one universal definition of what the soul is proves that the human knows little about what the soul really is and the function of the soul.

To add to this point the soul is seen similarly within these version because they all explain it as this complex thing that is within the human. It shows that the human condition can not be whole without the soul and to take away the soul take away a large part of the human. The soul is an essential part of the human to just function and it is the only divine/sacred part of the human.