Thursday, October 4, 2012
Excessisstentionalism
Is it only me, or does anybody else hate pondering the meaning of life? I just don't get it. Obviously none of us will ever find the answer. No one ever has. I can't even begin to describe how lacking in passion I am towards that particular subject. The last couple of class periods have literally consisted of me sitting there taking shots of Mio Energy to try to stay awake and follow along with what on earth is happening with our extensive Existentialism discussion because quite frankly, I hate engaging in discussions like that and I don't care. The few parts that I have heard (and forgive me, if I have misunderstood them, because I have already stated that I was not all too engaged in class at all) just frustrated me to a point of where I didn't really even want to listen. Firstly, it seems like they're simplifying the concept of love way too much to a point of where it's just wrong. It's not like people choose to love; you don't just love someone because they make you feel all good inside or because they're nice to you or you enjoy looking at them or something. If that was the case, I think the world would have a lot less heart break, because from what I understand, people don't always choose to love good people that will love them back. Love isn't a selfish act because we do not choose it; it's far, far, far out of our control. I don't even think it's something that you can try to simplify or give a reason to. When's the last time you actually CHOSE to love someone? Secondly, Existentialism doesn't seem to take character into account. It defines a person externally, but internally, it's like nothing counts. Here's how I see it: There are about a million people who are accomplished bankers. They can all be defined by this external career accomplishment. But are they all the same? No. When you add in character, everybody is their own individual, and only then is the person described in all dimensions. Well, that's how I see it at least. And again, please forgive me if I have picked up the wrong idea or demonstrated any misunderstandings, because I'm being dead honest when I say that I don't quite get it at all.
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I can definitely see where you're coming from on this, but I disagree with finding it boring to ponder. I think it's really interesting to just hear these wild theories, whether they have merit or not. I do agree with the love aspect that you posted, I hate thinking I'm selfish for loving those I do, but it scarily made an inkling of sense when in class...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean! That inkling of sense that I couldn't immediately find a way to argue against just frustrated me so bad because I was sitting there thinking about how incredibly wrong it was, but not being able to find any way to rebuttle against that logic.
DeleteBecky, I was also struggling with the discussion in class. The arguments supporting existentialism are a bit arbitrary. The thing that shocked me the most was, like you mentioned, the fact that love is a selfish act. I completely disagree because in any love relationship, there are two people involved, not just you.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I was kind of following along with the discussion a little bit, but as soon as they started presenting love in that manner I was just out. It's not necessarily just because I don't believe it, but because at the time it was seemingly impossible to argue against, because no matter what you said, they would flip it into selfishness somehow.
DeleteIn existentialism, one is defined by what they do, right? So maybe according to the philosophy, someone doesn't really love unless they actually do stuff that would mean they loved that person. Kind of like how an artist isn't an artist unless she has actually painted or sculpted something. And it seems better to actually cook dinner and clean the house for my mother or give my friend a good book than to just tell them I love them.
ReplyDelete(I'm not necessarily advocating existentialism, I was just trying to figure out if there was anything positive to be said about it with regards to love.) What do you think? Does this make sense? And I like your blog post titles :)
Your explanation does make a lot of sense. A midst my frustration at the concept I wasn't really even looking to see the logic in how it fit with existentialism. Although I don't necessarily agree with it the idea, those examples did make the theory's views on love a little bit more clear to me. Thanks!
DeleteYou make some good points. I wish you had voiced them in class. I have some (perhaps) random comments/questions in response to your blog (which you may not like).
ReplyDelete**Don't confuse (over)simplication with attempting to precisely verbalize extremely complex concepts. Maybe some things are beyond our total understanding, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, right?
**Why do we not have control over who we love? Who/what controls this if we don't?
**Who defines what "character" is? Different people, different cultures value different qualities. And how do we "know" someone's character based on anything but their actions?
**Try to not shut down if you disagree. Engage the issue and let your voice be heard.