Sunday, January 15, 2023

Existentialism: Flipped Learning

Hello Readers, In this blog We were given a task to skim through the video and understand them. Further, we have to write our thoughts which impressed us the most in the video, the video we liked the most with a reason and ask 5 questions in the class which are also written below.

Video - 1:

At the beginning of the video, there are several references of existentialists like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Heidegger, Shestov, Hesse, Sartre and Beauvoir as well as three sides of Existentialism: Individuality, Passions and Freedom. According to Albert Camus one should embrace and understand absurdity rather than start believing in god. Believing is god means escaping from the real situations and leaving everything in god. This is Philosophical suicide. Video ends with one fine conclusion: Existentialism is mainly popular among young people because it touches on the subject of which a person in his/her youth might struggle in it. Whose attention at attract to subject like suicide, anguish, absurdity, passion, emotion, death, freedom and despair.


Video - 2:

This video is about 'The myth of Sisyphus' and the absurd reasoning. Alber Camus wrote that "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide". For Camus suicide is an individual act. Camus talked about the absurdity and  meaninglessness of life. Here in this video there is also an example of the movie 'Stay' in which we can see: ‘suicide is divorce between man and this life’. embracing the truth, compromising, understanding are better than divorce.


Video - 3:

This video talked about the philosophical suicide and this problem come out from a total absence of hope, A continual rejection and conscious dissatisfaction. From this method people escaped from absurd life. The absurd is not in man and not in the world, it can only occur in the presence together. If there were no human beings  there wouldn't be any desire or in particular the human nostalgia to satisfy. This is where we get to philosophical suicide. According to Kierkegaard Faith is the solution to the absurd. Camus has denied being an existentialist because existentialists suggest having faith in God while Camus suggests embracing absurdity.


Video - 4:

Here in This video we could find three theories: Dadaism, nihilism, and existentialism. Dadaism and Nihilism have nothing to do with each other, there is only one similarity that both are fed up with arbitrary values of life. they do not want such values invented by others. Creation is the primary goal of Dadaism. It is merely an art movement. Dadaism emerged after WW1 which questioned every traditional value and tried to destroy its base. It was a quest for change and Existentialism came into existence after WW2 which was trying to awaken people and make them understand their own worth and individuality.


Video - 5:

This video is talking about Existentialism as a gloomy philosophy. Every life is full of anxiety, despair and absurdity, but we are free to choose our own path of living. Every individual chooses his/her way of life but when the result is not good then they escape from this situation that is not fair practice. Existentialism is not a narcissist philosophy it talks about becoming who you are not love yourself. Existentialism is differ from Nihilism. Existentialism is not Nihilism. After world war-2 People's lives became meaningless and full of despair. It was such an atmosphere that Existentialism came to people's rescue and offered the cure. 


Video - 6:

Existentialism and Nihilism are totally different from each other. Existentialism believes in subjectivity like individuality, nothingness, absurd life while Nihilism believes in objectivity like everything is an illusion in life. For Kierkegaard Nihilism can be defined as the loss of individuality. For Nietzsche Nihilism means the highest values devaluate themselves.


Video - 7:

Existentialism asks the question of existence: why am I here? What is life? Divine perspective and human perspective. Humans were not designed by any supernatural power, existentialism sees life from religiously, scientifically and philosophically and raises questions about human existence.


Video - 8:

This video explains the meaning of Existentialism to 5 year old childs. Here we could find the definition of existentialism with the reference of Nietzsche and his 'Ubermensche'. Existentialism and Nietzsche: Nietzsche's Existentialism talked about that human being is everything, there is no need for any supernatural power to govern life. Like God is dead so human beings can make their own rules and be like superman or ubermensch.


Video - 9:

This video talks about Eric Dodson’s personal experience being existentialist. He likes existentialism because it appeals to our mind, heart and soul. He shares that if one keeps on looking at things rationally then life takes away the magic of things. Existentialism is a way of life and understanding life deeply. Existentialism says about what I am. Eric Dodson said that it is honest and shows the reality of life and accepts your faults and your abilities.


Video - 10:

This video is starting with one question that 'What gives your life meaning? Existentialists say that anything can give your life meaning, but at the same they say none of them can. Plato and Aristotle believed that everything has an essence including us and they believed that our essences exist in us before we're even born. Existentialism is not synonymous with Atheism. Plenty of existentialists are atheist but some are theists like Kierkegaard. For existentialists: Absurdity is a technical term, It's how they describe the search for an answer in an answerless world. After world war 2 Existentialism was defined as Freedom. We can give reason to our choice or we can say that there is no reason for choice is just a choice. There is no meaning of life but meaning is given by us to our life.


Questions I raised in class:

1) How Can we discuss the motif of repetition in "Waiting for Godot" and how it relates to the existentialist ideas of the human condition and the meaning of life?

2) How does Sartre's concept of "authenticity" relate to the decision to commit suicide, and what does it mean to live an "authentic" life?

3) How does existentialism interact with the current understanding of artificial intelligence and its impact on human existence in the 21st century?

4) In what ways does Kierkegaard's concept of "subjectivity" influence the characters and themes in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"?

5) Can we connect the concept of moksha (liberation) in Indian philosophy to the existentialist concept of authenticity and finding meaning in life?


Word Count: 1074


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