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Existentialism
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir at Balzac Memorial Deutsch: Jean-Paul Sartre und Simone de Beauvoir am Denkmal von Balzac (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
To some, existentialism is a bleak philosophical worldview. To others, it’s the only sane solution to a seemingly insane world. Existentialism most visible originator is probably Søren Kierkegaard but its best known proponent is Jean-Paul Sartre.
Sartre put a lot of very basic ideas into catchy phrases and hence made a celebrity out of himself. And this exemplifies what existentialism is all about: The creation of meaning and purpose from a human world said to be meaningless and uprooted from nature.
According to Sartre, one creates meaning and purpose out of absurdity by choosing to make commitments to an ideal or movement deemed worthwhile.
Unlike animals supposedly bound by stimulus and response, Sartre says a “gap of nothingness” that lies between our present and past means that we are able to choose. Thus we’re “condemned to be free.”
Existentialism was in vogue in the late 1950′s and 1960′s among beatniks, hippies, journalists and academics. As David Bowie rather amusingly puts it in the song “Join the gang” (1967):
Let me introduce you to the gang
Johnny plays the sitar, he’s an existentialist
Once he had a name, now he plays our game
You won’t feel so good now that you’ve joined the gang
Sartre’s stardom in the halls of academia was generally succeeded by Karl Marx in the 1970s, by the postmoderns in the 1980s, and by the likes of Wittgenstein and Noam Chomsky in the 1990s. Other famous existentialists include Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) and Albert Camus (1913-60).
Related Posts » Bad Faith, Fromm (Erich), Postmodernism, Poststructuralism
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- Sartre Quotes at Thinkexist.com
- Day 15,463. Existential Rabbits. (grousendale.wordpress.com)
- Existentialism (socyberty.com)
- RCMP eyed philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre during tense Quebec political upheaval (theglobeandmail.com)
- Shortcutting… Existentialism (shortcutting.wordpress.com)
- A review of Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘Nausea’ (tobagostars.wordpress.com)
- Canadian spies tracked philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre during Quebec political upheaval (news.nationalpost.com)
- Sartre’s Existentialism (egographia000.wordpress.com)
- Jean-Paul Sartre, the apostle of absurdity… (integratedcatholiclife.org)
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Chinese poster with Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. Caption reads, "Long live Marxism-Leninism and Maoism" via Wikipedia
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) was a Russian politician and Marxist revolutionary who believed that, once communism was fully in place, existing bureaucratic structures would slowly disappear—hence his oft-quoted belief in the “withering away of the state.”
From observable history, however, it seems that communism has never been achieved as Marx envisioned it. And most, if not all, of the countries that have attempted communism arguably have exhibited authoritarianism, corruption and stagnant mediocrity, this often enforced by vulgar militarism.
Today, some writers suggest that Marx was right in saying that Capitalism “carries the seeds of its own destruction” by pointing to things like WikiLeaks as apparent proof of that position.¹
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¹ See for instance, “The Destructive Role of WikiLeaks-o-phobia in World Politics” by Hasan A. Yahya: http://www.articlesbase.com/philosophy-articles/the-destructive-role-of-wikileaks-o-phobia-in-world-politics-3823109.html#ixzz180ozByLo
Related Posts » Kardasians, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell (George)
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- The Great Communists of Our Times (socyberty.com)
- Leon Trotsky Militant Communist Revolutionary (socyberty.com)
- Economic Forcast : Taxation and Inflation Lenin (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
- In Hungary, an Appetite for Socialist Memorabilia (online.wsj.com)
- Bolsheviks revolt in Russia: This Day in History – 11/6/1917 (jeffpruett.wordpress.com)
- A Brief Historical Analysis of Communism (socyberty.com)
Ricardo, David (1772-1823)
Image credit: sundancingbliss / Shannon Haugh
Ricardo was an English economist, influenced by Thomas Robert Malthus, who is often credited along with Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill as a founder of the so-called classical school of economics.
By his mid-twenties Ricardo became a wealthy stockbroker. He later joined the British Parliament from 1819-1823.
His main contribution to the history of ideas is found in Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), where he develops innovative theoretical models to account for the distribution of wealth.
Ricardo advocated national specialization and open competition (i.e. free trade). His work on the labor theory of value had an effect on Karl Marx, who adapted some of Ricardo’s ideas in his teleological view of history (now recognized as flawed), his critique of Capitalism and advocacy of worldwide socialism.
Ricardo’s labour theory of value suggests that food prices determine wages. Food prices, themselves, are determined by production costs, which in turn are determined by the degree of labor required for food production.
In short, this theory suggests that value is set by labor.
Ricardo became an MP in 1819, using his status and position to foster the free-trade movement. Since that time the idea of free trade has been critiqued by those believing that some degree of government regulation is necessary.
Relations of Production
Marx for Sale: malias / Gideon
Some interpreters of Karl Marx‘s theory of history, such as G. A. Cohen, suggest that a distinction may be made between the forces of production and the relations of production.
According to this schema, the relations of production refers to the uniquely social aspects of production in a given society, usually the legal or brute force mechanisms of exploiting labor, extracting surplus and maintaining social dominance of the few over the many.
By way of contrast, the forces of production refer to the way a given society actually produces commodities.
At Earthpages.org
- Revisiting Marx (essay in PDF)
Teleology
Do modernist teleologies go to heaven? by Quinn Dombrowski
Teleology (Gk: telos = end, purpose; logos = discourse)
This is the philosophical and theological idea that all of creation is directed toward and unfolds according to a meaningful and rational outcome.
In philosophy one of the most famous teleologies is that of G. W. F. Hegel, where a presumed World Spirit guides human history through successive resolutions of contradictions.
According to Hegel, the main characteristic of this unity was that it evolved through and manifested itself in contradiction and negation. Contradiction and negation have a dynamic quality that at every point in each domain of reality—consciousness, history, philosophy, art, nature, society—leads to further development until a rational unity is reached that preserves the contradictions as phases and sub-parts by lifting them up (Aufhebung) to a higher unity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegelian#Progress_through_contradictions_and_negations)
In social theory, Karl Marx is said to have ‘turned Hegelian theory on its head’ by creating a historical teleology devoid of spirituality that predicts the supposed inevitability of Communism.
Marx believed that human history went through definite socioeconomic stages:
- Primitive Communism
- Feudalism
- Capitalism
- Communism.
For Marx Capitalism inevitably passes into Communism.
In theology different teleologies have been devised. Some stress God as an omnicient and external ‘designer’ to creation while other say God is within the creation, learning and evolving as things progress through time.
On the Web:
» Determinism, Epicureanism, Fatalism, Free will, Providence, Soteriology, Theodicy
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Advertising
Advertising Although the primary objective of commercial advertising is to sell goods and services, this is accomplished in a complex manner.
Social theorists directly or indirectly influenced by Karl Marx usually say that advertising creates a false or illusory relationship between the consumer and the producer.
Freudian-based sociological analyses suggest that when buying, the consumer enters into a fantasy relationship with a corporate producer. The producer substitutes for a lost or desired father figure (i.e. a trusted provider of material goods) or mother figure (i.e. a source of physiological and emotional security).
Other sociologists note that ads often link products, such as autos, to attractive women or men, as if to imply that buying ensures a glamorous, sexually satisfied life-style.
Neo-Marxist theorists maintain that media ads actually contain more meaningful information than media news because ads better depict the cultural biases of a particular era. News, they say, tends to obscure social realities.
This obfuscation of reality in the news is said to occur through:
- Selectivity – stories that make the headlines are deemed good for ratings and therefore good for profits
- Modes of reporting – editing and language styles tend to color a story while seeming not to
- Placement of stories – stories deemed less important and less commercially viable appear at the back of newspapers or somewhere in the middle of the evening news
Meanwhile some say that ads not only reveal but also contribute to and reinforce prevailing cultural biases.
Postmodern thinkers argue that certain types of ads draw on – or conjure up – a mythic past when times apparently were rosy (i.e. the good old days of ‘Mom’s apple pie’ and well-defined ‘family values’). Warm and secure memories, even if based on a kind of fiction, are apparently recaptured by purchasing the advertised product.
Postmoderns also suggest that a new moral synthesis is created by combining real and imaginary images from the past with contemporary motifs. That is, ads help to define a new moral code. An example here might be found in the name of the product “Quick Quaker Oats,” where the positive connotations associated with the word Quaker (i.e. old-style integrity, reliability and intelligence) are combined with those of Quick (i.e. fast-paced modern society).
But rarely does advertising enter into areas still considered taboo or deviant by the so-called moral majority. Gay and lesbian couples are seldom portrayed in advertising (although more recently the idea of casual lesbian sex is being hinted at), just as couples of different color were at one time excluded from ads.
Meanwhile, an aesthetic view of advertising evaluates ads in terms of their artistic value–for instance, people pay at the box office to see films such as The Best Ads From Around The World. And perhaps some of the best new art today comes from graphic artists under contract by government or commercial bodies.
Jungians and spiritual innovators might evaluate ads partly in terms of their archetypal and even synchronistic connection to the psychological, social and spiritual world of the potential buyer.
But amidst all this theorizing we’d do well to keep in mind that business groups or government bodies, the actual driving forces behind the ad, respectively want to sell goods and services or promote some idea deemed important.
Indeed, it seems that the deeply ingrained cynicism of some sociologists seems to so quickly disappear when the critical lens turns on their own discipline. » Athleticism, Barthes (Roland), Baudrillard (Jean), Foucault (Michel)
Image Credit:
- “Am I the only one who is totally pissed off with advertising like this?” by codepo8 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepo8/1113640837/ Creative Commons License.
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