Martin Heidegger - Freedom/Anxiety

In theory we have the possibility of doing anything (of course there are some physical restrictions). The only wrong thing you can do is not to exert your freedom.

But this freedom generates anxiety. Martin Heidegger stated that humans are nothing: we are just possibilities waiting to be materialized through our actions and decisions. The problem comes when we realize there's nothing to guide us. "Is this decision the right one? Where will this take me? What would have happened if I had taken another path?" These thoughts often appear. Also, we will die someday, thus "becoming nothing" is another possibility. Our lives are just different ways of reaching our deaths.

Heidegger also said that when we approach the world, we always have a certain state of mind or mood. We are not apathetic. This affects our perception of the world and how we interact with it.

[This is all I'm summarizing from Heidegger. What comes next are my own thoughts. Please bear in mind this short summary was just intended to support my following point.]

The world is how we perceive it. It's up to us to make the most out of it. We are rationally aware of this. Then why can't we put this into practice all the time? Because of our irrationality. Our fears and insecurities get in the way. This issue will be discussed on my following posts.

Friedrich Nietzsche - The Death of God/The Last Man

With Modernism, religion had been displaced. God could no longer explain anything. Nietszche called this "The Death of God". We have killed God, no one can tell us what we should do, we can't assure what's right. What now? Do we get lost?

Nietzsche had always criticized society. He accuses us of being conformists: we no longer yearn for anything, we only search our safety. Why is longevity a virtue? Nietzsche called this "Last Man". The Last Man denies God's death and tries to hide behind new Gods, such as the State or money. He's always looking for excuses to not exert his freedom.

"One no longer becomes poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wants to rule? Who still wants to obey? Both are too burdensome. (...) Every one wants the same; every one is equal: he who has other sentiments goes voluntarily into the madhouse." - From Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Nietzsche wants us to accept our weaknesses, our contradictions, and stop denying our freedom. Sure, it's easier said than done. Yet, what I take from this is the importance of taking decisions. You can think a lot of things, but you are only defined by your actions.

Karl Marx - Historical Materialism

Historians in Marx's time thought that any human civilization could be explain by the products of the Spirit/the mind; this means arts, religion, politics, philosophy, humanities, etc. Marx said that, since men are work, the only thing that explains any civilization is the material or living conditions of working men. Society consists of the base/infrastructure (this is, the work) and an ideological superstructure (the intellectual stuff).

The base consists of two parts: productive forces and relations of production. Productive forces mean workers/proletariat, technologies, sciences, tools; everything used for working. Relations appear when you have somebody owning the tools or technologies. These are the relationships built around production (for instance, owner and worker). Marx stated that productive forces evolve faster than the relations.

An example of this would be the music industry nowadays, and their position on downloading songs for free. We have the technology to be able to produce our own songs and distribute them online for almost no price, and yet record companies want to charge you for downloading, instead of thinking of other ways of making income (like concerts, merchandizing, I don't know). The thing is, relations of production evolve slowly because, if they change, it means people with power will lose it.

When the productive forces have evolved so much the relations become a burden, something called "revolution" occurs, which makes the relations change and History moves forward. This is what Marx called Historical Materialism, since it depends on the material conditions of the workers.

Karl Marx - The Concept of Alienation

Marx stated that men are work. Work refers to the fact that we can produce our own means of subsistence. Men are social by nature since it's the only way we work.

What happens when men are separated from the product of their work? This was the case in Marx's time, the time when the industrial revolution had just happened. The living conditions of the working class were very bad, and the rich men exploited them. Think of Oliver Twist or Les Misérables. Men were paid the minimum amount of money so that they could continue living and keep on working.

The problem with capitalism is that it produces more wealth but for less people. The proletariat (this means, the person who owns nothing but his labor force) receives nothing from his work, despite the fact that men are work! Complement this with an involuntary division of labor and you have a very miserable life. This is what Marx called alienation.

It should be noted, to clear up some controversy, that Marx never actually proposed a solution. He died before he could explain "communism". What happened during the 20th century is far from Marx's view, since he clearly stated that there should be no State/no one superior. He just wanted us to work happily. More about Marx on my next post!

Rational vs Irrational

Many have divided men into Body and Soul/Spirit, but I don't think that's accurate enough. Men can be divided into two parts: Rational and Irrational.

Our rational side comprises not only our body but our logical/rational thinking. Rational is anything that can be explained rationally (never mind the redundancy). Overall, it's our rational side which helps us to survive. To be efficient, you must be rational.

However, we have an irrational side, related to feelings. This is what makes us truly humans, and not just robots with a particular purpose. It's thanks to irrationality that we have creativity/innovation; however, that's the only good thing about it. It's due to our irrational side that we have fears, insecurities, depression, etc.

The problem is that our irrational side cannot be explained. It is part of human nature not knowing what we really are (and it's also part of human nature to want to find an answer). You can't convince your irrational side with arguments and force it to not feel sad; apparently, it just happens.

Socrates

A brief explanation of Socrates' importance, in case you don't already know him. Many consider him the godfather of philosophy.

Socrates went around asking things we consider as common sense. He asked a General "What is courage?". The General told him it was when a soldier remained firm in battle. Socrates would reply: "No, you're just giving me an example. I asked you what is it?!" And so, talking to Socrates made you realize you knew nothing. Also, he didn't teach you, because he didn't know either.

His famous phrase was: I know that I know nothing. What he meant with this was the fact that you only can learn something if you realize beforehand that you know nothing about the topic. Otherwise, you wouldn't need to learn, right? He also taught us that The unexamined life is not worth living, because you must constantly review you actions in a rational way.

However, Socrates wasn't much appreciated by the masses. Not only did he made them look stupid, but the young people were beginning to question everything, and the men holding the power could lose it. At his trial, Socrates could have been freed if he payed the fine, his friends wanted to pay his fine, but he decided not to because that would be cowardly saving himself at the expense of others. He remained true to what he believed.

Rene Descartes - Cogito Ergo Sum

"I think, therefore I am". The famous phrase by Rene Descartes. Today I'll make a brief explanation of how he came to that absolute axiom and what can be derived from it.

If you want to discover a principle, doubt of anything that isn't 100% true all the time. The sensible world isn't certain, thus my senses aren't trustworthy. Anything I consider logic and true now can just be an illusion, a deceive. But, if it is indeed an illusion, there's necessarily someone who is being deceived. If the world is imaginary, there's somebody conducting cerebral processes and imagining the whole thing. Thus, If I think, I must exist.

Many things can be interpreted from this affirmation. What I take from this is that the most important thing is perception. What an individual thinks about something is more important than the object itself. (Of course this can't be applied all the time, or we wouldn't agree on anything.) The only thing other people know about you is what you appear to be.

Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan

Men are asocial by nature. They only move towards what they desire and away from what they fear. Their two greatest fears are death and the loss of possessions. The three main factors of discord among men are egoism, mistrust and the desire of glory.

Imagine there were no laws acting on us, no State to impose fear and force us to obey (aka State of Nature). Everyone would fight each other to death for their possessions. Under such conditions, we can't acquire wealth. We can't even assure our own safety!


But we aren't idiots. We give away our power to stomp on others in order to live in community, to guarantee our safety (Social Contract). The sum of all those powers, given away by all the people in a nation, is called State. The State must impose fear onto us so we all follow the rules. However, since this is a contract, the State must also respect the citizens.