Existentialism and Chapter three

"Existence precedes essence" - Jean Paul Sartre (Being And Nothingness)

Existentialism (mainly in Continental Europe) --> Descartes is rejected by Existentialists. "I think therefore I am" (Descartes) is mixed around and become "I am therefore I think" which basically is "I think" or "there are thoughts".

Kant outlines in his main work 'The Critique of Pure Reason' that existence is not a predicate of consciousness, existence is a pre-condition of consciousness. But consciousness is not a proof of existence in any way, consciousness 'just is' - it is not the result or cause of anything in particular. You cannot stand outside of consciousness - you can examine the 'texture' of consciousness. There is a consciousness but it is just there - the opposite of consciousness is unconscious (a mind without properties), this is the same as the opposite of nothing is not something and how cat is not the opposite of dog, it isn't not-dog either (the opposite of cat would be not-cat).

Husserl was in many ways similar to Freud they both had:

• Jewish family
• Born in Moravia
• Attended lectures in Vienna
• Studied the human mind
• Fell foul of Nazi Anti-Semitism (Freud - driven out of Austria to die in exile, Husserl - his books burnt by German troops in Prague 1939)

Husserl's professional life was quite different to Frued's - Husserl's initial studies were in mathematics and astronomy NOT medicine. Husserl did go on to an orthodox academic career in philosophy. 

Husserl's first book 'Philosophy of Arithmetic' (1891) explained numerical concepts by identifying the mental acts that were the psychological origin. --> he wanted to find a basis for mathematics in empirical psychology. 

Reviews on his first book believed that there was a confusion between imagination and thought.

'Logical Investigations' (1900)  Husserl argued that logic cannot be derived from psychology.

Husserl took over from Brentano - the notion of intentionality --> the idea that what is characteristic of of mental phenomena is what they are directed to objects. 

Husserl and others spent years contemplating this questions --> "what is the relation between what is going on in my mind and a long defunct city or stock markets across the world?"

Phenomenology was developed during early 20th century and is the study of immediate "data of consciousness". Each one in isolation without reference to context pre-supposition. It attempts to experience each moment as it really is.

(Phenomenology is not the same as Phenomenalism)

Husserl --> distinction between Immanent Perception (self evident) and Transcendent Perception (falible)

• Immanent Perception provides subject matter of phenomenology and was more fundamental that Transcendent Perception. 
• Transcendental Idealism = inseparable conclusion of phenomenology.  

The Existentialism of Heidegger:

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
"Sein und Zeit" - 1927 (Being and Time)

Heidegger affirmed the ending of the metaphysical age, the change did begin in the 1790's with Kant who was believed to have be the trigger in destroying metaphysics. The logical positivists in Vienna and in Cambridge agreed with the same thing at the time.
The metaphysical age --> objects exist independently of mind, they 'subsist' and the role of the mind is to mirror reality and its structure.

There was a 'mission' of philosophy --> it was to:

• establish the 'reality' of the existence of the ego as an object within an external world, this links to Descartes' Cognito 
• describe the nature of this reality --> science

After Heidegger there is no absolute or highest truth. Truth is no longer a matter of matching thought to reality, but of making reality, which is seen to be true, post-hoc (after this). There is no idea of a 'correct truth' to which one teacher or one culture has access to. There are many truths, specific to the diverse moods of each individual, limited by the super-ego.

Dasein --> most influential piece of vocabulary from Heidegger. It means 'being there' and it refers to the kind of being that is capable of asking philosophical questions. 

It does sound suspiciously like the Cartesian ego BUT where Descartes' ego was a thinking thing (a res cogitans), Dasein is not BUT is a caring thing ( a res curans).

Heidegger's project was to get rid of philosophical terminology and concepts/systems since Socrates. Like Nietzsche, Heidegger believed Socrates corrupted Western Civilization.

Three aspects of time --> 

1. Attunement - mood (Past - guilt)
2. Being for itself - dasein (Present - boredom)
3. Directedness - reflection of future (Future - fear)

Sartre, like Heidegger, believed that Husserl hadn't taken phenomenological reduction far enough.