(no subject)
“The individual is truth, the multitude untruth.” Discuss with respect to at least two thinkers from the course.
Existentialism is a philosophical movement or tendency, emphasising individual existence, freedom, and choice. (http://www.connect.net/ron/exist.html) It focuses on personal meaning rather than general philosophical theory (BWE p xii). In discussing the above assertion I will first define truth as seen by the existentialist. This will lead to an exploration of the subjective nature of truth as seen by existentialists, which will aim to account for why the individual is truth. Having discussed this, I will then address the issue of the multitude being untruth. In my essay I will rely on the philosophies of Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre to illustrate my points.
We must first deal with the question "what is truth?" For Heidegger and Sartre we can answer this question by looking at the theme of freedom in existentialism. The freedom of the individual is highly important in existentialism. Because existentialism is a philosophy largely concerned with action, an authentic way of living is truth. Freedom of choice is central to this issue, as our actions are determined by our choices, and nothing else. Choice indicates or, should indicate, the truth of the self, as it is the individual's character manifested in action. Sartre proposes that 'existence precedes essence“. This means that there is no human nature as such that individuals can hide behind to account for their actions. "Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene and, only afterwards, defines himself." (Cooper/Sartre p345) Therefore the truth of that individual is articulated in his actions, which he takes full responsibility for. When an individual lives according to who he is, he is living the authentic life: the aim of the existentialist. “Man is nothing else but what he makes himself.” (Cooper/Sartre p345) Heidegger supports this point, in seeing Dasein {"the entity which each of us is himself and includes as one of the possibilities of its Being" (Overenget p106)} as a person, a subject of action. Existence is a process of self-directness, which is unique to humans, so that existence is an on-going process of self-discovery (discovery of the truth of self) that is never completed. Dasein is constantly determining its being, which is a issue for it (Overenget p113). For Heidegger, the essence of man is existence, and existence unfolds itself in active life. Truth, if it is to be found will thus be seen in action. Heidegger also distinguishes between authentic and inauthentic life. However, an inauthentic life, which concerned with everydayness, is not untruthful in itself. It is only when one develops an ontology from this inauthentic life does it become ungenuine. (Overenget p212)Hence, for Sartre and Heidegger "truth" is living ,acting in unauthentic or genuine manner because man is defined by his actions. Heidegger describes the inauthentic life as follows: (200 words?)
Unauthentically ...we are not our own, as we have lost ourselves in things and humans while we exist in the everyday... (not) able to own ourselves (Overenget p214)
For Kierkegaard God is truth. His religious faith is a mode of being which seeks truth. (http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/kierkegaard.html)"
The truth can neither be communicated not received except as it were under God's eyes, not without God's help not as without god being involved as the middle term. He himself being the truth it can therefore only be communicated by and received by the individual."(Kaufmann p98)
Existentialism is a philosophy which declares that every truth and every action is subjective. (Sartre p342) This argument stems from the above "existence precedes essence" claim. Subjectivity is to the argument that the individual is truth. According to Sartre "Subjectivism means that on the one hand that an individual chooses and makes himself; and on the other that it is impossible to transcend human subjectivity." (BWEp346)Most philosophers, since Plato, have sought an objective truth. Existentialism reacts against this. Sartre condemns such objective, universal 'truths' as" lot of fine theories full of hope but with no real basis "and says of existentialists that" we want a doctrine based on truth" (IBID p366) Individual experience is everything. Anything else is mere theory.
Subjectivity can be defined as that which depends upon the personal or individual, especially where in contrast with the objective it is supposed to be an arbitrary expression of private taste (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/s9.htm#subj).Considered objectively, truth merely seeks attachment to the right object, correspondence with an independent reality. But for existentialist there is no independent reality. For Sartre the truth is found in choosing the life that is subjectively the most authentic for the individual. For Kierkegaard God is truth; but understanding of God can only be on a subjective, individual level. For him, "The truth can neither be communicated nor received, except, as it were under God's eyes, not without God's help not as without God being involved as the middle term. He himself being the truth it can therefore only be communicated by and received by the individual." (Kaufmann p98)
For Kierkegaard, it is clearly subjective truth that counts in life. Passionate attachment to a palpable falsehood, Kierkegaard supposed, is preferable to detached conviction of the obvious truth. Mild acceptance of traditional, institutional religion is useless, since God's existence can only be appreciated on wholly subjective grounds. Unlike Sartre Kierkegaard believed in God, and his version of philosophy was concerned in part with being close to God.(http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5t.htm) He wrote "I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die. “This is a comprehensive point of existentialism, for what is the value of a "truth" that the individual does not believe in himself? No matter how eloquently it could be argued, unless the individual discovers it for himself, he will never believe it, it will never be truth for him.
Sartre declared that "there is no other than a human universe, the universe of human subjectivity" (p366) and, to expand on his assertion, even if there was, how could you prove it? How could you step out of yourself? Even science, widely lauded for its objective nature, is pursued through a human perspective.
For Heidegger subjectivity is central to Dasein human existence. He describes his analysis of Dasein as "ontological analytic of the subjectivity of the subject"(p107 Overenget).he also advocates authentic existing as truth, but in different language: "Being-true is unveiling, unveiling is a comportment of the ego, and therefore, Being-true is something subjective." (p107 Overenget). So if we take a truth beyond the level of the individual, then it had lost its subjectivity and is hence untrue.
Having described how the individual is truth, because truth and human existence is subjective, we must address the assertion that "the multitude is untruth". If the individual identifies too readily with the multitude, he loses what is unique about himself, and in that sense loses his very self (cooper p110) Kierkegaard describes the multitude or public as "an abstract void which is everything and nothing...the most dangerous of powers ... A gruesome abstraction ... individuals will aspire to be nothing at all-in order to become the public". In his discourse "that individual" he states again and again that the "crowd in untruth" as it "renders the individual completely impenitent and irresponsible, or at least weakens his sense of responsibility by reducing it to a fraction."(Kaufmann p95)..For Heidegger the inauthentic person is precisely the one who lives under the dictatorship of the "they", the anonymous others. Existentialists are concerned with railing against the social and political conditions in which there is little or no scope for individual expression (p111 cooper). However, the attitude towards the public is not to be equated with elitist social criticism, as it goes deeper than that. What the power of the public or the tyranny of the herd suppresses is not so much the higher man or the outstanding individual but the very possibility of a distinctly human existence. The higher beings are the manifestations of the truly human, fully actualised. Humanity suffers when these figures are kept under the herd. (Cooper p112). Kierkegaard clearly expresses this:
The crowd is composed of individuals; it must therefore be in every man's power to become what he is, an individual. From becoming an individual no-one is excluded, except he who excludes himself by becoming a crowd. To become a crowd, to collect a crowd about one, is on the contrary to affirm the distinction of human life. (Kaufmmann p99-100)
The crowd is untruth because it suppresses the individual or facilitates his avoidance of individuality. Individuality should be the essence of existence, for it is our ability to reflect on ourselves critically that distinguishes us from other things in the world. The crowd relieves us of this burden of self-evaluation, because we deceive ourselves into believing that the actions of the multitude are enough to justify our actions. “Every individual who flees for refuge into the crowd, and so flees in cowardice from being an individual” (Kaufmann p95) what a person loses to the" they" is his own most possibilities of Being. (Cooper p114)Existentialism is concerned with realising the individual's full potential. When this potential is realised (which it never really is, life being a constant struggle to achieve this)we can call it truth .Because the multitude suppresses this potential, it is untruth. Human existence can only occur in a radically singular way, and any talk of human existence is merely abstraction. So existence must be tackled individually. This responsibility is not transferable to others, or to a higher power. This does not mean that we are condemned to be nothing but ourselves. We begin as no-one, and find our individual selves within the anonymity of the multitude.
.While the multitude may be untruth as transmitters of moral (or other) truths, this does not remove them completely from the existential picture, for it is in the nature of existence as the existentialist sees it, that it involves the world and other people. The authentic life is not achieved by removing yourself completely from society and taking yourself off to a dark room to find out who you are. The self is found in relating to other people. Because existentialism is a philosophy of action and involvement (Sartre p357) the authentic life, the truth of the self, must be demonstrated through action, and it is hard to imagine any significant actions that do not involve others. The subjectivity (described above)is not closed in on itself, but always present in a human universe (Sartre p366) .However the other does not directly give meaning to the individual, but the individual uses the other to find the truth for himself.
Heidegger illustrates this aspect of human existence.
Being-in-the-world as Dasein means being in the world in such a way that this being signifies; dealing with the world, staying with it in the manner of performing, effecting, and completely but also contemplating interrogating and determining through observation and comparison . (Elliot's lecture notes week 7)
He maintains being with as an essential aspect of Dasein, and hence rules out the possibility of understanding Dasein along the lines of an isolated subject being in a private world. To achieve an authentic life the individual does not have to isolate himself from the multitude, so long as he does not allow the multitude to suppress his individuality and think on his behalf. (Overenget 220-222)
This refutes any possible accusations of solipsism, or the suggestion that existentialism, because the individual is truth, the individual is all that is required to arrive at the truth. Being-in-the-world involves being-with-others, the multitude, as well as other individuals. Sartre reiterates this;
The man who becomes aware of himself through cogito also perceives all others, and he perceives them as a condition of his own existence. He realises that he cannot be anything unless others recognises it as such...In order to get any truth about myself I must have contact with another person. The other is indispensable to my own existence, as well as to my knowledge about myself. (Sartre p358)
In conclusion Existentialism is a philosophy which makes human life possible and, in addition, declares that every truth and every action is subjective. (Cooper/Sartre p342) Truth is subjective. Individual experience is everything in finding the truth. Anything else is merely theoretical. Truth is manifested in an authentic life, achieved through struggle. The multitude is untruth as the multitude, but because of the nature of existence we must engage with them because an authentic life is not isolated.
Bibliography
Cooper, David E. Existentialism (Oxford 1999)
Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. (USA1975)
Marino, Gordon. Basic Writings of Existentialism. (USA 2004)
Overenget, Einer. Seeing the Self; Heidegger on Subjectivity (USA 1998 )
http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/kierkegaard.html: Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript
http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/s9.htm#subj: Philosophical Dictionary, subjectivity
http://www.connect.net/ron/exist.html: Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical movement or tendency, emphasising individual existence, freedom, and choice. (http://www.connect.net/ron/exist.html) It focuses on personal meaning rather than general philosophical theory (BWE p xii). In discussing the above assertion I will first define truth as seen by the existentialist. This will lead to an exploration of the subjective nature of truth as seen by existentialists, which will aim to account for why the individual is truth. Having discussed this, I will then address the issue of the multitude being untruth. In my essay I will rely on the philosophies of Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre to illustrate my points.
We must first deal with the question "what is truth?" For Heidegger and Sartre we can answer this question by looking at the theme of freedom in existentialism. The freedom of the individual is highly important in existentialism. Because existentialism is a philosophy largely concerned with action, an authentic way of living is truth. Freedom of choice is central to this issue, as our actions are determined by our choices, and nothing else. Choice indicates or, should indicate, the truth of the self, as it is the individual's character manifested in action. Sartre proposes that 'existence precedes essence“. This means that there is no human nature as such that individuals can hide behind to account for their actions. "Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene and, only afterwards, defines himself." (Cooper/Sartre p345) Therefore the truth of that individual is articulated in his actions, which he takes full responsibility for. When an individual lives according to who he is, he is living the authentic life: the aim of the existentialist. “Man is nothing else but what he makes himself.” (Cooper/Sartre p345) Heidegger supports this point, in seeing Dasein {"the entity which each of us is himself and includes as one of the possibilities of its Being" (Overenget p106)} as a person, a subject of action. Existence is a process of self-directness, which is unique to humans, so that existence is an on-going process of self-discovery (discovery of the truth of self) that is never completed. Dasein is constantly determining its being, which is a issue for it (Overenget p113). For Heidegger, the essence of man is existence, and existence unfolds itself in active life. Truth, if it is to be found will thus be seen in action. Heidegger also distinguishes between authentic and inauthentic life. However, an inauthentic life, which concerned with everydayness, is not untruthful in itself. It is only when one develops an ontology from this inauthentic life does it become ungenuine. (Overenget p212)Hence, for Sartre and Heidegger "truth" is living ,acting in unauthentic or genuine manner because man is defined by his actions. Heidegger describes the inauthentic life as follows: (200 words?)
Unauthentically ...we are not our own, as we have lost ourselves in things and humans while we exist in the everyday... (not) able to own ourselves (Overenget p214)
For Kierkegaard God is truth. His religious faith is a mode of being which seeks truth. (http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/kierkegaard.html)"
The truth can neither be communicated not received except as it were under God's eyes, not without God's help not as without god being involved as the middle term. He himself being the truth it can therefore only be communicated by and received by the individual."(Kaufmann p98)
Existentialism is a philosophy which declares that every truth and every action is subjective. (Sartre p342) This argument stems from the above "existence precedes essence" claim. Subjectivity is to the argument that the individual is truth. According to Sartre "Subjectivism means that on the one hand that an individual chooses and makes himself; and on the other that it is impossible to transcend human subjectivity." (BWEp346)Most philosophers, since Plato, have sought an objective truth. Existentialism reacts against this. Sartre condemns such objective, universal 'truths' as" lot of fine theories full of hope but with no real basis "and says of existentialists that" we want a doctrine based on truth" (IBID p366) Individual experience is everything. Anything else is mere theory.
Subjectivity can be defined as that which depends upon the personal or individual, especially where in contrast with the objective it is supposed to be an arbitrary expression of private taste (http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/s9.htm#subj).Considered objectively, truth merely seeks attachment to the right object, correspondence with an independent reality. But for existentialist there is no independent reality. For Sartre the truth is found in choosing the life that is subjectively the most authentic for the individual. For Kierkegaard God is truth; but understanding of God can only be on a subjective, individual level. For him, "The truth can neither be communicated nor received, except, as it were under God's eyes, not without God's help not as without God being involved as the middle term. He himself being the truth it can therefore only be communicated by and received by the individual." (Kaufmann p98)
For Kierkegaard, it is clearly subjective truth that counts in life. Passionate attachment to a palpable falsehood, Kierkegaard supposed, is preferable to detached conviction of the obvious truth. Mild acceptance of traditional, institutional religion is useless, since God's existence can only be appreciated on wholly subjective grounds. Unlike Sartre Kierkegaard believed in God, and his version of philosophy was concerned in part with being close to God.(http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5t.htm) He wrote "I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die. “This is a comprehensive point of existentialism, for what is the value of a "truth" that the individual does not believe in himself? No matter how eloquently it could be argued, unless the individual discovers it for himself, he will never believe it, it will never be truth for him.
Sartre declared that "there is no other than a human universe, the universe of human subjectivity" (p366) and, to expand on his assertion, even if there was, how could you prove it? How could you step out of yourself? Even science, widely lauded for its objective nature, is pursued through a human perspective.
For Heidegger subjectivity is central to Dasein human existence. He describes his analysis of Dasein as "ontological analytic of the subjectivity of the subject"(p107 Overenget).he also advocates authentic existing as truth, but in different language: "Being-true is unveiling, unveiling is a comportment of the ego, and therefore, Being-true is something subjective." (p107 Overenget). So if we take a truth beyond the level of the individual, then it had lost its subjectivity and is hence untrue.
Having described how the individual is truth, because truth and human existence is subjective, we must address the assertion that "the multitude is untruth". If the individual identifies too readily with the multitude, he loses what is unique about himself, and in that sense loses his very self (cooper p110) Kierkegaard describes the multitude or public as "an abstract void which is everything and nothing...the most dangerous of powers ... A gruesome abstraction ... individuals will aspire to be nothing at all-in order to become the public". In his discourse "that individual" he states again and again that the "crowd in untruth" as it "renders the individual completely impenitent and irresponsible, or at least weakens his sense of responsibility by reducing it to a fraction."(Kaufmann p95)..For Heidegger the inauthentic person is precisely the one who lives under the dictatorship of the "they", the anonymous others. Existentialists are concerned with railing against the social and political conditions in which there is little or no scope for individual expression (p111 cooper). However, the attitude towards the public is not to be equated with elitist social criticism, as it goes deeper than that. What the power of the public or the tyranny of the herd suppresses is not so much the higher man or the outstanding individual but the very possibility of a distinctly human existence. The higher beings are the manifestations of the truly human, fully actualised. Humanity suffers when these figures are kept under the herd. (Cooper p112). Kierkegaard clearly expresses this:
The crowd is composed of individuals; it must therefore be in every man's power to become what he is, an individual. From becoming an individual no-one is excluded, except he who excludes himself by becoming a crowd. To become a crowd, to collect a crowd about one, is on the contrary to affirm the distinction of human life. (Kaufmmann p99-100)
The crowd is untruth because it suppresses the individual or facilitates his avoidance of individuality. Individuality should be the essence of existence, for it is our ability to reflect on ourselves critically that distinguishes us from other things in the world. The crowd relieves us of this burden of self-evaluation, because we deceive ourselves into believing that the actions of the multitude are enough to justify our actions. “Every individual who flees for refuge into the crowd, and so flees in cowardice from being an individual” (Kaufmann p95) what a person loses to the" they" is his own most possibilities of Being. (Cooper p114)Existentialism is concerned with realising the individual's full potential. When this potential is realised (which it never really is, life being a constant struggle to achieve this)we can call it truth .Because the multitude suppresses this potential, it is untruth. Human existence can only occur in a radically singular way, and any talk of human existence is merely abstraction. So existence must be tackled individually. This responsibility is not transferable to others, or to a higher power. This does not mean that we are condemned to be nothing but ourselves. We begin as no-one, and find our individual selves within the anonymity of the multitude.
.While the multitude may be untruth as transmitters of moral (or other) truths, this does not remove them completely from the existential picture, for it is in the nature of existence as the existentialist sees it, that it involves the world and other people. The authentic life is not achieved by removing yourself completely from society and taking yourself off to a dark room to find out who you are. The self is found in relating to other people. Because existentialism is a philosophy of action and involvement (Sartre p357) the authentic life, the truth of the self, must be demonstrated through action, and it is hard to imagine any significant actions that do not involve others. The subjectivity (described above)is not closed in on itself, but always present in a human universe (Sartre p366) .However the other does not directly give meaning to the individual, but the individual uses the other to find the truth for himself.
Heidegger illustrates this aspect of human existence.
Being-in-the-world as Dasein means being in the world in such a way that this being signifies; dealing with the world, staying with it in the manner of performing, effecting, and completely but also contemplating interrogating and determining through observation and comparison . (Elliot's lecture notes week 7)
He maintains being with as an essential aspect of Dasein, and hence rules out the possibility of understanding Dasein along the lines of an isolated subject being in a private world. To achieve an authentic life the individual does not have to isolate himself from the multitude, so long as he does not allow the multitude to suppress his individuality and think on his behalf. (Overenget 220-222)
This refutes any possible accusations of solipsism, or the suggestion that existentialism, because the individual is truth, the individual is all that is required to arrive at the truth. Being-in-the-world involves being-with-others, the multitude, as well as other individuals. Sartre reiterates this;
The man who becomes aware of himself through cogito also perceives all others, and he perceives them as a condition of his own existence. He realises that he cannot be anything unless others recognises it as such...In order to get any truth about myself I must have contact with another person. The other is indispensable to my own existence, as well as to my knowledge about myself. (Sartre p358)
In conclusion Existentialism is a philosophy which makes human life possible and, in addition, declares that every truth and every action is subjective. (Cooper/Sartre p342) Truth is subjective. Individual experience is everything in finding the truth. Anything else is merely theoretical. Truth is manifested in an authentic life, achieved through struggle. The multitude is untruth as the multitude, but because of the nature of existence we must engage with them because an authentic life is not isolated.
Bibliography
Cooper, David E. Existentialism (Oxford 1999)
Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. (USA1975)
Marino, Gordon. Basic Writings of Existentialism. (USA 2004)
Overenget, Einer. Seeing the Self; Heidegger on Subjectivity (USA 1998 )
http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/kierkegaard.html: Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript
http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/s9.htm#subj: Philosophical Dictionary, subjectivity
http://www.connect.net/ron/exist.html: Existentialism