Existentialism is Humanism by Satre

Explain Sartre’s belief that we are we are responsible for the creation of morality and for prescribing morality to everyone else. Give your own example that demonstrates this view in addition to Sartre’s own example of marriage.

Existence happens before essence, god is not real, and humans are the future of humans. People are in this world and when they are thrown into this world they exist but they are nothing and man is only what they make themselves to be through choices and actions. Sartre would seem to believe that in the belief that since there is no god then humans came from humans there is no heaven so humans are responsible purely for themselves. Since we as humans are responsible for ourselves everything is allowed in that we make ourselves to be exactly what we purpose ourselves to be. Also because of this we must make ourselves as humans a moral code to live by because again since there is no god we or even better I am responsible for creating a good moral code to live by that cannot only work for myself but also for others. So if we are as humans purely responsible for ourselves and for the morals we set then we must share them with other humans to create the moral code that can be lived by all because of god not being real we are not bound by the fake morality that survives in religion.

As I see what Sartre is saying for myself is currently right now I have purposed myself to become a nurse, in doing this I am beginning to create an image of myself later on because right now I am technically nothing but I won’t always be that way. As I am making choices I am solidifying who I am and who I am going to be. I may have hopes and dreams but if I do not purpose myself to making those things a reality then I will just be a failure and create anguish in myself. But if I do continue to take the course and pass the tests needed to become a certified nurse then I have created my reality and image that I as a human being am entirely responsible on my own. And in doing this I am creating an image for other men to see and do as I do.

Sartre’s own example of this is on marriage. By choosing to get married Sartre says he is choosing monogamy for himself but not only himself but for all of mankind. This is the way that all men should be living their lives. In fashioning himself he is fashioning man.

This all comes back to the thought of if there is no god then man is the only thing there is. Man is responsible for man and there is nothing else. Man as his existence came before the essence of a man happened. We exist and then we create our essence and we or in this case I create everything. In his beliefs humans are everything there ever will be. My personal opinion on this is it sounds great but at the same time there has to be a little bit more to life than this and although he has some pretty convincing points I do not totally agree with him. I would tend to believe that there is something more to the belief that there was a dietal artisan that had the essence before the existence of man.

Memento

Do you agree with Leonard’s statement that we all need mirrors to remind us who we are? In the movie the mirrors were his notes, the photographs, and tattoos. What has he become by relying upon them? What would you become without your own mirrors?

Leonard seems to have to have an uncommon trust yet mistrust for people in Memento because of his lack of memory. He has to take everyone he encounters at their word or the word of what he has written on a photograph, the tattoos on his body, or notes he has written on paper. Because of living his life this way he has no choice but to take whatever he has put down in writing as fact without the shadow of a doubt that what he has written as false. This has put him in a precarious position because it leaves him open to being completely gullible in any situation because even though it may not be the truth he takes it as fact. He is at the mercy of himself and creating his own truths instead of real truth he lives on made up facts that he himself creates. We find out in the last scene of the movie that he killed the man that raped his wife over a year before, his wife survived the accident but was killed by Leonard by insulin overdose, and because he can’t remember he keeps chasing fake John G people and killing them because according to his notes to himself they are the person who killed his wife.

In a way I tend to agree with Leonard that we do need things to remind us of who we are. I think over the mirrors though we do need our memories because they do make us who we are in my opinion. I do believe that it is a very real and scary thought that people probably do create their own truths despite what actually may have happened and possibly lead them to do something horrific like killing people. It reminds me of the movie 50 first dates where the girl cannot remember what happened the day before and the man creates a video to show her what her life has been so that she can remember. The same idea that he the husband is creating her truths for her and while it is a nice idea that she will wake up every morning watch the video and fall in love with her husband again on the spot just seems a little far fetched. For me I do not think I would be a very good person if I did not have my mirrors(memories) and I say this because they do have influence on who I am they have given me goals and dreams to pursue. Without them I feel as though I would wake up every morning and feel a extreme sense of loneliness in the world because I think I would forever feel like I would always be skeptic of those around me I would have no baseline each day to make sound decisions based off of my memories. But at the same time even people with memories and the mirrors still create false truths because maybe they don’t want to see the truth or the memory just like Leonard does or they don’t like the reality they live in, and I believe this comes from the fact that people are imperfect including myself.

The Storytelling Animal by MacIntyre

Choose a passage from the McIntyre reading that describes a particular aspect of persons as the subject of a narrative. Quote the passage, explain it, and tell a specific, personal, life experience that illustrates its significance with respect to identity (your identity).

McIntyre states in the selection “After Virtue” that “I am the subject of a history that is my own and no one else’s, that has its own peculiar meaning. When someone complains- as do some of those who attempt or commit suicide- that his or her life is meaningless, that he or she is often and perhaps characteristically that the narrative of their life has become unintelligible to them, that it lacks any point, any movement towards a climax or telos. Hence the point of doing any one thing rather than another at crucial junctures in their life seems to such a person to have been lost.”

The idea that we are storytelling animals in a basic sense of we associate ourselves with stories and also that we identify ourselves with our stories and stories of others that we can connect with makes sense. As with everything so far from what I have read of the philosophers ideas, I believe there is more to it than just associating my identity through the narrative story of my life. But the excerpt above from the passage as I read it rings true for me. As I read this part it brought me down a bit because it hit me close to the heart.

I think each day that I wake up and have another day to keep living there is some new chapter to write in my life, there is always something new to learn, something new to give to myself or some one, and some way that I can impact someone else’s life. When McIntyre talks of suicide and how at that point of making that decision, putting that final period on your life narrative rather than looking forward and seeing the stories still left to create and tell and the cause of that is the lack of seeing any point in the rest of your life I saw that in a coworker and friend who put the final period on their story long before they ever should have closed their eyes for the last time.

The coworker of mine during my stint in the military chose suicide because he couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel or as McIntyre would say the climax that would be getting out of the military. He believed his life would never get better that he was forever stuck in the pit of getting treated badly and being at the bottom of the military. Now while I know exactly how he felt as far as how bad people above you can treat you and how miserable life can be in the military I could never connect or find a reason as to how it could be so bad that you would want to end the narrative of his life. But as I read this specific part of the passage what McIntyre said it just seems to fit more than any other person trying to describe why someone would do this. The loss of the point to life, the feeling that there will never be any climax in your life, or the feeling that there will be other crucial junctures later on just connected the dots for me.

Just recently a friend of mine that I grew up with because our parents were best friends just chose to end her life. She was married with kids and a great husband and pretty much anything materially that a person could want in life. She left a note saying she believed everyone would be better without her here, and I believe she lost sight of the climax of her life that could be raising her kids or enjoying a life full of adventure with her husband.

For me how I see it is these two people in my life lost sight of their identity of the stories that they still had the ability to write. I see McIntyre as giving a reason that makes sense to me as to why people may do this. I have never been able and still am not completely able to connect with them on their decision because I still feel as though no matter what there is always a story worth telling and something down the road in life that I have to do a new story to take part in or connect with.