Notions of Selflessness in Sartrean Existentialism and Theravadin Buddhism
argumentative Essay
4179 words
Notions of Selflessness in Sartrean Existentialism and Theravadin Buddhism
ABSTRACT: In this essay I examine the relationship between Sartre's phenomenological description of the "self" as expressed in his early work (especially Being and Nothingness) and elements to be found in some approaches to Buddhism. The vast enormity of this task will be obvious to anyone who is aware of the numerous schools and traditions through which the religion of Buddhism has manifested itself. In order to be brief, I have decided to select specific aspects of what is commonly called the Theravadin tradition as being representative of Buddhist philosophy. By choosing to look primarily at the Theravadin tradition, I am by necessity ignoring a vast number of other Buddhist approaches. However, in my view, the Theravadin sect presents a consistent Buddhist philosophy which is representative of many of the major trends within Buddhism.
In this essay, I shall briefly examine the relationship between Sartre's phenomenological description of the "self" as expressed in his early work (especially Being and Nothingness) and elements to be found in some approaches to Buddhism. The vast enormity of this task will be obvious to anyone who is aware of the numerous schools and traditions through which the religion of Buddhism has manifested itself. In order to be brief, I have decided to select specific aspects of what is commonly called the Theravadin tradition as being representative of Buddhist philosophy.
Several comments should be made about this choice. First of all, it should be emphasized that the scope of this essay is such as to only be able to examine Buddhism as a philosophic system with psychological implications. Buddhism is, of course, mu...
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In this essay, the author
- Concludes their sketch of sartre's early philosophy in being and nothingness. full understanding of his work can only come through a complete reading of himself.
- Analyzes the relationship between sartre's phenomenological description of the "self" and elements to be found in some approaches to buddhism.
- Explains the differences between sartrean and buddhist positions. the phenomenologist is intent on making no prior assumptions to color the investigation; the buddhist knows the nature of things before utilizing any method.
- Explains lee, sander h., "the central role of universality in a sartrean ethics."
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- Tibetan Buddhism and the Island of Kauaiopinion essayBuddhism and Buddhist philosophy can have a substantial amount of unfamiliar terminology and specific meanings for words we think we know the definition to. In order to ensure comprehension and clarity a few terms need to be defined. Buddhism as a spiritual movement is the following of the teachings of a fifth century B.C. E. Indian spiritual leader named known as Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or --in the case of this essay-- the Buddha. Tibetan Buddhism will be defined in a similar manner. Tibetan Buddhism is in the course of this essay will focus on one of the six schools of thought in the Tibetan Buddhist cannon. The “Oral Tradition” or the Kagyu School is the monastic linage that arrives in Kauai in the twentieth century.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the chinese revolution, the buddha, and a princess shaped the path of tibetan buddhism into the hawaiian islands, particularly in the island of kauai.
- Explains buddhism and buddhist philosophy can have a substantial amount of unfamiliar terminology and specific meanings for words we think we know the definition to.
- Explains how tibetan buddhism got to hawaii from nepal. the namesake of the movement was a spiritual leader born around the fifth century bc.
- Narrates how buddhism and its respective technologies, writing and art, eventually find their way to the highlands of tibet via a chinese princess married to
- Describes how the red army retakes tibet in 1959 under the pretext of social revolution and historic dominion over the tibet. kalu rinpoche, the founder of tibetan buddhism in hawaii, established dharma centers around the world.
- Describes the kauai peace park and stupa, built in 2009 by the kagyu school to create places of peace and tranquility for the local community.
- Opines that the peacefulness of the park was intentional, but not disciplinary. they found a small sanctuary that provided information about the peace park and the dharma sanctuary.
- Opines that tibetan buddhism would have died out if not for the excitement and curiosity of the west for what is seen as the most mysterious branch of buddhism.
- Opines that tibet's entire raison d'etre is predicated on chinese oppression and western interest.
1038 wordsRead More - Jean-Paul Sartre - Problems with the Notion of Bad Faithanalytical essay...ating Sartre's attitudes towards the constituents of human action, that which constitutes human being. Even though it may, in the final analysis, prove to be an unsatisfactory account of consciousness, it serves to illuminate some possible further lines of study, if only as a negative example.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes who offers the statement 'human reality is what it is not'.
- Explains the structure of bad faith, which consists of the individual consciousness appropriating a false notion of self.
- Analyzes sartre's investigation into human being-in-the-world by analyzing the nature of consciousness. they break with husserl on the question of the knowing ego.
- Explains that consciousness of being is the being of consciousness. there is no question of contemplating afterwards a horror already constituted.
- Analyzes how sartre demonstrates the need of the individual to avoid the terrible consequences of perceiving her freedom to act.
- Explains that to avoid fear, which reveals to them a transcendent future, they take refuge in reflection, but the latter has only an undetermined future to offer.
- Explains that in order to avoid fear, we flee into the realm of reflection, but that gives us no respite, for it is here that we find the consciousness of self as self.
- Opines that a nothingness has slipped into the heart of this relation: i am not the self which i will be.
- Explains that sartre develops three stages in the formation of bad faith: awareness that consciousness is externalized, that we find ourselves in relationship to the "lived world," and that this world impinges itself upon our life options.
- Analyzes how the cafe becomes the "ground" of their knowledge of non-being within being, since it establishes their sense of place, and their determination of peter's absence.
- Analyzes how the metaphysical skeptics ask, "nothingness," how one can define something that, by definition, does not exist. sartre replies that the awareness of negation has existed within the consciousness of every human since birth.
- Argues that human values and human society are the subjective constructs of free individuals interacting with their environment, not objective structures imposed from without by god or nature.
- Analyzes how human beings are able to pervert their freedom into a denial of their radically autonomous natures. they embody it in their own person when they deny their true selves.
- Explains that the situation cannot be the same for bad faith if it is indeed a lie to oneself.
- Explains that one does not undergo his bad faith; one is not infected with it, it isn't a state. there must be an original intention and project of good faith.
- Analyzes how sartre emphasizes the notion that bad faith as "lying to oneself" includes the following factors:
- Explains that bad faith involves only one individual, unlike regular prevarication. in an "ideal lie," the liar is fully aware that she is speaking a lie to another individual.
- Explains that there is no special ontological status for regular lying, but the case of bad faith is quite different.
- Explains that the one to whom the lie is told and who lies are one and the same person, which means that one must know in their capacity as deceiver the truth which is hidden from them.
- Explains that bad faith is a sustained program of self-deception and selfnegation in which the individual involved considers herself to be in full possession of the truth regarding not only her own condition, but the world as well.
- Analyzes how sartre likens bad faith to a woman who is aware that her date has less than honorable intentions, but is unwilling to face the implications of the situation.
- Argues that sincerity is always something to strive for, possessing it must be an "unconscious" act. sartre's example is the homosexual and his plain-spoken friend.
- Analyzes how sartre's mania for correct classification reduces free individuals to the level of masses lumped in categories and enables the labeler to possess an unjustified sense of superiority.
- Illustrates the problem of self-consciousness in benjamin franklin's autobiography.
- Concludes that bad faith is more than self-deception. it cannot mean that we genuinely believe in "bad faith" since that would make it good faith.
- Analyzes how sartre criticized nausea for "exonerating" his own consciousness while presuming to judge others. he suggests that we can throw off "bad faith" through a herculean effort of freedom.
- Analyzes how the notion of "bad faith" possesses philosophical interest through its examination of human consciousness.
- Explains anderson, thomas c. sartre's two ethics: from authenticity to integral humanism.
- States schlipp, paul arthur ed. the philosophy of jean-paul sartre, the library of living philosophers vol. xvi, la salle, ill.
4319 wordsRead More - The Illusion of Racial Identityanalytical essay(5) Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness translated by Hazel Barnes(New York: Washington Square Press, 1956), pp 432-434.
In this essay, the author
- Explains heidegger's words for a distinction between two senses of "being": vorhandenheit and existenz refer to the kind of being that we attribute to, for instance, natural phenomena.
- Compares the situation of woman and that of the negro. both are being emancipated from a like paternalism and the former master class wishes to "keep them in their place."
- Argues that color and race are not different as facticity and freedom. they argue that white intentionality is a subjective, lived matter due to situatedness in our history.
- Analyzes how appiah's claim that "the truth is this" indicates his allegiance to this traditional and popular conception of "being" as presence-at-hand.
- Analyzes hooks' discussion of postmodern whiteness as a racial characteristic — whites aren't color-blind, but they feel and breathe their own. postmodernist insights and discoveries do not dissipate mists through which such social realities appear as objective qualities.
- Analyzes how the concept of "race" can be understood by analogy to what foucault suggests about psychiatry and mental illness.
- Explains that heidegger's distinction between several senses of "being" became the starting point of existential phenomenology, and the subsequent work of sartre and debeauvoir derives important ideas from it.
- Analyzes how sartre's distinction between facticity and freedom is at play in her work, the second sex.
- Argues that debeauvoir's passage refers not to the distinction between substantiality and existence, but to one between "being" understood in a static and dynamic sense.
- Argues that language plays a role in how we live our conditions, since it is constitutive of the conditions themselves.
- Analyzes how sartre's notion of "bad faith" can help us understand both points, the attraction, and what is alarming about it.
- Analyzes the risk of applying the philosophical analysis of meanings of "being" to the issue of race.
- Summarizes the works of david hume, ivan hannaford, martin heidegger, jean-paul sartre, simone debeauvoir, and anthony kwame appiah.
3988 wordsRead More - The Main Features Of Existentialism Vs. Sartre's Theoryargumentative essayThis paper attempts to discuss the main features of existentialist views as well as dissect Sartre's Theory into two parts, analysing its merits and consequent demerit.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the main features of existentialist views and sartre's theory, stating that existentialism focuses more on the existence of the human being in itself than the various material and non-material influences that is associated with man.
- Describes the main features of existentialist views in accordance with the readings from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/existentialism.
- Explains that existentialists believed that a man's personality is directly linked to the level of freedom available to him.
- Explains that existentialists see 'being' as a mere scientific term, while marcel categorizes it into two groups, one defined by science and the other by man's experience of his spiritual self.
- Explains that existentialists have distanced themselves from the existence of the afterlife and believe that the soul that occupies the body goes no where after the death.
- Analyzes existentialism as an analysis of a man's world. technological breakthrough has had consequential effects on man as the pathway to his development has been replaced with advance technology.
- Opines that many philosophers criticized sartre's theories for its contradictory nature. they argue that his theories are based on metaphysical views as opposed to his counter claim of same.
- Disagrees with sartre's model of social reality because conflict will continue to prevail.
- Concludes that existentialism bridges the gap between materialism and idealism. sartre's theory on existence precedes essence and social reality.
760 wordsRead More - Mindfulness and Conscious Processinganalytical essaySelf-knowledge and self-awareness are central to many world religions. In Buddhism, self-awareness and awareness of others and of the world are identical. It is the philosopher Socrates who, mi...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that in the theoretical context of mindfulness self-awareness has been traditionally understood as a key component for self growth.
- Explains that while the concept of mindfulness appears to have been first described in asia, its phenomenological nature is strikingly familiar to different western philosophical and psychological schools of thought.
- Explains that self-awareness and awareness of others and the world are identical in buddhism. socrates and shakespeare spoke about the distinction between the false and true within.
- Explains that hegel believed in the in depth awareness of the self by'seeing with the eyes of others'. otherness and pure self-consciousness are mutually contradictive moments in a life and death struggle.
- Explains that in mindfulness, one is self-aware and aware of the feelings, thoughts, and actions of others. self awareness has a social impact since it implies one being of tasks and behaviors that could hurt other people.
- Analyzes how dreyfus equates mindedness, mindfulness, and the mental with a form of reflective or self-monitoring rationality.
- Explains husserl's two main components of conscious processing: the natural attitude and the phenomenological attitude.
- Explains that husserl referred to the relation between reflective and pre-reflective self-awareness, which is a condition of reflection and mindfulness practice.
- Argues that mindfulness meditative perspective agrees with merleau-ponty on the primacy of sense perception in the constitution of perceptual cognition.
- Explains that cognitive science supports the phenomenological claim that the natural attitude can be considered a default mode of conscious processing because what comes into awareness is often held in focal attention only briefly.
- Explains that humanists like carl rogers, young and deci argue against materialism monism. they believe subjective experiences are the only way to study human behavior.
- Analyzes how jung's work anticipated the major themes of the humanistic-existential approach, including his concepts of "self", active imagination, and human consciousness.
- Explains that brown and ryan (2003) consider mindfulness to be an aspect of consciousness. they propose that consciousness encompasses both awareness and attention.
- Explains that it is easier to conceptualize the opposite concept of mindfulness, which is called mindlessness. socrates gave us the foundation of modern philosophy when he claimed his only wisdom was in knowing his ignorance.
- Explains gallup et al.'s connection between self-awareness and theory of mind, which is a landmark to the development of social intelligence. the success of chimpanzees in the mirror-self-recognition experiment suggests that they are phenomenally conscious.
2254 wordsRead More - Comparison: Jean-Paul Sarte & Martin Buber's Theoriesanalytical essayOne of the aims of Being and Nothingness is to describe consciousness, or human subjectivity. Sartre distinguishes two different modes of consciousness in order to accurately describe human subjectivity. These two modes are being-for-itself and being-for-others. Being-for-itself refers to a transcendent conscious being (Oaklander, 238). Transcendence is the antithesis of facticity. I will describe facticity first, in order to make the concept of transcendence more tractable. Facticity denotes the concrete details of the subject’s being including past decisions, plac...
In this essay, the author
- Argues that buber's position is more insightful because his theory of human relations lays the foundation for an ethical system.
- Explains how they will explain sartre's notion of intersubjectivity in being and nothingness. they will distinguish between "being-for-itself" and "beforothers", and explain the significance of "the look".
- Explains that sartre distinguishes two different modes of consciousness in order to accurately describe human subjectivity. being-for-itself refers to a transcendent conscious being; transcendence is the antithesis of facticity.
- Analyzes how sartre emphasizes the importance of being-for-others, which gives rise to ontologically distinct forms of consciousness.
- Opines that the other assigns meaning and gives value to different objects in the world corresponds to a decentralization which undermines the centralization that i am simultaneously effecting.
- Analyzes how sartre's example of a man spying on his lover shows the importance of recognition and the other in establishing particular modes of consciousness.
- Analyzes how encountering the other changes the way in which the subject understands himself as a subject.
- Analyzes how buber describes interpersonal relationships in terms of i-you "encounters" and explains that the transformative experience is shared by the i and the you.
- Analyzes how buber describes the synthesis of the i and the you. the artist and his artwork are involved in a give-and-take relationship, and are united in that they are both creating.
- Analyzes how buber and sartre agree that the other acts as a mediator between the subject and the world.
- Analyzes how buber uses the notion of love, showing how someone in love views the world through a you.
1798 wordsRead More - Jean Paul Sartre´s Existential Philosophyanalytical essayexist as part of a philosophical tapestry aimed at revealing the nature of Being. In many ways, the stream of considerations in Being and Nothingness are parts of the examination of a single question – what is the nature of our existence? Sartre attempts to answer his question of existence in various ways, primarily through examining consciousness and its juxtaposition between existence and nothingness. The position in which Sartre places consciousness is forever qualified by self-perception and the perceptions of others, as applied to ourselves and others, so as to create a continual subject-object relationship through which being finds for itself a place to be.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes jean paul sartre's existential philosophy, which posits that existence precedes essence. man must create his essence through intent, loving, struggling, experiencing, and being in the world.
- Analyzes how sartre examines consciousness and its juxtaposition between existence and nothingness as part of a philosophical tapestry aimed at revealing the nature of being.
- Explains that sartre based his philosophy first and foremost on mankind's innate free will, and declared that it is a by-product of the interaction between being and nothing.
- Explains that being precedes essence; we are created as individuals without the help of a higher being. meaning arises from the individual's impetus to will freely, to do what we choose, and to reflect upon those choices.
- States that sartre examines freedom and choice with a critical eye in being and nothingness, stating that authentic choices are wholey and fully undetermined.
- Analyzes how de beauvoir's ethics of ambiguity defines ambiguity and intentionality as the activities of consciousness, simultaneously insistent and ambigous.
- Analyzes how beauvoir defines consciousness as ambiguous and identifies it with the idea of failure. she rejects authoritarian and absolute ethical systems in favor of projects that affirm our natural limits.
- Analyzes how de beauvoir's ethics of ambiguity rejects the foundations of god and generalized humanity as justification for our actions.
1060 wordsRead More - Jean-Paul Sartre: The Third Force Movementanalytical essayAt the core of Jean-Paul Sartre’s views was that existence precedes essence. This contrasted with the Aristotelian and Scholastic views that individual existence is an expression of essence or being (Brennan, 2003). Instead, Sartre believed that existence defines the essence of an individual such ...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that jean-paul sartre was the most popular existentialist of the twentieth century and was born from the third force movement in psychology.
- Analyzes jean-paul sartre's view that existence precedes essence, which contrasts with the aristotelian and scholastic views that individual existence is an expression of essence or being.
- Explains that sartre's assertion that essence precedes existence has major implications in psychology, especially in cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy.
- Explains sartre's view that our emotions and judgments and cognitions are in our control, but external events, such as failure, loss, and discomfort, are outside of us. cbt extended this view and included it as a therapeutic technique.
- Explains acceptance and commitment therapy's emphasis on the present moment, or mindfulness, in its therapeutic approach. psychopathology is a result of psychological inflexibility.
1163 wordsRead More - The Life of Jean-Paul Sartreargumentative essayExistentialism could be defined as a philosophical theory that focuses on the individual person being a free and responsible person who determines his or her own development through acts of will. Existentialism is a thesis that has been discussed by some of the greatest philosophical minds ever to live. Minds such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche all had their own view on what existentialism was and major impact on the development of this thesis. Each of these philosophies played a huge influence on a great mind that would come later on in history. That was the mind of Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre, who is considered one of the great philosophical minds, based many of his ideas around the idea of existentialism and phenomenology. Throughout this paper we will take an extensive look into the life and mind of Jean-Paul Sartre.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that existentialism is a philosophical theory that focuses on the individual being free and responsible person who determines his or her own development through acts of will.
- Describes how jean-paul sartre became interested in philosophy after reading henri bergson's "time and free will" and met simone de beauvoir.
- Explains that jean-paul sartre received his early education from tutors. he graduated from the école normale supérieure in paris in 1929 with a doctorate in philosophy.
- Analyzes how sartre's famous works bolstered him up to the top ranks of philosophers. his first novel, nausea, and his collection of stories, the wall and other stories, brought him immediate recognition and success.
- Explains jean-paul sartre's philosophical theories were based around existentialism and phenomenology.
- Explains that jean-paul made a huge impact in the world of philosophy, but also made an impact on the entire world. sartre was an outspoken political activist and opposed the vietnam war.
- Concludes that jean-paul sartre's life was one of many great achievements. his writings laid the groundwork for future existentialists to critique or accept and become inspired by.
- Describes the works citedchannel, the biography, "jean-paul sartre". donohoe, dr. benedict o'
- Cites levy, neil, and media, nobel. jean-paul sartre - biographical. smith, david woodruff. phenomenology.
860 wordsRead More - Empress Wu and Buddhism: A Symbiotic Relationshipanalytical essayYu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how wu zhao, the first female emperor of china, rose to power during the tang dynasty and her active role with buddhism fabricated a perpetual impact in the chinese society.
- Analyzes how buddhism helped empress wu grasp power and its indispensable role in the chinese economy. the relationship between religion and state is clearly identified by wu's unambiguous relationship with buddhism.
- Analyzes how wu's interdependence with buddhism blooms as early as her overtaking of the imperial rule of china. wu is resourceful and violent in securing her title, and cunning in gathering support from the ordinary masses.
- Analyzes how wu's allying herself with the religion is a monumental and imperative first step that is needed to justify wu’s reign.
- Analyzes how the blossoming relationship between empress wu and buddhism attracts converts and provides another source of fiscal income for the monastic communities.
- Analyzes how the symbiotic relationship between buddhism and wu's administration is beneficial to the overall prosperity of the chinese economy.
- Analyzes how buddhism and its monasteries have benefitted wu's bureaucracy in the tang dynasty, legitimizing wu’s crown and building the chinese economy.
- Explains that empress wu establishes a close relationship with buddhism during the tang dynasty. the recurring symbiotic relationship between religion and state throughout the chinese dynasties has been beneficial for wu and buddhism.
- Cites bentley, jerry h., and ziegler. traditions & encounters: a global persepective on the past. yu, han.
2294 wordsRead More