PH 101

Fall 2014
Review sheet - Final
Prof. Drake
Notes
Doestevsky
Attempt at truthful autobiography
Consistency & inconsistency
Attempts at self-definition
ever evolving creature
cant 't ever define yourself as one thing
we make different decisions all the time
Pleasure and/in pain
are open to being manipulated by us overtime
o Underground Man has tasted his own dissapointmend so
many times that it becomes a comfort zone
his disappointed because normality, habit
The familiar feeling becomes a weird way for
pleasure.
he clings to that pleasure
Determinism
- Belief that nature and biological makeup determine human action;
free will is an illusion.
Spontaneity/caprice
he has no self-consistency
we will always contradict ourselves
o irrationality
o caprice-- subject to change at any instant (desires)
o spontaneity
Cultural contradiction
Modern science/Justice system
both are functions of a very limited conception of what the human
intellect is
you are limiting the freedoms you have
"we are condemned to be free" -Satre
Ongoing, fundamental responsibility to use our freedom and use our
creativity.
Rationality & irrationality
For the individual
o choosing "bad" things might be good for us
o if everyone else makes the same decisions as you, human
behavior becomes predictable
you lose your uniqueness

o in order to have meaning in our lives, we need irrationality

self is made of a set of impulses
o "our freedom is better than our self-interest"
we are inherently creative and free beings
sometimes we must be disobedient
o Our decisions are not always ours, they are caused by
unknown forces.
For society
o "Constructing a crystal palace"-- Utopia
o to be fully rational would get rid of conflict
Existentialist believe
many people deprive their own freedom
many people accept or go along with that they are told
o we are told by society what we should want
cultural values/customs are our own personal decisions
traditions are also choices
Its not wrong to act rationally, but sometimes it's necessary to
choose against it.
Satre, a French philosopher says that "you can't help but be
creature."
Striving after a goal vs. achieving it
you get more satisfaction from striving or working towards a goal,
then actually achieving it.
achieving the goal is letdown
o youre killing the very thing has been driving you
terrifying to start a new goal
Humans want the unattainable goal which is perfect happiness.
Pointlessness of life
Existentialists believe that absurdity explains existence
o "there's no reason to exist"
atheist
In a universe that is pointless, you make your own reason.
Independent wanting
people are not evil, not willingly (Socrates)
o if people knew what was good, they wouldn't commit evil
o People don't need punishment, they need education.
Intellect vs. whole person
some people want to behave like the intellect has the first and last
word
o but there are many other parts to a human, give you your
desires
intellect is your ego, or rational mind

Freud
Background on Sigmund Freud
- Was an atheist
- Trained in hard sciences- phsycoloy
- Loved Greek culture
- We are bound to be in conflict with ourselves.
Superego
- Voice of authority
- Wields a power of punishment
- Works by inflictvint pain upon person
o Through guilt or remorse
- Internalized form of punishment
Id
- Unconscious- the darker side
o Aggressive agency
- Busy wanting- we want pleasure (or absence of pain) (pleasure
principle)
o Power, security, sex
Dont undersestimate power of sex
Eros anything to do with sex/love
Ego
- Rational thinking and problem solving
Development of the ego from infancy
- The mother provides the sexual pleasres for young boy
- Young child is in love with his mtoehr
- Has desire to slay farther to get mom.
Oceanic feeling
- Religion is an oceanic feeling
- the sense of boundlessness and oneness felt between the ego and
the outside world. He states that this feeling is "a purely subjective
fact, not an article of faith."
Pleasure principle
- As humans we seek pleasure at all times
Reality principle
- Everyone is resisting our attempt at pleasure
Permanence of psychic structures
Analogy with city of Rome
- Rome has many ruins/old parts of the city

There are old parts that were even reconstructed from even older
part
- Structures early in our lives, continues with us, subconsciously
- "What is past in mental life may be preserved and is not necessarily
erased."
Purpose of human life
- purpose of human life is not redemption in an afterlife, but the
achievement of happiness.
-

Sources of unhappiness
- we experience unhappiness from the following three sources
- 1) our body
- 2) the external world
- 3) our relations to other men. We employ various strategies to avoid
displeasure: by isolating ourselves voluntarily, becoming members
of the human community (i.e. contributing to a common endeavor),
or influencing our own bodies. Intoxication is a particularly
prevalent method of influence.
Sublimationtransformed, elevated, more mild pleasure,
- We found a new more socially acceptable form of finding pleasure.
Inability to experience happiness consistently
- It is impossible to achieve this
- "Happiness is a problem of the economics of the individual's libido,"
How we cope with unhappiness
1) deflection of pain and disappointment (through planned distractions)
2) substitutive satisfactions (mainly through the replacement of reality by
art)
3) intoxicating substances. Freud concludes that religion cannot be clearly
categorized within this schema