In this lecture we were taught about philosophical ideas that explore the consciousness and how people use this. Two philosophers who discuss this issue are Husserl and Heidegger I will review what I have been taught.
Husserl believes that consciousness is intentional, people observe things subjectively with an intentional outlook on whats happening. He believes that subconsciously we prioritse our knowledge depending on our intention, in a sort of structure. Husserl thinks that we ourselves only see what we want to see, objects are all in the mind so we consciously decide on what we want to know and prioritise these to see the importance.
Heidegger accepts Husserls theory of the consciousness and its structure of importance. However he rejects Descartes 'I think therefore I am' stating that there are ideas already, this doesn't mean you exist because you have them. He develops the idea of the structure in the consciousness believing there is a cobweb of decisions in our minds e.g. intentions, moods, ambiguity. These structures of decisions come from social interaction, he believes that for social beings your life is generally inauthentic because the people become a part of you and take away from your soul. Generally he believes that because of peoples interation with one another there decisions and souls are no longer their own because they have been influenced so much. Heidegger believes that the connection between the mind and the soul are not there, he believes once you die that is it.
He completely rejects the ideas of other philosophers such as Kant, Locke, Smith. Kant and the equality of people,'the categorical imperative', he rejects this completely as he believes that he knows that if people are taken away from social interaction and sense data they lose thereselves, experiments in isolation tanks have proven the disallusion of the individual.
He rejects Nietzsche calling him the 'last romantic'. The hermunetic philosophers who see meaning in text that isn't obvious, Heidegger doesn't understand, these are Marx the ideolist, Freud the subconscious and Nietzsche for morality.
Heidegger believes that existence is 'Dasein' a structure which enables people to cope with their lives. Heidegger is very interested in time as a structure of being. He believes that the past is too feel guilt, future is too feel dread having both of these means that people will feel sick and bored with their lives. Having neither past nor future means people are more authentic as they live for the future appreciating life. This is an existentialist view philosophy of life which is rather extreme.
In this lecture we also discussed Camus and his story- 'The Outsider', it is about a man called Meurssault who is a non-romantic existentialist hero. He seeks authenticity in his life refusing to be influenced by other people so if his dasein if not authentic is less inauthentic than others. He doesnt dread the future nor look at the past so as an existentialist he is the perfect role model.
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