A story about "Definition of Existentialism (audio cassette)" — 3 years ago
Lectures Notes
from 1972, California State University, Dr. Peter Koestenbaum
This lecture was a little idiotic. Gave names with little to no description. Bold, and seemingly incorrect (or at least very arguable and poorly supported) assertions. A fraud promoting his book in front of a mediocre intro class. Also, the tape kept screwing up, and I abandoned the third section of the lecture sans regret. Marginal thanks for the names and categories, will provide some help for furture study.
Woody Allen’s “Private I on the lookout for the supreme being at the morgue”
“Man’s projects is God” —Sartre
aversion to systematic thought/ logic, as counter to man’s nature
Philosophy today is located in Existentialism, history of thought culminates here
Meetings of Eastern and Western philosophy, yoga + phenomenology.
inwardness, subjectivity, consciousness—transcendental philosophy
Scientific character (?) of phenomenology (calls this the method of the existentialists)—science applied to the study of man, study inwardness without distortion or appearance as a physical object or external thing, yet still scientific
Thus, bridge culture gap between scientific and poetic ways
Way to amend “nefarious materialism” and “creeping mechanization”- ecology vs. technology… and all that brave new world, clockwork orange stuff- this side sees freedom as useless, danger is that we philosophically destory ourselves “use our inwardness to prove we don’t exist”
Two kinds of alienation—(note Dr. K’s 2 kinds of isolation)
without identity—My Fair Lady
without support or a home/ no ground—Fiddler on the Roof
The Key Figures: divided into 4 groups:
1) Precursors: Kierkegaard (religious dimension), Nietzsche (humanistic dimension), Brentano and Husserl (Epistemological/ Theoretical)
2) Principal Thinkers: Heidgegger, Sartre, Jaspers, Marcel
3) Theologians: Tillich (Protestant), Bultmann (essence w/o myth), Maritain (Catholic), Buber (Jewish), Berdyaev (Eastern Orthodox)
4) Psychologists: Binswanger (student of Freud), Boss, Merleau-Ponty, Rollo May
Overview of Existential Philosophy:
1) Methodolgy—how to proceed, and where we’re going, this method is phenomenology
a) demands distance from the object/ subject of search, disengagement—called epoche
b) awareness/ neutralization of presuppositions to point that new lifestyle may be achieved
c) develop sensitive descriptions of perceptions (is this qualitative research?), note missing data… uh, taste music, not just for poets…
2) Ontology—application of method of phenom. to structure of consciousness, metaphysical/ nature of reality issues/ worldview implications of existentialism. Consciousness oft rejected for study elsewhere.
a) field theory- not a body or a soul, but continuous body-consciousness-world field, between ego and world, this is intentionality, one with others, what effects it affects me, I am continuous
b) distinction between empirical and transcendental ego, pure consciousness w/ social roles, physical body, and personality
c) responsibility, or constitution- created and responsible for organization of my world, my social reality and lifestyle, not fate and luck by my own efforts and decisions… the field-like view will revolutionize how we act, our systems (weird how the first and last ontological points are contradictory…)
3) Anthropology—theory of man, how it feels for us to exist in our world
4) Applications—influences
a) literature
b) religion
c) psychotherapy
Existential Theory of Man, characteristics of existentially aware man.









