Lecture 6 Flashcards
Which two individuals presented in class were pessimistic about the possibility for happiness?
Schopenhauer and Freud
Who is “the most pessimistic philosopher there is” according to Dr. Roy?
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Schopenhauer’s ideas start with the idea that _____ is inherent to the human mind
suffering
Rationalist thinkers will tend to argue that there is a(n) ______ for our suffering
reason
What did Spinoza think about the cause for our suffering?
- comes from the finite nature of our being
- we suffer bc we don’t understand enough
- if we were all-knowing like God we would understand and accept our finite condition
What did Descartes think about the cause for our suffering?
- comes from our passions
- reason must dominate our passions
What did Leibniz think about the cause for our suffering?
- our world is the best of all possible worlds that God could have created
- so basically it is impossible for us to suffer less but still exist as separate from God (?)
What did Hegel think about the cause for our suffering?
- suffering is necessary antithesis for attaining a new synthesis in a thesis-antithesis-synthesis cycle
- suffering is a necessary evil that allows us to attain a greater good
Who was Schopenhauer’s arch-enemy?
Hegel
What is the key takeaway from this Schopenhauer quote?
“The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other.”
- there is no amount of good that can counterbalance suffering
- animal doing the eating feels good but this does not wash out the suffering and pain of the one being eaten
Kant remains ____ about the noumena, but Schopenhauer wants to see if _____
agnostic; wants to see if we can say more about it!
According to Schopenhauer, if the phenomenal world can be described as vast quantities of matter in motion (in space and time), then by deduction the noumena, or ______, must be ___ and _____ (something like ______)
noumena, or ultimate reality
must be ONE and IMMATERIAL (no space and time)
something like ENERGY
According to Schopenhauer, what is the one physical object we can know in a radically different way?
- ourselves! (can know from within)
- still not direct knowledge of the noumena
Why is knowing ourselves still not direct knowledge of the noumena? (3)
- most of our inner life/motivation is unknown to us (unconscious)
- we feel our own self in time (characteristic of the phenomenal world!)
- for there to be knowledge there must be a subject and an object, this distinction can only exist in phenomenal world
Schopenhauer: when we initiate a movement, especially an effortful one, we feel a _______ or ______
below conscious drive or “Will” (similar to noumena)
Schopenhauer: underlying the phenomenal world, there is this _____ (the ___) striving for ______
pure energy (the Will) striving for existence
What value judgement about the Will does Schopenhauer make?
- it is “wicked” or evil
- it makes our suffering a collateral damage of existence
- we are just pure victims
Schopenhauer: we suffer because we are conscious of _____ and ____
the horror of the world and the finitude of our own being (we are born suffering and we die suffering)
Schopenhauer: humans are always striving to become ________. This concept is called ______ and also causes suffering!
something more than what they are
perfectibility
Schopenhauer: striving for perfectibility is driven by ____
the Will
Schopenhauer agrees with what biblical saying? Why?
- Happy are the single minded
- what causes our suffering is our consciousness )we are complex minded)
According to Schopenhauer, we can find a temporary way out of suffering through _____
art!!
- when we look at art we are not trying to fulfill a need or accomplish anything; not so worried ab our own selves
According to Schopenhauer, what should we do to avoid suffering?
- reject/deny the Will; attempt to attain nothingness
Freud was inspired by which philosopher presented in class?
Schopenhauer
Before the 16th century, what was the main strategy for treating mental disorders?
- informal support from family
In the 16th century, what was the main strategy for treating mental disorders?
- asylums as a means of social control, kinda like a prison
- goal wasn’t really to treat patients
What is exorcism? What was it used to treat in the past? How is it still relevant today?
- ritualistic practice that aims to expel evil spirits/demons from a person, place, or object
- was used to treat psychosis, mania, Tourette’s, epilepsy, and other psychiatric/neurological disorders
- still happens today in Catholic church!!
What is trepanation
- drilling hole in skull w belief it could alleviate symptoms or cure various psychological/neurological conditions
- often associated w belief that mental disorders were caused by evil spirits and opening the skull would allow them to escape
- performed since prehistoric times!!
- also used to treat headaches or skull injuries
Who was the Viennese physician famous for curing people with “magnetism”?
Franz Anton Mesmer!
What led to Mesmer discovering animal magnetism?
- realized he could treat patients with just his hands (didn’t need his magnets!) so his body must be a strong source of an internal force
Why did Mesmer flee Vienna for Paris?
- controversy bc he claimed to have cured a girl’s blindness but when she got home her parents were like um excuse me she’s still blind?!
What happened at Mesmer’s salons in Paris?
- invited fanciest French bourgoisie
- would all gather around barrels of magnetized fluid and hold the handles and experience all sorts of things (like fainting!)
What did Benjamin Franklin conclude about Mesmer’s magnetic fluid?
- there is no proof of its existence so it is not useful
What were Mesmer’s salons one of the first examples of?
The placebo effect!!!
Why did Mesmer leave France for Switzerland?What did he do there?
- Benjamin Franklin disproved his magnetic fluid
- used mesmerism/hypnosis for anesthesia!
William Battie’s 1758 book Treatise on Madness argued that mental disorders originated from ________
dysfunction of the material brain and body
**first time we see this idea!!