I picked up a book, An Introduction to Existentialism at the used book store down the street (best $3.98 I ever spent). I’m really impressed with it so far. I read a few chapters in the airport and on the plane ride back, and kept thinking, “Man, I need to blog about this.” By the time we landed, there were too many of those thoughts to blog about, so I had to settle on just one.

Long-time readers and friends probably know about my disdain for Idealist philosophy. That same conviction is actually the binding force of Existentialism—rather than a comprehensive system, it is a reaction against another system of irresponsible optimism.

Idealism gave birth to the concept of Utopianism. Those who knew me in college know how much I was into books like 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451—books that were literary reactions against Utopianism. That was actually a precursor to my Existential tendencies. I just didn’t see utopia as the answer to man’s problems. I didn’t see it as a very realistic or even desirable goal.

This quote, taken from Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, sums up pretty neatly why I fall into this camp:

You see, you gentlemen have, to the best of my knowledge, taken your whole register of human advantages from the average statistical figures and politico-economical formulas. Your advantages are prosperity, wealth, freedom, peace—and so on, and so on. So that the man that should, for instance, go openly and knowingly in opposition to all that list would … be an obscurantist or an absolute madman. … But, you know, that is what is surprising; why does it so happen that all these statisticians, sages and lovers of humanity, when they reckon up human advantages invariably leave one out?

…

The fact is, gentlemen, it seems there must really exist something that is dearer to almost every man than his greatest advantages, or (not to be illogical) there is a most advantageous advantage (the very one omitted of which we spoke just now) which is more important and more advantageous than all other advantages. … This advantage is remarkable from the very fact that it breaks down all our classifications and continually shatters every system constructed by lovers of mankind for the benefit of mankind.

…

One’s own free unfettered choice, one’s own caprice, however wild it may be, one’s own fancy worked up at times to a frenzy—is that very “most advantageous advantage” which we have overlooked, which comes under no classification and against which all systems and theories are continually being shattered to atoms. … What man wants is simply independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it may lead. And choice, of course, the devil only knows what choice.

The power and sheer unpredictability of human choice and free will is what will always prevent utopia. Not because I don’t trust mankind to make the right and noble decisions, but because I think that, deprived of our choice, we will be much worse off than we are now.

This is also what I consider to be the main reason why the Christian God allows things like war and genocide. Without complete freedom of choice, even the choice to make abhorrent decisions, the love and devotion of mankind means nothing to an omnipotent God. (For those who don’t know, Existentialism was originally a Christian philosophy. Read up on Soren Kierkegaard for more information on that side of it.)

I guess I’m a cynic in that I believe that pain and suffering are going to be an ever-present reality while we’re all alive. Would I want to take that away, given a fair chance? Absolutely. Do I think we can do it without sacrificing the greatest parts of ourselves? Not really. Here’s another quote, by Unanamo:

“Which would you find more appalling: to feel such a pain as would deprive you of your faculties on being pierced through with a white-hot iron, or to see yourself thus pierced through without feeling anything?”

This does nothing to my desire to help people, on both a macro and a micro level, and I would hope that it does not detract from any inclinations you may have to do so. But, as even Jesus said, the poor will always be with us.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Books, Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.