[MD] Existence precedes essense

[david buchanan]

Ham, Marsha and y'all:

At 03:50 PM 6/22/2006, Ham wrote:
>
> >I would recommend that you all review the entire essay titled "Why Sartre
> >Matters" at http://www.philosophynow.org/backissues/issue53.htm, and
> >acquaint yourselves with the father of Existentialism.  I would very much
> >like to hear whether you feel that Sartre's position on the Individual
> >(i.e., conscious awareness) is compatible with the MoQ.
> >
> >Speaking for myself, relating Pirsig's thesis to Sartre's Existentialism
> >will help considerably in responding intelligently to Steve's statement.
> >I'm also giving some thought to putting the core issue of this discussion
> >under a new topic heading: Does existence precede essence?

Marsha replied:
>This essay twists like a knife.  I am interested to hear the
>comments.  But first I would like to know if I am understanding
>'existence precedes essence' correctly.  If I stated that 'experience
>precedes thought' or that 'an event precedes definition' would I be
>correctly paraphrasing?

dmb says:
Dr. Patricia Curd, my philosophy professor in college, had a sign on the 
door to her office that humorously and very briefly described the history of 
Philosophy. If memory serves, it went something like this,...

Plato: "To be is to do."
Sartre: "To do is to be."
Sinatra: "Do be do be do."

And if she's right, as she said in the first day's introductory lecture to 
her course on the topic, "existentialism is not a philosophy. Its a mood."

As I understand the MOQ, existentialism is basically one of the symptoms of 
a disease callled SOM. Or more generously, its part of an historical 
process; the transition from Christian civilzation to a scientific, secular 
society has generated a sense of meaninglessness, emptiness, uprootedness. 
Call it what you will. Existentialism is part of the grieving process, I 
guess. You know, since God died and all that.

For whatever its worth.

dmb

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