Existentialism.

This is the term applied to a school of philosophers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Despite the fact they all have different writings, they all share the view that philosophy should start with a human subject.

Unlike Decartes, and his theory of 'I think therefore I am' in order to prove existence, Existentialists believe that mere thinking cannot prove existence. Actually doing things, having emotions and producing actions are the way to test existence. They believe we can choose how/what to think.

This image shows both a rabbit and a duck. We can choose to see either the rabbit or duck but cannot see both at the same time. This helps prove existentialist theories.
Existentialists claim that as children we are all born with an 'Existentialist Attitude' where we experience a series of emotions including confusion and disorientation. This proves our existence, simply because we can feel these emotions. This marks the 'starting point' in life. Most Existentialists claim that previous philosophical theories are too abstract to be applied to human experience. Existentialism became popular during the post-war period as individuality was trying to be re-injected into society.

Kirkegaard is considered to be the father of Existentialism.

Kirkegaard believed that each individual was responsible for their own actions and how they lived their lives, they had the option to choose what their meaning of life was for them. He explained that during life, we are all faced with 'Existentialist Obstacles' and it is our choice how we overcome them. These obstacles are despair, anxiety, absurdity, boredom and alienation. He was a huge believer of Individualism.

 Fredrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche agreed with Kirkegaard and focused his work on human experience rather than mathematics and science. He claimed that these natural sciences are too observational to measure human experience. He was interested in the roll of making free choices and how that changes the nature of individuality. 

Nietzsche had created a character called 'Ubermensch'. This was meant to represent an idolized individual. An individual who created his own values and decided when and how he excelled them.  

Kafka

Kafka wrote a novel called 'The Trial'. In this an individual was sent to court for a crime they were not aware they did, they had no recollection of doing anything wrong. In the courtroom and outside, no one would tell him what crime he had committed. As a result, he drifted away from his family and friends and became alone. He experienced feelings of confusion. This is said to be 'Existentialist Attitude'. Kafka wanted to show how individuals can choose to overcome this. 

The key defining point of Existentialism is that existence comes before anything else. What we learn comes next. Even though an individual exists, nothing exists that marks their character. The individual chooses who their character is. Existentialists describe the feeling of abandonment that people feel when they realise they make this decision on their own and that there are no set values within society that we should follow. 

Heidegger 

Published 'Being and Time' which was another way of explaining human existence. He claimed that we shouldn't consider natural sciences as they absolute truth much like Nietzsche. He claimed that we if start considering sciences as the truth, then this will diminish our confidence in our own intellect. 

Husserl

Husserl believed that the meaning of life is subjective. He agreed with Kirkegaard that as humans we have the option to choose who we want to be and what values we follow. He was very much a believer of individualism. He disagreed with Moore's Utopia. 

Keynes & Economics

The General Theory of Employment, Money and Interest, written by John Keynes has been considered to be one of the most dangerous books of the eighteenth century.

Keynes was a British economist, he perfected the theory of Macro-Economics.  This is all about government expenditure. His writing on this matter, had a huge influence on modern government. He also refined earlier work that focused on business cycles and expenditure within the 'Private Sector.' He wrote at the time of The Great Depression, meaning unemployment rates were high as well as economic downfall.

Keynes created two methods to try and get the country out of the depression, he realised this would not happen completely as like Marx, he believed in the social class structure but he felt as though his methods would help the economic situation of the time. The movements were:

• Friscal - Government expenditure and involvement.

• Monetary - Bank and Private Sector's involvement. 

His ideas are the basis of economic thought which is now used today and known as the Keynesian School of Thought. Keynes believed that the government should have more involvement and control over spending and less control should be given to private businesses. Investment from the government into the economy would boost spending, creating more jobs and reducing unemployment levels. At the time of writing, Keynes felt that the government was producing below the potential growth rate. 

Keynes also mentions Ricardo's Theory of Value in his work. This basically questions the value of objects and we can actually measure this. He uses a Biro vs a piano. The piano costs £5000 and the Biro pen costs £1. How do we actually determine that the piano should cost £5000?

At the time that Keynes was writing, Keynes work was unthinkable. He said he wanted to try and make the unthinkable thinkable.

Totalitarianism/1984

Totalitarianism is a political system that seeks dictatorship . A successful totalitarian regime's perfect result would be world domination.

Nazism and Stalinism are two examples of previous successful totalitarian regimes. Terror is an infamous method of gaining power under these regimes. Forms of terror can vary from speeches right through to genocide.

Totalitarianism is a fictional ideology, or in other words, it it completely original and not based on a prior political system. It tries to eliminate individuality from human kind to leave a 'mass' of people all sharing the same thoughts. Fear is also key. Machiavellian theorists would argue that this a good regime to a certain extent.
However, as Machiavelli once said 'Be feared, but never hated.' There is a huge chance that a totalitarian dictator will be hated, Hitler for example, was hated by the Jewish community.

An example of propaganda used by the Nazi Party to eliminate individuality is shown below.  Hitler wanted to create a superior race known as the 'Aryan Race' leaving people with 'pure German blood.'

George Orwell wrote a book called '1984'. This demonstrated how a totalitarian regime can emerge and be successful. It was set in the future, 2050. Winston Smith was the main character.

The leader of Big Brother Party created a new language called 'Newspeak.' This banned anyone was speaking in a negative way about the Big Brother Party and in turn prevented any rebellious groups from forming. Smith was against the regime but due to the laws, he had to write his thoughts down in the form of a diary rather than saying them aloud. This highlights how successful this kind of terror can be in a totalitarian regime can be. People became scared to be against the Big Brother Party, this is similar to the way the Nazi Party frightened the German people.

'Thoughtcrime' became part of society. Smith believed in the formation of 'Brotherhood.' A group of people who all shared the same ideas as him, however, he was lured into a trap and the ever watching Big Brother Party made him think this Brotherhood party existed. He was then captured and tortured with rats until his spirit had been broken. He was then forced to believe in the regime set by the Big Brother Party.

The book highlights how successful a totalitarian regime can be once they have gained power and have used terror against the population.

Sigmund Freud

Freud was an Austrian Philosopher who always expressed an interest in psychology of the human mind.

He is famous for his work on Psycho-Analysis and his theory of Psycho-sexual Development.
He developed theories behind the existence of the unconscious mind. Freud believed that our unconscious mind was responsible for the decisions we make in day to day life. Freud was also interested in the mechanisms behind repression. He created three 'personalities' that he felt our minds were split into. They were:

• The ID - This part of our mind, we are completely unconscious of. It is a 'child-like' state and seeks immediate gratification and pleasure. 

• The Ego - This part of our mind tries to create balance between the impulsive, impatient nature of the ID and the impractical  morals of the Super Ego.

• The Super Ego - This is responsible for our morals and what we consider to be the right decision to make in certain situations. 

As well as this, Freud created the well know 'Oedipus Complex'. In this, Freud explained that every child is born with this desire for incest, but we are forced to repress this into our unconscious mind. For boys, they are born with a constant love for their mother and a desire to kill their father. This eventually subsides during the five Psycho sexual Stages of development. 

• Stage One - The Oral Stage - At this stage, children are pleasured by their mouths. E.g, breastfeeding and putting objects into their mouths to learn what objects are. 

• Stage Two - The Anal Stage - Children are pleasured by the need to empty their bowels. 

• Stage Three - The Phallic Stage - Children become aware of their genitalia. 

• Stage Four - The Latency Stage - This relates to the Oedipus Complex. Children realise that their sexual desire for their parent cannot be pursued so they seek love in another individual of the same gender as their parent.   

• Stage Five - The Genital Stage - This stage occurs just before the child hits puberty. They begin to realise they have sexual urges. 

An Iceberg model has been created to show how Freud thought the three 'personalties' in our minds were shown. 

Freud also discussed dreams. He said that having dreams fulfilled our wishes and desires. Without dreams, Freud claimed we would always be awake.  He published his work on dreams in 1899.