By Jeremy Logrono & Jason Chang

Does the beliefs of existentialists moral?

Existentialists – a philosopher who emphasizes freedom of choice and personal responsibility, without outside influences

Belief – a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing

Morals – Perception of what is right or wrong according to society

Definitions

List of existentialist beliefsExistentialists reject reason.

No outside forces governing their lives, individuals must take responsibility for their own actions.

Human beings must define their own nature.

God’s existence is a barrier for human freedom and responsibility

Existentialists belief 1: God’s existence is a barrier for human freedom and responsibility

Morality of this belief: -free to act independently(freedom of choices)

-They value “human existence” without outside influences (God)

Morality of existentialists belief

Immorality of existentialists beliefExistentialists belief 1: God’s existence is a

barrier for human freedom and responsibility

Immorality of this belief: moral responsibility has been traditionally linked with God as the ultimate basis of values

Morality of existentialists beliefExistentialists belief 2: No outside forces

governing their lives, they are responsible for their actions and their consequences

-Morality of this belief: This is moral since they are responsible for their own actions:

-without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions.

Immorality of existentialists beliefExistentialists belief 2: No outside forces

governing their lives, they are responsible for their actions and their consequences

-Immorality of this belief: Ignores absolute moral standards based on society

This Ignores: -Government laws and rules -Religion and traditions -against other’s moral decisions

Existentialists Moral beliefs example: Religion barrier(moral) vs. Own responsibilty(moral)

The % of people who saidThat they believe in God

Index score of corruption within a countryHigher score = less corruption(immoral acts)

Existentialists Immoral beliefs example: Religion barrier(immoral) vs. Own responsibilty(immoral)

Existentialist Murder?

In a crude wooden hut 20 miles from Paris, agents of the Paris police studied a fantastic corpse. It was the bloated body of a white man, but it had turned a ghastly, gleaming black. On each side of the torso, from rib to groin, the flesh had apparently been burned by a powerful chemical.

The police knew who the dead man was, and who owned the hut. Both were Existentialists—followers of the morbid postwar philosophy which holds that man is nothing but the sum of his experience and that all experience is inexplicable and tragic (TIME, Jan. 28). Was this an Existentialist murder? The police asked that question of the hut's owner. "An interesting problem," he answered tranquilly.

Living by Larceny. The dead man was François Vintenon, a habitué of Paris' Latin Quarter. The sensitive, introverted son of a well-to-do merchant, François had joined a group of Left Bank surrealists. He was tall and thin; his friends said he had the face of a "wicked angel." He wrote poems which nobody understood. He lived by stealing.

In the hut there was also an abstract painting by Lormeau, on the back of which was a remarkable gouache: a black face with bulging white eyes. It looked exactly like the head of the corpse.

Murderer was not found, the suspects were all existentialists.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,803917-2,00.html#ixzz0Y9If1ePU

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,803917-1,00.html#ixzz0Y6HNlcNV

Mersault – Overall, as an existentialist, is his actions based on his beliefs moral or immoral?

Discussion:

Discussion:The prosecutor stated that Mersault doesn't

have any moral principles and that he didn’t have a soul.

- Do you agree?/disagree?

Discussion: