David Abram, Simone de Beauvoir, and Sartre - Essay Example

Lecturer Paper David Abram In his book published a decade ago, The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abraham, an ecologist and philosopher explains that for a long time in history, the sentiment relationship of human being and nature resulted into objective way of analyzing science and abstraction. He believes that environment catastrophe is undeniable. Abraham turns the readers to the primordial and traditional relationship between mankind and nature. He holds that the current human being perceives nature as independent of their existence, and therefore it is the root cause of environmental crisis. The book nostalgically, discusses the anal analysis of the romantic primitivism that existed during 1960s. Living his life as a magician among the Shamans of India and Indonesia, he spent his life studying the relationship of the locals with the natural world and the impact of the oral cultures on the living. During his study, he refused to interpret shamanic as dealing with the spirit world, super natural or personal psychology of the persons he intends to heal. He believed that spirits amongst people are modes of awareness and intelligence belonging to non-humans. He held that even that spirits of the dead people never inherit realm past physical and natural realm. Through decomposition, the bodies of the dead are reintegrated into the land. (Abram, 52) He argues that modern science is anchored on deterministic view of reality that can only be grasped through experimentation and mathematical analysis. Both the incorporeal and physical body was distinct, and was subjected as being unreal. He believes that science ignored the everyday experience of people. Getting a lot of influence from Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Edmund Husser, Abraham believed that phenomenology is the philosophy that challenges the scientific assumptions of everyday experience. The two philosopher’s state that the universe is not comprised of objects which are only gotten from subjectivity as put by scientists, but instead intertwined matrix of perceptions and sensations. Abraham goes ahead to state that once human beings accept their bodies, they perforce recognize that they are also animals. Despite the uniqueness in mankind its place is not above the animate world but instead in its midst. He also disagrees with the view that perception is the act of hearing, being aware or seeing something as perceived remains static, but instead its an interaction between one body and others or things, where there is a sympathetic or symbiosis relationship. He then discusses language which is rooted in the experience of senses. (Abram, 67) In a nutshell, Abram’s work presents a complex, detailed and good work that defines existence of humanity. It throws a spanner on the complacency of the perceived truths and replaces them with thoughts that if they are not understood, they will remain open questions. He refers to it as a turning inside out resulting to loosening of the psyche from the confinement of human sphere. Simone de Beauvoir In her study, Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir begins by presenting the characteristics of oppression, which includes; it removes the oppressed from community members believed to be in authority and can influence decisions and also aims towards the reduction of the oppressed to the status of an object. In his work, he believes that manipulation desire is one of the main ways through which oppression is exercised. Just like Sartre, she holds that the destruction of passion or desire will have a negative consequence for creation of life and having purpose in it. Beauvoir puts her focus on the existence of humanity and argues that we are as luminal creatures originating from different poles. She is worried of bad faith. Ethics of ambiguity is anchored on ontological framework of Sartre. She however separates desire to a close being from the mere wishes to posses. She believes that the projects of bad faith are intended to fleeing human freedom and human beings usually pursue it with the intention of mollifying anxiety and to avoid metaphysical risks. She looks at a child as perceiving the world as given with inherent values and adults with good as pure beings. "The domain open to his subjectivity seems insignificant and puerile in his own eyes" As they grow, they mature in their subjectivity and get acquainted with their freedom then the spirit of bad faith dawns as they trade freedom for security and running away from their responsibility. (Beauvoir, 35) She states that living our destiny is like living warmth and relates it to desire and love. It is a type of love associated with bestowing existence of humanity with value. She describes such desire as being directed by ends whose pleasure is sustainable. The desire slight and the pleasure of the same are presented in the recreation of ends and perpetual pursuit. She believes that this is what is grounding the pursuit for others freedom. To her, without freedom, the oppressed are denied opportunities for any transcendence. (Beauvoir, 67) She concludes by saying that the goods animating existence of humanity is the discovery of reasons for living, manufacturing of joy and ensuring that goals appear in the world. She proposes that a fire of success can be used to ignite passion among others, making us to exercise our authority to reject oppression. Sartre Sartre reiterates the fact that life always precedes essence and therefore human existence should come first in any discussion. He believed that human beings are delineated by their totality and the existence of material. According to him, the present individual is what someone has modeled himself to be from childhood and that there is no existence where humanity is deterministically and powerlessly governed. He says ‘all the limitations which a priori define mans fundamental situation in the universe’. (Howells, 47) He divides existentialism into atheistic e.g. Heidegger and Sartre and Christian’s existentialism like Marcel & jaspers. He holds that both groups believe in subjectivity and that there is the coherence between Christian and atheistic existentialists. He also held that nature of human morality is impacted by the dismissal of human nature and the existence of God. He also held that belief in both good and bad human beings is not enshrined in metaphysics. He is quoted saying "there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it. It is nowhere that ‘the good’ exists, that one must be honest or must not lie.’ (Howells, 43) According to Sartre, contingency which means that life is not necessary is the most important thing. He held that enplaning existence is a tall order and that contingency is a mere illusion, which is dissipated and obsolete and can result into gratuitousness. He also believed that bad faith and authenticity are integral part of the existentialism poles. He presents authenticity as an approach towards existence while bad faith is self deception, which affirms the faith of an individual and by extension is the denial of an individual’s faith. Sartre held that the evolution of morality is subjectivism perspective. Individuals can develop their moral norms which they are responsible of. As they are concerned with the outcome, human beings are always interested with the fine judgment. In conclusion, the argument presented by Sartre gives an overall perspective and subjective argument on morality. Despite the fact that his understanding is different, he believed that existentialism is part of humanism. His advocacy of humanism is not mirrored on humanity for the sake of human. He finalizes by stating that ‘Man is all the time outside of himself: it is in projecting and losing himself beyond himself that he makes man to exist’. (Howells, 31) Works Cited Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than- human World. New York: Pantheon, 1996. Print. Top of Form Bottom of Form Beauvoir, Simone De. The Ethics of Ambiguity Paris: Gallimard, 1999. Print. Top of Form Bottom of Form Howells, Christina. Sartre. London: Longman, 1995. Print. Read More