Sartre 2

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Collect HW

1. For Sartre, what is mean by Despair? (p. 29) 
(a) For Sartre, what is the roll of probabilities is determining our life plan? 
(b) What is Sartre's view of collaborative projects? (p. 30-31) Why does he take this position? Contrast this with Kierkegaard's view (I'll present it).
(c) Why doesn't his answer to (b) imply quietism? How is his doctrine "the very opposite of quietism"? 

2. (a) Why does Sartre think Existentialism horrifies some people? (p. 32)
(b) For the Existentialist, what makes someone a coward?
(c) Regarding (a), is he right? Support your answer.

3. Existentialism is charged with making it so "anything goes."  That is, there are no moral constraints on our choices. In response to this charge, Sartre offers analogy between making a piece of artwork and making a moral decision (p. 42)
(a) Explain the analogy.
(b) What does he mean when he says that there are no a priori values "but that there are values that appear subsequently in the coherence of the painting, in the correspondence between what the artist intended and the result"?
(c) Do you agree with his analogy? In what respects yes, in what respects no? Defend your position. 

4. Existentialism is accused of not being able to judge others' choices (p. 44).
(a) How does Sartre respond to this charge? 
(b) How does Sartre think he can make moral judgments?

5. For Sartre everything is a matter of human subjectivity. Texts, speeches, actions, events don't come with ready-made meaning. We choose their meaning. 
(a) Consider the story of the Jesuit. How might he have interpreted events differently?
(b) Some people turn to religious texts for guidance. What would Sartre say about this strategy in regards to subjectivity?


Biblical Interpretation Selected Quotes: "No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means." - George Bernard Shaw
Slavery
Exodus 21:20-21 – "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property." 

Ephesians 6:5 - "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." 

Deuteronomy 20:10-15 – When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. 

Matthew 5:17-19 – "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." 

Adultery
Leviticus 20:10 - 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Rape
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 - "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives."

Women
1 Timothy 2:11-12 – "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 – "If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity."

The Sabbath
Exodus 35:2 – " For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death."

Homosexuality
Leviticus 20:13 – "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

Prisoners of War
Isaiah 13:15-18 - "Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished. See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children."

Non-Believers
Deuteronomy 17:2-5 - "If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of the sky, and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death."

Leviticus 24:13-16 - "Then the LORD said to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death."


1. If Sartre is right about the themes in question 8, how do we make our first 'movement'.

(a) How do we decide which of the infinite directions we can take our lives, the millions of possible ways to 'be'?  If I'm a student, doctor, engineer, mother, etc... I have a framework from within which to make my choices (Sartre calls this an 'ethic'). However, how do I choose my ethic?