I had a coworker that had 5 pairs of the same pants and shirt (black jeans and black t-shirt) because of what he called "decision fatigue". Very thought provoking to think of how I'm offloading responsibilities in my own life in ways I view as less healthy
Hi, Thanks for the video :) The algorithm served me up your video and the catchy title caught my eye as I've been re-visiting this concept recently. One angle I'd like to bring into discussion (which my mind kept thinking about as listening to your video) is that, whilst I equally enjoy the philosophy of Satre (existentialism in general) with its unapolagetic stance on the fact we are the captains of our ship ... it seems a little one sided now that I re-visit it. I remember reading Satre and other existentialists in my early 20s and it really captivated me, even liberated me - to some extent. However, it feels like its a very individualistic analysis / response to the problem of totalising freedom, or as Fromm puts it in his "the art of loving"; the fundamental human problem is one of seperateness. Whilst true that we are "free" to choose within our given contexts of life, we as individuals, don't live in a vacuum. We are social creatures that are influenced by others, not to mention various power structures that prevent self autonomy, that prevent people from feeling empowered, supported, cared for. The point being is that things like the dominant socio-economic ideology will play a significant, if not a dominant role, in shaping our context in which we then have to grapple with the concept of "freedom" within. That is to say, we shouldn't over-emphasise that there is a "natural tendency" in humans to submit to authority, etc. For example, our conception & relationship to work is inherintly alienating under Capitalism, but it not need be so (we'll bracket that for another discussion). Our cities, the values preached by mainstream culture, the ever increasing inequality, etc. All of these reduce the space of positive flourishing. So, whilst true, that you can argue that in any given context, however dire & depressing, *you* technically can choose to act authentically, this analysis doesn't take into account the context in which the challange is put up in. I recently finished reading Erich Fromm's "Escape from freedom", if you've not read, i'd recommend. Gives this topic a psychological / sociological lens. Fromm argues similarly that people try to escape freedom in 3 different ways (self-destruction, conformity, submission to authority) but situates this discussion in the given context of Capitalism and its historical relationship to freedom. Lastly, and sorry for this very zig-zagging stream-of-consciousness ramble, but it also made me think (related to what i mentioned above), that the idea of 'power', i.e. the degree of one's ability to self-actualise, etc. is equally relavent in this discussion. In short, existentialism is great at liberating us to some extent, but we need to go further and expand that from an individualistic analysis/response to a collective one. To ask the question of how can we collectively strive for a world where more and more people are empowered, nurtured to become more confident & supported to exercise their authentic freedom. Thanks and have a nice day ✌️
Thank you for this well thought out reply. I hope to reply here with an equally thoughtful response. 10 minutes is not long enough to give a full, comprehensive view on a topic. Especially this one. So I tend to pick one and explore it without getting side-tracked too much. Because, if I had the time, your idea of not existing in a vacuum would be the next step. Because ironically, given the title of the video and the subject I covered, I'm convinced that we in fact do not have free will. Satre's idea of existential freedom confirms that we do have agency (the ability to choose) but because we do not live in a vacuum, I would propose that there is not a single choice we make that was not influenced by a myriad of other factors. Our will is not free. I know this is quite paradoxical. But Satre's idea of outsourcing our agency to other organizations and people and social roles supports the idea that we are, in fact, not free. But as we learn to bring our agency back (maybe along the lines of what you said with self-actualization) we can expand our capacity as an agent in this world. BUT just because we expand our agency does not mean we have free will. We will forever be limited by our circumstance, biology, biases, etc. I hope that made sense. I'm still working through this in my head but your comment forced me to try and write it out. A very rough first draft.
Keep them coming, bro 🫱🏽🫲🏼
I had a coworker that had 5 pairs of the same pants and shirt (black jeans and black t-shirt) because of what he called "decision fatigue". Very thought provoking to think of how I'm offloading responsibilities in my own life in ways I view as less healthy
@@ethanstuart5343 we all do something to ease the burden of all the choices!
Hi,
Thanks for the video :)
The algorithm served me up your video and the catchy title caught my eye as I've been re-visiting this concept recently.
One angle I'd like to bring into discussion (which my mind kept thinking about as listening to your video) is that, whilst I equally enjoy the philosophy of Satre (existentialism in general) with its unapolagetic stance on the fact we are the captains of our ship ... it seems a little one sided now that I re-visit it.
I remember reading Satre and other existentialists in my early 20s and it really captivated me, even liberated me - to some extent.
However, it feels like its a very individualistic analysis / response to the problem of totalising freedom, or as Fromm puts it in his "the art of loving"; the fundamental human problem is one of seperateness.
Whilst true that we are "free" to choose within our given contexts of life, we as individuals, don't live in a vacuum.
We are social creatures that are influenced by others, not to mention various power structures that prevent self autonomy, that prevent people from feeling empowered, supported, cared for.
The point being is that things like the dominant socio-economic ideology will play a significant, if not a dominant role, in shaping our context in which we then have to grapple with the concept of "freedom" within. That is to say, we shouldn't over-emphasise that there is a "natural tendency" in humans to submit to authority, etc. For example, our conception & relationship to work is inherintly alienating under Capitalism, but it not need be so (we'll bracket that for another discussion). Our cities, the values preached by mainstream culture, the ever increasing inequality, etc. All of these reduce the space of positive flourishing.
So, whilst true, that you can argue that in any given context, however dire & depressing, *you* technically can choose to act authentically, this analysis doesn't take into account the context in which the challange is put up in.
I recently finished reading Erich Fromm's "Escape from freedom", if you've not read, i'd recommend. Gives this topic a psychological / sociological lens. Fromm argues similarly that people try to escape freedom in 3 different ways (self-destruction, conformity, submission to authority) but situates this discussion in the given context of Capitalism and its historical relationship to freedom.
Lastly, and sorry for this very zig-zagging stream-of-consciousness ramble, but it also made me think (related to what i mentioned above), that the idea of 'power', i.e. the degree of one's ability to self-actualise, etc. is equally relavent in this discussion.
In short, existentialism is great at liberating us to some extent, but we need to go further and expand that from an individualistic analysis/response to a collective one. To ask the question of how can we collectively strive for a world where more and more people are empowered, nurtured to become more confident & supported to exercise their authentic freedom.
Thanks and have a nice day ✌️
Thank you for this well thought out reply. I hope to reply here with an equally thoughtful response.
10 minutes is not long enough to give a full, comprehensive view on a topic. Especially this one. So I tend to pick one and explore it without getting side-tracked too much. Because, if I had the time, your idea of not existing in a vacuum would be the next step. Because ironically, given the title of the video and the subject I covered, I'm convinced that we in fact do not have free will. Satre's idea of existential freedom confirms that we do have agency (the ability to choose) but because we do not live in a vacuum, I would propose that there is not a single choice we make that was not influenced by a myriad of other factors. Our will is not free. I know this is quite paradoxical. But Satre's idea of outsourcing our agency to other organizations and people and social roles supports the idea that we are, in fact, not free. But as we learn to bring our agency back (maybe along the lines of what you said with self-actualization) we can expand our capacity as an agent in this world. BUT just because we expand our agency does not mean we have free will. We will forever be limited by our circumstance, biology, biases, etc.
I hope that made sense. I'm still working through this in my head but your comment forced me to try and write it out. A very rough first draft.