The Between Science And Metaphysical Frameworks - 1568 Words

Many have often pondered the question â€Å"what is the meaning of life?† and still many more have established the belief that the answer to that question is to serve a higher power who admonishes our moral and ethical duties. The concern about a divine framework and the so-called â€Å"grand scheme† within it, is a fruitless tree of thought, made important only by those who seek to instill false hope and ultimately stoke the fires of fear through their pontification. It is a metaphysical rocking chair that lulls to sleep the individual s self-awareness and reason, as well as the individual s moral and ethical responsibility for the entirety of the human condition. A much more authentic question that the individual can ask themselves†¦show more content†¦Existentialism claims only that human beings cannot be fully understood in terms of the sciences. Nor can such an understanding be gained by supplementing our scientific picture with a purely moral one. Categor ies of moral theory such as intention, blame, responsibility, character, duty, virtue, and the like very much so capture important themes of the human condition, but neither moral thinking (the norm of goodness and virtue) nor scientific thinking (the norm of objective truth) suffices. Existentialism therefore may be defined as the philosophical theory which holds that a further set of categorical thinking, governed by the norm of â€Å"authenticity†, is necessary to grasp human existence. The existentialist mantra, famously stated by Jean-Paul Sartre in his 1946 lecture, is that â€Å"existence precedes essence.† The individual is a being that exists before they are defined by any essence, that is to say, the components that make up the individual s self. The Christians call this the soul. It is the individual s actions and will alone that define their essence. We must strive to become the individual we know we are supposed to be, which is our self-defined existence, and avoid becoming the individual defined by what roles we take on such as work or family duties, which becomes our self-imposed essence. The individual must not allow anything considered transcendental nor rooted in the