Bad faith

How do I know if I am acting in bad faith or now? This past week while we have been covering Jean Paul Satre I have been wondering a lot about whether or not I am acting in bad faith. My father and brother are coming this friday to New Orleans to visit me and I have been getting ready for their arrival but I think this might be acting in bad faith. I got a haircut because my father is in the military and wouldn't want to see his son with "hippy hair." I cleaned all the sand out of my jeep so that he would know that I am taking good care of it. I am not sure if I am doing all these things to make my father proud or instead am I actually trying to do this to make him think that I am a person that I actually not and in doing so denying my freedom. Also I wonder if acting in bad faith is even a bad thing because I don't feel as if any freedom has been taken away from me I just feel like I am doing the right thing.

Religious extremist are not religious

This week I watched a documentary about a Palestinian suicide bomber in Jerusalem who ended up killing another girl who was born on the exact same day and also looked nearly identical to her killer. While watching the documentary I kept thinking back to how Soren Kierkegaard would have said that extremists were not actually religious but were in fact ethical. A lot of what goes on in the nation formerly known as Palestine is done in the name of religion but doesn't seem religious at all. The supporters of the Israeli occupation expel Palestinians from their homes not because their religion is not tolerant but instead because they choose not to be.

The third argument in Phaedo

To me the most interesting argument in Phaedo was affinity. I didn't really completely get it the first time I read it but upon further review it makes a lot of sense actually. It argues that if the body is visible and material then the soul would be immaterial and invisible. All things visible and material are temporary and subject to change where is immaterial and invisible things are permanent such as ideas ways of thinking. I feel like this is pretty convincing to me because the knowledge of how to harness fire has lasted a lot longer in human history than the first fires that we harnessed have lasted. So the soul would be the knowledge that is immortal whereas the body would be the fire that is bound to be extinguished.

Philosophy is not me

I have not yet been convinced philosophy relates to me. I feel like Bertrand Russel couldn't have described me any better than by the "practical man." My life seems too hectic for me to spend hours pondering about life's greatest questions. There aren't enough hours in the day as it is! Because of this I'm forced to except things at face value just to get through the day. This leads me to the question of what is wrong with being a practical man? The reason water comes out of the faucet when we turn the knob and the lights turn on when we flip the switch is due to the labors of practical men. I think society is dependent on practicality and that is why is stresses it so much. I'm not saying there is no need for philosophy at all and I want to see it's importance I'm just saying that it isn't clear to me yet.