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A be I PHRBN m

The Search

while at University.The first essay is the work of Freshman Gerrv Lee enrolled in the Dhilosoohy 101-?

course.It is honed that this and other naners will stimulate responses which could be published in the

next edition of the Cadre.

TTUE SEFJUGH FCH2.MEEU§ING§ BY GERRY LEE

. Since the beginning of

time man has sought to find meaning in his life. Unlike lower animals he is incapable of being without an ultimate and or lesser odeals to bel— ieve in. His search is summed up by the two questions, Who am I? What shall I become? In his search for mean- ing and ideals, every man must make choices. These choices can be dis- tingusihed into three main levels, starting with the most fundament— al one--the choice for or against being: Each of us must face up to whether we want to live, die, or live a life tend— ing towards nothingness. The last two choices con- stitute choices against being. To live a life tending towards nothing— ness means simply that one rejects all positive value orientations while continuing to exist. If one makes a choice for being one must move to the second level of choice involving commit- ment to one or more ideals. in order to satisfy one's search for meaning. Not to choose any odeal to bel- ieve in or goal to achieve is the same as choosing a life tending towards nothingness and denying any meaning to life. The choice of a way of life is constantly repeated in little everyday choices.. While it is easy enough to understand the position of one who chooses to be, understanding the person who chooses a life lead- ing towards nothingness is more difficult. It is hard to imagine a person who does not kill himself and yet chooses not to be. Fortunately, Fyydor Does- toevsky in his ggtgs_£rgm Underground manages to des— cribe such a man. ' The hero, or anti-hero of Notes from Underground is a.man who cuts himself off from_the world. This underground man chooses against rationality, good- ness progress. He has no goals, no morality, no

beliefs, is deliberately

.contradictory and arbit—

rary. The answer he would give to he questions Who am I? What shall I become? would be nothing. The Und- erground Man wants only independent choice.

In the creation of.Under- ground man Doestoevsky had a definite purpose in mind. He wanted to take men along the ways of wild— eat self will and revolt in order to show them that they lead to the extinct- ion of liberty and self— annihilation. This road of liberty can only end either in the deification of man or in the discovery of God's earthly image.

In this way Doestoevsky uses the examples of the Underground man as a warn- ing against the pursuit of freedom for its own sake.

As is obvious by now, the use of choice is vital in, the search for meaning. But if be genuine, a ch— oice must satisfy at least four conditions. For one thing, a choice must not be made blindly. The per- SOn who makes a choice has to be aware of what he is doing. The choice must not be pre-determined, that is, one must be free to do otherwise. Another condition is that it must come from the inner self, and not be externally im- posed by conditions. Fin- ally, the choice of a life—style cannot be ar— bitrary. One must have a goal in mind to choose for, and not just against. This is why the choice of the Underground Man is not a genuine choice. Only if all these conditions for genuine choice are met can one choose an authen- tic life-style.

Having defined the terms of genuine choice, let us look at some other aspects of man's search for mean- ing. Another choice that must be made is the choice to be moral as opposed to amoral. When one chooses to be, he must decide how he will treat himself and others in his environment. He must also tailor his behavior to the demands of his ideals, goals, and be-

liefs. To behave in a mor—\

al fashion, is to justify one's life by making his

-' for Meaning

conduct harmoniouswith the image he would like to be— come. In turn, the image of what he would like to be is based on what he considers to be the most important things in his life.

Having found meaing to existence or lack of it, and made the choices which have to be made, the result is-a personal lifestyle. Lifestyles vary a great deal. The following examples, of Camus and Hierkegaard. are variations of lifestyles based on existential be- liefs.

The lifestyles of Kier- kegaard combines a form of Christianity with essential philosophy. The world is absurd to Kierke- gaard, and only faith in God can see man through ity Reason and strictly rat- ional ethics restrict man too much, and they cannot

'help one find meaning in

this world. It is this view that forces Kierkega- ard to rely on faith as the basis of one's life. Thus for Kierkegaard ass- umes primacy over reason and humanly based moral- ity whenever there is con- flict between the two..To illustrate this, he used the example of Abraham and Isaac in the Bible. Abraham when called upon by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, suspends his reason and relies tot- ally on faith in God. Camus' position differs a good deal from Kierk- egaard's in that his life- style is guided by his atheistic existentialism While for Kierkegaard life appears absurd but retains a hidden meaning, Camus searches for an ul— timate meaning and finds there is none. Kierke- gaard relies almost com- pletely on faith as op— posed to a limiting rea= son: Camus sees that there is no God, and there is

vno room for faith. The ab-

surd hero of Camus'world, Sisyphus who is condemned to forever roll and rock up a mountain is amoral, he is concerned only with' living a life based on rebellion against the ab- surdity of his situation.

He wants to affirm him-.