Last Day

So, its the last day of class, and it got canceled. Thad said to write about how class would have been if there had been a class. I am not totally sure what to talk about. This right here is a sincere struggle with the course material. Imagine having a course, where everyday seemed like a new experience where you would take in new ideas about your existence. Coming up with a make believe day feels like terrible; it’s almost like a lie about gaining new knowledge. I’m not bouncing off my ideas with other students gaining knowledge. At the same time though it makes for an interesting idea for a class. Maybe we should have done this half way through the semester. Not take new material and read it as if class did happen, but based on what we have heard so far; create your own idea of how class would have been if we had one. 

I know this rambling sounds like gibberish, but I am actually curious with this idea. Imagine that you have friend that is going to tell you something completely new that changes your idea about the world, but you never hear what that friend has to say. Doesn’t that make you curious? Everything that you have ever done has led up to where you are right now. Imagine that and how maybe having class on Wednesday of this week could have impacted you. Sartre’s idea of our ideas have consequences that affect other people. The major changes in our life don’t usually last a long time. 

When I was younger my dad had some chores for me to do, and I was tired that day and said something like, “Yeah well what if I don’t do them”. My father said in such a sincere voice, “Well… I guess, I would have to do them”. After a split second of reflecting, I immediately got up and did the chores that day. I was happy to do them after that because my father was willing to do them for me because he knew that I was having a tough day. That simple conversation that shaped a fond memory of my father only last like 20 seconds. 

Group 25 - Last Group

Group 25 presented on what is Existentialism. My answer is simply what Thad was trying to make us do every reading assignment; a sincere struggle with the course content. Existentialism is struggling with the ideas of human consciousness. The struggle is what makes it philosophy. It’s a struggle because there is no object answer in sight. There might be an object answer to all the questions, but we as of right now don’t know.

I feel like Existentialism is different for each different person depending on what a person believes which makes it a unique class to study. If you go into Existentialism with the thoughts and ideas of what it means already firmly established, you are not going to be engaging in philosophical study. I believe that is why Thad had the class teach every class. Some students probably thought that Thad was lazy, and that might be true, but I believe that learning about philosophy from a person who isn’t well established with the ideas is better. The students who are teaching are struggling with the exact same material as the students who are listening. 

Group 25 presentation seemed to be focused on Sartre’s view of life. The words and ideas used felt like only a part of what existentialism truly means. A few times during the presentation I felt like arguing, but someone else brought up the topic first. Group 25 said, “ You are responsible for ever choice..” This is definitely Sartre’s view on freedom and responsibility, but other Existential authors would argue that it is not the case. While I agree with Sartre as it makes logical sense to me, this is a philosophy course; meaning that this is just theory.

This was the first group not to prepare a skit. The group instead had one person who wrote like a five to six page comic that covered the various authors that we learned over the year. The comic was amazing and had the whole class laughing, but I would have like to have seen a group effort in front of the class. Thad ended class saying that there would be no class on Wednesday, and had a funny video show casing various comedians and tying in varies Existential ideas. The last part was basically from Sartre; Existential is a joke, but it’s a joke that we all believe in.