Primary and Secondary Reflection 2

Protocol 14 June
Author: Jaevie


Primary and Secondary Reflection 2

1. Primary Reflection dissolves

• Naturally dissolves the unity of the natural experience
• Abstraction
• Problem seeking solution(s)
• Ex. A mechanic wh[o] looks for the malfunctions of a vehicle

2. Secondary Reflection is essentially recuperative

• High instrument of philosophical research
• Deals with mystery
• Involved self
• Ex. Everyday events
• Life becomes more lived because of reflection; reflection becomes more real because of life

3. “Who Am I?”

• Self in the index cards
• The self that i recognize is an abstraction
• Bundle of experiences & attributes = my self
• Does this “self” exist? No.
• The answers to the questions of primary reflection refer to ourselves
• The self that has become an object
• Index card, passport

4. Subjectivity

• Objectum: something in front of you
• ob (L.) – in front of
• jectum (L.) – act of throwing
• Subjectivity
• sub (L.) – underneath
• Going back to enter the mystery of my subjectivity (my “real” self)
• We cannot fathom subjectivities

5. Discussion of the Quiz

“A human life has always its centre outside itself” –Marcel (par. 10, p. 82, Chpt. V, The Mystery of Being)

• “to live” in the biological sense is not the same as living a human life
• Values, desires, relationships = what makes a life
• The center outside oneself is SOMEBODY[/SOMETHING] ELSE
• Concrete example of Marcel
• MOTHERHOOD
• A mother can’t be herself if she has no children[DUH?]
• VICES
• vices/addictions and bad habits
• one considers oneself incomplete without the negative vice
• Meaning of their lives are one and the same (Mothers and Substance Abusers)
• Artists
• Not far from the pathos of the artists
• Thin line between creativity and insanity
• We aim to live life in a “philosophical way”
• Secondary reflection is not a negation of life but a transcendence
• Secondary reflection goes under the presupposed meaning of life to find our subjectivity

6. Questions

• “confession”
• Formulas
• All about going beyond
• An athlete wh[o] face[s] an accident
• There are many centers present in a human life
• Involves the question of who he is
• The accident may open a new center
• Brings about a new decision
• Opening of new possibilities or closing and opening of one center