HW #1: Response to "The Ethics of Absolute Freedom"

I mostly agree with Banach's definition of an absolute individual. This is because I also consider that being an absolute individual is being "alone" in the world. However this may vary depending on our points of view.

In this text, Banach discusses questions such as "what is human freedom?... What is human flourishing or human happiness? What general ethic or way of life emerges when we take our individualism seriously?... what ought we do?" These unanswerable questions open many possibilities that allow us to interpret the right way to live our lives.

Existing in this world might mean absolutely nothing. We are born into a world of ideals and we adopt them as our own as we become part of it. We learn that as individuals we must create a way of living happily. However it is often confusing of what to do in order to achieve this happiness.

Banach discusses that as individuals "we only feel our pains, our pleasures, our hopes, and ours fears immediately, subjectively, from the inside." I agree with this statement because indeed no one else can feel exactly what I am feeling subjectively. However I do not agree on what he says about how other people around us see us. "Other people only see us from the outside, objectively..." This is because I have experienced relating to other people and identifying myself with them based on what their description of their own emotions. To me this represents a connection with someone else, which might contradict Banach's original statement of being "alone" in this world. I think that objectively we are indeed alone. However being able to connect to somebody else and being able to see through another person allows yourself to see a reflection of yourself in somebody else.

An example of this would be my relationship with on my friends. We have known each other for nearly 4 years and we do not know much about each other's past. Just by being who we are now we are able to connect regardless of what we experienced in the past. I see myself in her sometimes and I feel that there is nothing I could say that she wouldn't understand. This is one example of why I think that we are not entirely alone and it is possible to find happiness in other individuals rather than obtaining it by ourselves.

Furthermore, society gives us definitions to describe our emotions. This automatically limit us to freely experience new emotions. Either because these could be categorized as wrong or because we are not supposed to feel them. We are only able to describe our feelings based on the society's definition of them. As well as physical sensation. We do not know exactly what it is to feel an object. But we do remember what it feels like and we can imagine that other person feels the same when they touch that one object. This is another example of connecting with somebody else.

Banach states that "Each of us is trapped within our own mind, unable to feel anything but our own feelings and experiences...unable to perceive or contact anything but the images of our mental TV screen" This could be interpreted as a realistic statement. And seen as such I do agree with him about us having an image of what the world is and only being able to experience part of it by ourselves. No one else can experience something for us. 0r feel something for us. But when two people have experienced similar things there could be relatedness between those two individuals. My main point is that, moments such as being "trapped in a dark room with no windows" can be experienced with someone else. Because other people are experiencing the same thing but in a different place. And that place was an imaginary division created by society itself that divides us from the rest of the people around us. Such as the example Mr. Manley used in his post. Being in a crowded place, such as the subway, does not mean that people is truly together as it is physically seen. But subjectively they are so divided from one another categorized as absolute individuals.

In conclusion, we are not free and most of us are actually aware of it. We do not feel free to do what we want or live the way we want to. We allow ourselves to be limited and we follow rules, values, or definition that form a civilized community. As living robots there is no way we can fully experience life. Our fears of failing or not being accepted into a society that does not even consider itself as a group to begin with is even greater than our desire of feeling the pleasure of actually being free.