Chapter 9: Continental ethics

Authenticity, personal choice, freedom, meaning, and context rather than universal rules.

A philosophy emphasizing authentic existence, rejecting predetermined roles, and advocating self-created meaning. Existentialism means: “Life doesn’t come with instructions — you create the meaning yourself.”

A life focused on pleasure and desire; exemplified by Don Juan; ultimately leads to despair.

Living by rules and universal morality; exemplified by Socrates; moves beyond pure pleasure-seeking.

Faith overriding ethical rules; exemplified by Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac; authentic encounter with God.

Acting according to one’s true self, not conforming to social masks, roles, or expectations.

Nietzsche’s ideal “superman” who creates his own values and overcomes herd morality.

Moral resentment of the weak toward the strong, used to suppress creative power (Nietzsche).

Slave morality: herd, reactive, suppressive, rule-based. Master morality: creative, strong, self-defining, beyond good and evil.

Tracing the origins of moral concepts to reveal power dynamics and cultural manipulation.

Truth is a linguistic construct; there are no objective moral universals.

Humans are born without predetermined nature and create themselves through choices.

Denying freedom by adopting a false identity or conforming to external expectations.

Morality must be self-created; humans are responsible for defining values and meaning.

Essentialism is the idea that we all have a basic nature that applies to people universally. Existentialists reject it because humans define their own nature through choices.

Christianity = authentic encounter with God; Christendom = rule-following, institutionalized religion.

Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Martin Buber, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

It suppresses individual freedom and creativity, often reflecting cultural or herd biases.

Acting against conventional morality for a higher purpose or faith, like Abraham offering Isaac.

The nineteenth-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote a short story titled “The King and the Maiden” that expresses an important feature in existentialist ethics: authentic action.