Neuroexistentialism

Existentialism is a concern about the foundation of meaning, morals, and purpose. Existentialisms arise when some foundation for these elements of being is under assault. In the past, first-wave existentialism concerned the increasingly apparent inability of religion, and religious tradition, to provide such a foundation, as typified in the writings of Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche. Second-wave existentialism, personified philosophically by Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir, and in literature by Mann and Hesse, developed in response to the inability of the polity to serve as such a foundation. There is a third-wave existentialism, a new existentialism, developing in response to advances in the neurosciences that threaten the last vestiges of an immaterial soul or self. With the increasing explanatory and therapeutic power of neuroscience, the mind no longer stands apart from the world to serve as a foundation of meaning. This produces foundational anxiety. We suggest how the project of eudaimonics, finding meaning in the material world, might proceed to quell this anxiety. We conclude with this concern for naturalistic eudaimonics: there is some evidence that humans prefer positive, consoling illusions to truth.

關鍵字

Neuroexistentialism ； Eudaimonics ； Positive illusions

並列摘要

存在主義興起於意義、道德和目的這些固有價值的基礎遭受詰難之際。過去，第一波存在主義關注的是宗教力量及其傳統日漸無力保存這些基礎，指標性作家有祈克果、杜斯妥也夫斯基和尼采。第二波存在主義，哲學上有沙特、卡繆、西蒙波娃，文學有托馬斯．曼和赫曼．赫塞的著作，則針對政治體系之無力保障價值之基礎。新的存在主義，也就是第三波存在主義的崛起，是為了回應新進神經科學對一絲僅存的靈魂或自我不朽的概念所造成的威脅。隨著神經科學日益精進的闡釋與治癒效用，心靈已無法脫離物質世界而僅為意義的基礎存在，此一趨勢不免令人焦慮。然而，我們認為透過「幸福論」的模式，在物質世界中尋找意義，可有助於平息這股焦慮。藉此自然主義式幸福論，我們可以發現人類偏好正向舒緩的幻覺更勝於真理。