Existential Utilitarian Seeks Hedonistic Kantian. Good Times.

For some reason - maybe it was the teen angst - I was profoundly affected by my introduction to existentialism in 12th Grade English... along with my circle of pals. We were reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, and our teacher gave us a nice thumbnail sketch of the notion of defining existence for oneself and the sense of isolation from others. We used to wander around, all fall of that year, muttering "terribly, terribly existential" to the point that it made it into the yearbook.

It was jokey... but in retrospect, it did mean a lot; and via Melissa at Shakes, I got a reminder of just how much: the "what philosophy are you" quiz that confirmed, yes, I am still terribly, terribly existential. And Utilitarian. With a dash of Kant for good measure. :)

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)

You scored as a Existentialism Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”
--Jean-Paul Sartre

“It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”
--Blaise Pascal

More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Existentialism 85%

Utilitarianism 80%

Hedonism 70%

Nihilism 65%

Justice (Fairness) 55%

Kantianism 45%

Apathy 35%

Strong Egoism 30%

Divine Command 5%

And yes, I knew I wasn't so much about the divine command, too. We existential utilitarian hedonists are like that. Try it out. And hey, you Nihillistic Kantians... don't be a stranger. Let's have coffee. :)

Comments

[jinbaltimore]

Even after purposely answering Hedonistically, darn if I didn't end up Existential too; and I'm still not really sure what that means.

[weboy]

Ah, my friend, I know from our extensive discussions that you are in fact terribly existential (i would have expected some Kant in there too), maybe some nihilism. I know you believe in pleasure (me too)... but true hedonism? That's not really us, I don't think...

[starryrift]

I gotta say that the quiz is written in such a way that all but the most clearcut fundamentalists/evangelicals (and not, for example, your casual Episcopalians) are going to come out as Existentialists. Also, what's up with appropriating Pascal in the Existentialist quote column? Does nobody remember that his "Pensees" were a defense of Christianity? Believing in nurture over nature doesn't make him an Existentialist -- he also believed in natural law.

On a funnier note, somehow I keep reading "Utilitarianism" as "Unitarianism". Eek!

For the record: Existentialism
80%
Utilitarianism
75%
Kantianism
50%
Justice (Fairness)
50%
Hedonism
30%
Nihilism
30%
Apathy
15%
Divine Command
15%
Strong Egoism
0%

[Redstar]

Existentialist utilitarian justice

[jinbaltimore]

Took it again moving most of my middling answers to the extremes...hedonism rules!

[elmey]

Existentialism 80
Utilitarianism 60
Hedonism 60
(that might be wishful thinking!)
Justice 50
then Apathy, Nihilism, Kant and Ego all under fifty, all the way down to, I'm pleased to say, Divine Command at 0.