HW 30 - Psychological and Philosophical Theorizing of Cool

The goal - to enrich your understanding of "cool" by exploring the existential layers underlying this often desperate performance.

Please research several sources (famous philosophers and psychologists and social theorists) to elaborate a 400+ word theory (or a hypothesis) on one of the three following questions in bold. Due Friday, Dec 18 at 8:30am. (As a point of reference, this assignment is 540+ words).

Cool can be viewed as a major attempt to fill the emptiness inside of us with an internal heroic mission (sense of purpose, meaning, self-knowledge) and external validation (attention, approval, admiration, love, popularity, fame).

How does this emptiness feel? Phenomenologically describe the sense of absence using your own introspection and the writings of famous others. If it is a hole - what sorts of shapes fill this hole? Is it a lock with only one key? Or is it a stomach that will accept whatever chewed up substance drops down into it?

Whence this emptiness? What are the sources of this sense of meaninglessness but also of the need for a sense of meaning? Empty means its not there but also that its missing! Do you agree that humans seem to overwhelmingly share a sense of emptiness, or a hole that needs to be filled (perhaps by honor, or story, or heroism, or love)? How do we come to be this way? We've talked about the Myth of the Fall, of Freud's theories of separation from the mother, of Becker's theory of the fear of annihilation in death, of Lacan's theory of the division between consciousness and physicality.

How does cool relate to our attempt to live in relation to this emptiness? In addition to external validation and a personal heroic role - are there any other routes to coolness? How should we evaluate and enact the possible routes to coolness? Where should we put our emphasis - our best efforts?

For instance, Schopenhauer argued "what distinguishes mortals is determined by three fundamental aspects. They are;

1. What one is: the person in the broadest sense. Inclusive of health, strength, beauty, temperament, moral character, intelligence, and education.

2. What one has: property and possessions in every sense.

3. What one makes as a presentation of oneself: under this expression should be understood, how the person is perceived by others, therefore how others present him to themselves. That means their opinions of the person, which collapse into categories of glory, status, and fame."

(quickly translated by andy from here)

Does Schopenhauer thereby offer a guide for how to deal with our mortality? What do the Stoics say? The Cynics? The Marxists? Foucauldian post-structuralists? What about Frankl's concept of the "existential vacuum" or "Sunday neurosis". What do religious prophets advocate (Buddha, Maimonides, Jesus, Mohammed, etc.)? What about religious/philosophical traditions like Zen or Vedantism?

Please explore theoretical responses to these questions. For instance you can google:

• frankl existential vacuum emptiness
• sense of emptiness -
• buddhism origin dukkha
• genesis fall humanity
• if you google - freud separation mother - you might end up at a site from Purdue which explains how the "self" is a response to the situation of the baby having to deal with mom and dad.

Gather insights from at least 3 sources of famous people's thoughts and then organize them into your own (evolving) thoughts on the topic. Feel free to concentrate primarily on one source and your own response.