Thesis advisor: Christopher Constas / Philosophers throughout the ages have grappled with the concept of glory-seeking and have offered many different references, analyses, insights, and explanations. Three great thinkers in particular stand out above the rest: Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Paul Sartre. While these three minds span from circa 420 BC all the way up to 1980 AD, they all would agree that glory-seeking certainly matters – they would most likely argue over the following: In what way? For Plato, glory-seeking is an inherent part of the human soul. It matters because it is an essential part of our being. Plato’s model for the soul found in The Republic as well as a comparable illustration in the Phaedrus expresses this claim most thoroughly. Additional support for the idea of glory-seeking being an existing precondition of humanity can be found in other ancient works as well, most notably Homer’s Iliad. A current example is professional athletes in the NFL risking their earning potential in order to play injured. For Hobbes, glory-seeking is a tool to be used for social advantage. It matters because it can be used it for advantage and power. Chapters X and XIII in The Leviathan most critically highlight this sentiment. Further support for the idea of glory-seeking being a weapon in the self-made man’s arsenal can be found in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. The largest modern-day example is celebrity culture: the news and entertainment factory so woven into current American culture, which is particularly embodied by the public behavior and lyrics of hip-hop artist Kanye West. For Sartre, glory-seeking provides an answer to existential angst. It matters because it helps us believe that we matter. The Sartre’s philosophical work, Being and Nothingness, as well as his existential novel, Nausea, provide ample evidence of this notion. More support for the idea of glory-seeking as a method of coping with the awareness one’s own existence can be found in Søren Kierkegaard’s The Present Age. Contemporary manifestations include the incessant self-promotion and self-presentation found on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The goal of this work is to first investigate glory-seeking for Plato, Hobbes, and Sartre and analyze what each thinker has to say on the matter. After that, modern examples and additional input from other relevant philosophers will be assessed within the overall context of glory-seeking for Plato, Hobbes, and Sartre. Finally, after everything has been considered, I will attempt to synthesize all that has been presented thus far while answering the question: Why does glory-seeking matter? / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Philosophy Honors Program. / Discipline: Philosophy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_102484 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Marturano, Eric |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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