Damon asked:

I just read the book Existentialismby John MacQuarrie. In the chapter on thinking it talked about
using different types of logic. It primarily said breaking away from the tyranny of the traditional logics
which I am assuming are deductive and inductive. My question is what other types of logic to
existentialist adhere to?

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It is not enough for philosophical knowledge to be expressed in general statements or abstract
syllogisms or logical propositions as far as existentialists are concerned. In the Kierkegaard chapter
of Sophie's World it is put very well. Sophie is reading:

"Eight plus four is twelve. We can be absolutely certain of this. That's an example of the sort of
'reasoned truth' that every philosopher since Descartes had talked about. But do we include it our
daily prayers? Is it something we will lie pondering over when we are dying? Not at all. Truths like
those can be both 'objective' and 'general' , but they are nevertheless totally immaterial to each man's
existence."

What is worth praying about, or the conditions that lead us, sometimes against our will and 'better
nature' to pray, or what keeps us awake at night, or what we will ponder on our death bed, these are
the substance of existential logic. Furthermore, knowledge of the individual human existence before
God, or before the Absolute, or before nothing depends most on deeds, not words, and on
authoritative sources for the question of 'how to live?' The logic of the existentialist therefore has to do
with the consequences and responsibilities, the necessities and contingencies, that follow.

Matthew Del Nevo

www.sicetnon.com

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