Shannon Mussett is in the hot seat to explain how the existentialist conception of freedom remains useful and important for Philosophy. Co-hosts Ammon and Leigh make her seat hotter with questions about how “radical” human freedom is, whether or not it is an illusion, why Shannon feels the urge to spontaneously drop babies, and the possibility of freedom for non-human animals, Nature, or machines.

The question of freedom explored in this episode is largely focused on the notion of radical freedom developed by the French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, during the middle of the 20th century. Famous (and perhaps infamous) for going so far as to claim that even the prisoner in chains is still radically free, Sartre’s philosophy inspires us to ask whether or not we are truly free, or whether we simply experience consciousness as being free (whether or not it is in reality). Perhaps the most illuminating experiences that cause us to ask into the existence of radical freedom are those moments of, what Sartre would call, “vertiginous” freedom. These experiences of monstrous freedom, where our consciousnesses exceed the flimsy borders of our identities, show us that there is something about being human that is not determined, but rather, unpredictable and possibly even liberating.

For further reading, check out the links below:

• To find Sartre’s story of the young bride who was terrified at her own freedom, see The Transcendence of the Ego (1936).
• Sartre’s account of the young bride is originally found in the Pierre Janet’s work, Les Névroses (1909)
• For Luis Buñuel’s adaptation of the story of the bride, check out the film, Belle du Jour (1967)
• For an additional account of Sartrean freedom, see Existentialism is a Humanism.
• For an earlier treatment of anxiety and freedom (raising ideas similar to dropping babies and inexplicably swerving into traffic) check out the philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who writes in Fear and Trembling, “a soldier standing alone with a loaded rifle at his post thinks strange thoughts.”