Matthew Winant - Blog 8 (4/29/09)

I am a huge fan of the hit T.V. Show LOST, and as such I wish to discuss the many appearances of religion within the show. Throughout the seasons of the show, four total with the fifth in progress, one of the main concepts has been the conflict between faith and destiny versus free will. Two of the main characters of the show, John Locke and Jack Shepard, embody the two different trains to philosophical thought; with Locke believing in destiny and fate and Jack believing in free will and science. The viewers have been made to believer that through five seasons Locke's train of thought is the correct mindset for the people within the show; however, tonight's episode threw that concept away very quickly. Now the viewer must make his or her own judgment on the validity of the counter argument, but the evidence within the show is striking. A physicist on the show, Daniel Faraday, has stated that the variable of the world is humans, people that can change events based on their thoughts and actions. Kierkegaard's idea of existentialism, the free will of humans, took over as the main philosophical mindset with this one episode. This is a quick overview of what is going on within the show, as it would take a term paper to establish the background and full argument for either philosophical mindset. The main point is seen in the quickness of changing philosophical thought and how interpretation of events affects a persons mindset toward the transcendent and the effect of human actions towards the greater vision of the world.