"I think de Beauvoir is saying that as children we think the structures given by adults are immutable facts of existence. The discovery that they are not creates the need to respond. For many this requires finding a way to deal with the slowly dawning fact that there is no meaning in the universe other that that provided by people, and we have to choose a response ourselves."
"Serious people. As we saw in the previous post, serious people merely cling tightly to the structures that made them feel safe as children. This is a choice of sorts, but serious people hide themselves from the fact that they have made a free choice. They feel themselves bound by the structures they've been given and accept all instructions from those empowered by those structures."
Childhood experiences shape how individuals respond to existential freedom and ambiguity. Children initially perceive adult structures as immutable facts, and the discovery of their arbitrariness forces a response. Many confront the dawning fact that there is no inherent meaning and must choose or create meaning themselves. Response categories are not developmental stages and are not permanent; people can change and categories share certain qualities. Serious people cling to inherited structures, conceal the freedom involved in that choice, accept authority, and can become allies of tyranny. Nihilists recognize arbitrariness but deny the possibility of creating justifications and thus reject their freedom.
Read at emptywheel
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