An Introduction

Existentialism: The CreationExistentialism appeared in modern thought in

response to the scientific mentality of all things have meaning and can be explained.

Suddenly, a new fear dawned, as men sought for an answer, and could find none, stuck with the emptiness of their apparent situation. The search for meaning presupposes that there is something greater than ourselves that we contribute to, and with science, humans had destroyed the thing that could have given them meaning-the thing that had been greater than them, and that they had been a part of.

Many decided that each person, in the end, must find their own reason to keep on living and make it worthwhile to do so. And as a result, the existential thought was formed.

Existentialism: A DefinitionExistentialism: The doctrine that among sentient

beings, especially humanity, existence takes precedence over essence and holding that man is totally free and responsible for his acts. This responsibility is the source of dread and anguish that encompasses the world.

The existentialism philosophical movement emphasizes the individual existence, freedom, and choice and the movement influenced many diverse writers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

ExistentialismEnhancing the Definition

Stress on concrete individual existence, subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice

Existentialism deals with how the individual chooses to define their own realityeveryone lives in their own little world/reality

even when they are surrounded by others (everyone lives in isolation of some kind)

Main idea: Existence Precedes EssenceWe have no predetermined nature or essence

that controls what we are, what we do, or what is valuable to us.

ExistentialismEnhancing the Definition

“ I must find the truth that is true for me…the idea for which I can live or die.”What does this quote mean in light of the

concept of existence preceding essence?Truth, morals, and values are therefore, not

absolute… there is no universal truth. What do you think of this statement?

We and things in general exist, but these things have no meaning for us except what we through acting upon them give them meaning. When you are writing, what are you?

Existentialism is LivingMankind is the only animal, according to

existentialists, that defines itself through the act of living. In other words, first man or woman exists, then the individual spends a lifetime changing his or her essence. WE DEFINE OURSELVES BY LIVING

It is important to understand that existentialism is NOT dark. It is not depressing. Existentialism is about LIFE, and therefore existentialists believe in living and fighting for life.

Existential ConceptsMankind has free willLife is a series of choices, creating STRESS Few decisions are without any negative

consequencesSome things are irrational or absurd without

explanationIf one makes a decision, he or she MUST

follow through

Common themes of Existentialism Existence Precedes Essence

Human life is understandable only in terms of an individual man’s existence, his particular experience of life. A man lives rather than is, and every man’s experience is unique, radically different from everyone else’s and can be understood truly only in terms of his involvement in life or commitment to it.

There is no Platonic ideal of man- there is no universal of human nature of which each man is only one example. Don’t ask “What is mankind?” Ask: “Who am I?”

The Existentialist insists that each person is unique. He is an entire universe-the center of infinity.

Common themes of ExistentialismExistence Precedes Essence

We create our own nature. We are thrown into existence first without a predetermined nature and only later do we construct our nature of essence through our actions.

EssenceExistenceAct of Free

Self Creation

Common themes of Existentialism Absurdity: Life is absurd and reason is important to deal

with the depths of human life. Human reason is relatively weak and imperfect and there are dark

places in human life which are “non-reason” and to which reason scarcely penetrates.

Some things are irrational or absurd without explanation Existence is absurd because it actually has no meaning at all

except as each individual chooses to give it. This absurdity is represented in drama by presenting action in

non-realistic form. Existentialism insists upon reuniting the lower or irrational parts

of the psyche with the higher. It insists that man must be taken in his wholeness and not in some divided state, that whole man contains not only intellect but also anxiety, guilt, and the will to power- which modify and sometimes overwhelm the reason. A man seen in this light is fundamentally ambiguous, if not mysterious, full of contradictions and tensions which cannot be dissolved simply by taking thought.

Common themes of Existentialism Alienation of Estrangement

A state of divided selfhood in which one is distanced from one’s true being and confronts the self as an alien being.

Existentialists worry that the walls of industry and technology which shut us off from nature and from one another. Crowding of people into citiesSubdivision of laborGrowth of advertising, propaganda, and the mass media

Man’s estrangement from his own true self. Kierkegard says that the good life for a person is one that

fulfills the requirement that that person live as an individual. To make sense of one’s life as a whole only through personal conduct and relationships with others that manifest virtues.

Common themes of ExistentialismFear, Trembling, and Anxiety

Causes of Fear, Trembling, and AnxietyWWIGreat DepressionWWII and HolocaustNuclear ThreatTerrorism

Common themes of ExistentialismThe Encounter with Nothingness

If man is alienated from nature, God, and self, what is left?

People who seemingly have “everything” feel empty, uneasy, discontent

Nothingness appears in existentialism, as the placeholder of possibility. The awareness of anything in the world that is not my own existence is an awareness of nothingness, that is, what I, this exisitence am not and is come cases I could become.

Common themes of Existentialism Freedom

Each human being makes choices that create his or her own nature

Even refusing to choose is a choice…we are radically free to act independently of determination by outside influences

Because individuals are free to choose their own path, they must always accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment where it leads. Can never place the blame on someone else.

Freedom is the acceptance of responsibility for choice and a commitment to one’s choice.

Existentialists write about the loss of freedom or the threat to it, or the enlargement of the range of human freedoms.

Sartre said that we are condemned to freedom. Because there is no God, we must accept individual responsibility for our own becoming. Nothing explicitly implies that in becoming a free individual one becomes a virtuous person.

Existentialism from the Existentialist Point of View

The term existentialism has been used to describe the tendency of certain authorsSoren Kierkegaard, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert

Camus, Friedrich Nietzche, and Franz Kafka use the term existence as an ideal, or what of being, that is unique to human beings.

For existentialists, there is no single theory that can contain the whole of the experience of human life. Existentialists focus primarily on matters such as choice, individuality, subjectivity, freedom, and the nature of existence itself.

ExistentialismObjections and Replies

What is Freedom: The problem: How can we be free if our bodies, our abilities, and our environment be determined. The solution: Even though all these factors may be

determined, we are more than simply these things. Our real self lies beyond the reach of external determination in virtue of its absolute individuality.

Our freedom is a freedom of synthesis: even though the many factors that go into making us and our experience are determined, we can arrange them as we like: We are free to make of them, and ourselves, whatever we will.

What is Happiness: The Problem: How can man be happy in a world devoid of external significance and meaning?The Solution: the loss of external value allows us to get

value from within ourselves, a value that is greater because it cannot be taken away by external forces.

ExistentialismObjections and Replies

How we ought to act? The Problem: If our only moral rule is to act authentically, to choose our own values instead of taking them from external sources, can’t we really do anything we want, no matter how evil or selfish?The solution:

A: in choosing our own nature we must choose human nature for all humanity. In order to act freely, we must not let our action be determined by any of our particular desires or interests. We must act as any free agent would act, hence we must act as we would like other people to act.

B: In order to be free ourselves, we must desire freedom of other people. To treat another person merely as an object for my use is to make an object of myself. To be free I must respect the freedom of others.

C: Even though my actions are free, they are not completely arbitrary. Just as the artist while free to create, follows the constraints imposed by her medium, so our actions, while not governed by rules, are constrained by the choices we and others have made.

And Finally… What Existentialism is NOTExistentialism doesn’t argue that the “good life” is a

function of things like wealth, power, pleasure, or even happiness. This is not to say that existentialists reject happiness. However, existentialists will not argue that a person’s life is good simply because they are happy. A happy person might be living a bad life while an unhappy person might be living a good life. The reason for this is that a life is “good” for existentialists insofar as it is “authentic”.

Existentialism is not caught up with the idea that everything in life can be made better by science.

Existentialists also reject both the arguments that people are good by nature but are ruined by society or culture, and that people are sinful by nature but can be helped to overcome sin through proper religious beliefs.