Download Existentialism

A complex philosophy
emphasizing the
absurdity of reality
and the human
responsibility to make
choices and accept
consequences!
ANDREW WYETH
Christina’s World (1948)
Big Ideas of Existentialism
Despite encompassing a
huge range of philosophical,
religious, and political
ideologies, the underlying
concepts of existentialism
are simple…
MARK ROTHKO
Untitled (1968)
Common Beliefs:
Cogito ergo sum.
Existence Precedes Essence
Existentialism is the title of the set of philosophical ideals
that emphasize the existence of the human being, the lack
of meaning and purpose in life, and the solitude of human
existence… “Existence precedes essence” implies that
the human being has no essence (no essential self).
Common Beliefs:
Absurdism
• The belief that nothing can explain or
rationalize human existence.
• There is no answer to “Why am I?”
• Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational
universe and any search for order will
bring them into direct conflict with this
universe.
Origins:
It was during the
Second World War,
when Europe found
itself in a crisis
faced with death and
destruction, that the
existential
movement began to
flourish, popularized
in France in the
1940s.
GEORGIO DE CHIRICO
Love Song
Living existentialism:
Choice and Commitment
• Humans have freedom to choose.
• Each individual makes choices that
create his or her own nature.
• Because we choose, we must accept risk
and responsibility for wherever our
commitments take us.
•
“A human being is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. Anguish is
the result.” –Jean-Paul Sartre
Religious existentialists:
Religious Existentialism:
•Individuals gain spirituality through their own
efforts, not divine revelation
•As humans, we cannot fully comprehend God’s
purposes, but through a leap of faith, we can
acknowledge that purpose exists and try to live in
accordance with our understandings
•Each person must seek God within, rather than the
dogma of organized religion
•When making life choices, we should question
whether we are driven by our personal relationship
with God or by negative influences.
Dread and Anxiety
MAN RAY
Les Larmes (Tears)
Dread and Anxiety
• Dread is a feeling of general
apprehension. Kierkegaard interpreted it
as God’s way of calling each individual to
make a commitment to a personally valid
way of life.
• Anxiety stems from our understanding
and recognition of the total freedom of
choice that confronts us every moment,
and the individual’s confrontation with
nothingness.
Nothingness and Death
EDVARD MUNCH
Night in Saint Cloud (1890)
Common Beliefs:
Nothingness and Death
• Death hangs over all of us. Our
awareness of it can bring freedom or
anguish.
• I am my own existence. Nothing structures
my world.
• “Nothingness is our inherent lack of self. We are in
constant pursuit of a self. Nothingness is the creative
well-spring from which all human possibilities can be
realized.” –Jean-Paul Sartre
Alienation or
Estrangement
• From all other
humans
• From human
institutions
• From the past
• From the future
• We only exist right now,
right here.
Common Beliefs:
EDGAR DEGAS
“L’absinthe” (1876)
Some Famous
Existentialists
• Søren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855)
• Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900)
• Jean-Paul Sartre (19051980)
• Albert Camus (19131960)
Famous existentialists and
famous philosophers:
Edward Hopper
“New York Movie” (1939)
Human Subjectivity
“I will be what I choose to be.”
It is impossible to transcend
human subjectivity.
“There are no true connections
between people.”
My emotions are yet another
choice I make. I am responsible
for them.
Edward Hopper
“New York Movie” (1939)
All existentialists are concerned with the study of being or
ontology.
TO REVIEW: An existentialist believes that a person’s
life is nothing but the sum of the life he has shaped for
himself. At every moment it is always his own free will
choosing how to act. He is responsible for his actions,
which limit future actions. Thus, he must create a
morality in the absence of any known predetermined
absolute values. God does not figure into the equation,
because even if God does exist, He does not reveal to men
the meaning of their lives. Honesty with oneself is the most
important value. Every decision must be weighed in light of
all the consequences of that action.
Life is absurd, but we engage it!
Human existence cannot be captured by
reason or objectivity –– it must include
passion, emotion and the subjective.
Each of us is responsible for
everything and to every
human being.
–Simone de Beauvoir
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
Sky Above White Clouds I (1962)
Nietzsche and Nihilism
Out, out, brief candle!
“Every belief, every considering
something-true is necessarily
false because there is simply no
true world. Nihilism is…not
only the belief that everything
deserves to perish; but one
actually puts one’s shoulder to
the plow; one destroys. For
some time now our whole
European culture has been
moving as toward a catastrophe,
with a tortured tension that is
growing from decade to decade:
restlessly, violently, headlong,
like a river that wants to reach
the end… .” (Will to Power)
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth
Albert Camus dissociated himself
from the existentialists but
acknowledged man’s lonely condition
in the universe. His “man of the
absurd” (or absurd hero) rejects
despair and commits himself to the
anguish and responsibility of living as
best he can.
Basically, man creates himself through the choices he makes.
There are no guides for these choices, but he has to make them
anyway, which renders life absurd.
“You will never be happy if
you continue to search for
what happiness consists of.
You will never live if you are
looking for the meaning of
life.”
“It was previously a question of finding out
whether or not life had to have a meaning to be
lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that
it will be lived all the better if it has no
meaning.”