Existentialism

1. Existentialism “An answer to Nihilism” (the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless)

2. Exists in two separate forms: • Atheistic Existentialism • Originated in the 1950’s • Main thinkers: Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sarte, and Martin Heidegger • Theistic Existentialism • Originated in the 1850’s • Main thinker: Soren Kierkegaard

3. Atheistic Existentialism • Accepts the following propositions from Naturalism: • Matter exists eternally and is all there is • The cosmos exists as a uniformity of cause and effect relationship in a closed system • History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose • Ethics is related only to man

4. What is true reality? • The cosmos is composed solely of matter, but to human beings reality appears in two forms- subjective and objective. • The world came into being long before man, and is either structured or chaotic, determined or governed by chance. • Some time later, conscious beings (with the power to wonder, seek meaning, and create gods) came into being. • Thus there are two kinds of beings in the universe • These two worlds—the objective and the subjective—exist in disunity. • Of the two, the subjectiveis far more significant to man.

5. Who is man? • For human beings alone, existence precedes essence; people make themselves who they are. • The objective world is a world of essences. Everything comes bearing its nature. • Only human beings make themselves human by what they do with their self-consciousness and self-determinacy. • Each person is totally free to create their own nature and destiny.

6. What is the nature of the external world? • The highly wrought and tightly organized world stands against human beings and seems absurd. • The world of order and law (even that of cause and effect sparked by random chance) appears foreign and alien to man. • The objective world does not fit us. • The objective world is impervious to our dreams and visions, our inner world of values.

7. What is the basis of right and wrong? • In full recognition of and against the absurdity of the objective world, the authentic person must revolt and create value. • Nothing has value in the objective world. It just is. • We create value through our consciousness. • Therefore, the good action is the consciously chosen action. • Evil is passivity, living at the direction of others, not-choosing, but just accepting whatever the absurd universe brings your way.

8. What happens to man at death? • Death is the ultimate assault on the subjective world by the objective world. Thus it is the ultimate absurdity. • When we die, each of us is just an object among other objects. (sounds like Meursault) • Some existentialists therefore argue that man’s ultimate subjective act is to choose the manner and time of his death, thus imposing meaning on absurdity.

9. Representative Authors • Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) • “Christian”; believe there was no contradiction between freedom and God • Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) • Author of Crime and Punishment and a native of Moscow • Fredric Nietzsche (1844-1900) • A nihilist who believed that the movement would lead to society’s collapse; “God is dead” • Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) • Intended to develop a philosophical method devoid of all presuppositions • Franz Kafka (1883-1924) • One of the most influential authors of the twentieth century • Jean Paul Sarte (1905-1980) • Said “existence precedes essence” • Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) • The only well known female existentialist, a native of Paris • AlbertCamus (1913-1960) • Author of The Stranger and a native of Mondovi, Algeria

10. Themes • Atheism • Besides Kierkegaard all were fervent atheists (CAMUS) • Existentialism seems to necessarily require that one abandon any belief in God, because the concept of God contradicts the idea of personal responsibility that is at the center of the movement • Freedom • Human behavior is based on nothing except free choice • With no rules from God or psychological traumas to excuse what one does, the responsibility for each action falls on the individual • This sense of freedom sometimes leads the protagonists in existential works to commit actions that are commonly considered “evil,” as if to assert to themselves that no universal system of justice will bring punishment down on their heads

11. Themes Cont… • Guilt and Innocence • In the absence of the divine or biological rules, people must be responsible for their own actions • This is the price of freedom- with no rules from God or psychological traumas to excuse what one does, the responsibility for each action falls on the individual • Identity and Self • Existentialism is a search for the right way to understand human identity • However, there is no point of reference for human identity • Alienation • The feeling of isolation, of not belonging, of standing alone • It is natural to be separate from society, because the idea of belonging to society was an illusion all along

12. Works Cited • Crowell, Steven, "Existentialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/existentialism/>.