The Humanism of Existentialism

1. The Humanism of Existentialism Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey

2. Jean-Paul Sartre • Born 1905 • From France • Worked with the French Resistance in World War II • Wrote novels, short stories, and plays • Became a Marxist • Turned down Nobel Prize (1964) • Died 1980

3. Sartre’s Contributions • Popularized existentialism • Reformulated Descartes’s dualism a contemporary framework • Argued for absolute freedom and responsibility for human beings • Author of many memorable quotations and examples • “Man is a useless passion” • “Hell is other people”

4. Existentialism • Existentialism is a philosophy of human existence • The existence of a human being is prior to that human’s essence • What I am now is a matter of the free choices I have made • “Subjectivity must be the starting point”

5. Marxist Criticisms • Marxists emphasized human solidarity and materialist determinism • They accused existentialism of despairing of solutions to societal problems • This leads to contemplation, not action, so existentialism is a bourgeois philosophy • Since it begins with the subjectivity of the “I think,” they accuse it of precluding solidarity with other people

6. Christian Criticisms • Existentialism neglects the gracious and beautiful in favor of the “sordid, shady, and slimy” • By denying that there are divine commands, it makes all human action arbitrary • It is impossible to criticize the actions of another, since it is due entirely to the other’s choice, which is not based on principle

7. Optimism and Pessimism • Those who criticize existentialism for being too gloomy are themselves very pessimistic • Bad actions are considered “human nature” • They encourage us to submit to authority • They tell us that rebellion is romantic fantasy • These people may be afraid of existentialism because of its optimism, since humans retain the possibility of choice

8. What Existentialism Is • The label “existentialist” is attached to all kinds of things, “even the work of a musician or painter” • But existentialism is a technical philosophical doctrine • The existentialist camp is split • Christians (Jaspers, Marcel) • Atheists (Heidegger, French existentialists, Sartre) • They agree on the doctrine that existence precedes essence

9. Essence As Preceding Existence • In the case of an artifact (e.g., a paper-cutter), production of an existing thing follows a prior concept • God’s creation of the world would work in the same way: human beings would be made in accord with a concept of them • Enlightenment philosophers (e.g., Kant) made “human nature” the essence the precedes existence

10. Atheist Existentialism • A more coherent account of human beings denies the existence of God • If there is no God, there is at least one kind of creature, the human being, in whom existence precedes essence • Man turns up on the scene and then defines himself as man • So, he must have begun as nothing • There is no human nature, because there is no God to conceive of it: man is only what he wills himself to be

11. Subjectivity • The starting point for humans is subjective because humans make themselves what they are • Subjectivity is a dignity, not a drawback • Only humans are possessed of subjectivity • Making ourselves what we are leaves us responsible for our own actions • Humans are responsible not only for themselves, but for all humanity, since we “create an image of man as we think he ought to be” • We always choose the good, which is good for all

12. Anguish • Existentialists say that the human being is anguish • Someone who chooses for himself and for all of mankind realizes his deep responsibility • To deny this is an act of universal lying • Anguish is evident when we lack a proof that what we have chosen to do is right (what Kierkegaard called “the anguish of Abraham”) • It is the basis for action, because it acknowledges various open possibilities

13. Forlornness • Heidegger described humans as forlorn because we must face the consequences of the non-existence of God • This is opposed to the view that nothing would change if God does not exist • It is distressing because there is no ultimate source of values if God does not exist • Dostoyevsky: If God does not exist, everything is permitted

14. Freedom • The human being is freedom, with no justification or excuses • We are condemned to be free insofar as we find ourselves thrown into the world as free beings • We are even responsible for our own passions

15. The Choice • A student has good reasons to remain with his mother or to leave her to try to fight the Nazis • It is a certainty that staying will help her, and an ethics of sympathy dictates it • It is not certain that he would help against the occupier, but a broader ethics dictate it • There is no means, Christian or Kantian, to force a choice in either direction • He remained with his mother, deciding in terms of feeling: the choice made the feeling right

16. Despair • Despair means that we can only reckon from probabilities • The possibilities from which probabilities are drawn cannot be adapted to the will • We might count on people we know well, but this is just like counting on the trolley’s not jumping the tracks • On the other hand, we can strive to make the future different from what it would be without our actions

17. Reality Alone Counts • An person is of a certain kind (e.g., writer) only insofar as he engages in that activity • What a person hopes or wishes to be does not matter; only the produced realities do • In assessing a person, we must take all his activities into account • For man is the sum of his undertakings

18. Optimistic Toughness • Existentialist write of people with character flaws • They do not attribute these to circumstances or heredity, but to free choices • There is no such thing, e.g., as a cowardly constitution, as there is a nervous one • But people would like these traits to be deterministic • The existentialist keeps open the possibility of change in anyone in any circumstance

19. Subjectivity Again • The human starting-point must be subjective • The only firm beginning is “I think; therefore, I exist” • Everything else is mere probability • This prevents man from being reduced to an object • It also acknowledges that the other is indispensable to my own existence (e.g., as witty)

20. Universality • There is a universal human condition: mortal being in the world • This is objective, and the situation of any human can be understood • But it is subjective, as the human condition is always being built through individual human choices

21. The Consequences of Subjectivity • The subjectivity of existentialism is said to have bad consequences • No one must act on principle, leading to anarchy • No one may pass judgments on another • Choice is arbitrary • The first objection is not serious • One may not choose not to choose • The choices are made in a way that involves all of mankind

22. Art and Ethics • We do not criticize painters for not having a pre-conceived notion from which they work • The values appear in the painting itself • Ethical decisions are like artistic creations • In choosing our ethics, we make ourselves • “It is therefore absurd to charge us with arbitrariness of choice”

23. Relativity • In a sense we cannot pass judgment on others • People are what their choices, made in a situation, make them • There is no progress in the sense of betterment • One can still pass judgment, however • We can condemn those who take refuge in the excuse that the passions dictated his actions • Dishonesty is an error: choosing dishonesty is less coherent than choosing honesty

24. Moral Judgment • Upon becoming forlorn, a person can only wish for freedom • When we are engaged in activity, our freedom depends on the freedom of others • Cowards hide freedom from themselves with deterministic excuses • Stinkers try to show that their existence is necessary

25. Abstract Morality • Kantian morality correctly recognizes the central role of freedom • But it is too abstract to provide real moral guidance • The concrete case of the student cannot be decided on Kantian grounds: there is always invention

26. Seriousness • Inventing values is a serious business • It would be nice if another being were a source of values, but there is none • When we come into the world, we have to provide values for ourselves • This provides the possibility for creating a human community

27. Humanism • One meaning of “humanism” has been rejected in Sartre’s Nausea” • Taking individual credit as a human for the deeds of others • Another is implicit in existentialism • Man transcends his individuality • The only universe is a human one, and the only lawmakers individual human beings • It would not matter even if God did exist