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Existentialism

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophy

   Existentialism is an area in philosophy that deals with human freedom.
   Existentialism itself is a revolt against traditional philosophy; it
   has been labelled a philosophy but a definition is difficult as its
   proponents have a marked difference in outlook. Existentialist thought
   concerns itself with trying to understand fundamentals of the human
   condition and its relation to the world around us. Basic questions
   include, 'what is it like to be a human in the world?' and 'what is the
   nature of human freedom?'.

   Existentialism can be seen as a philosophical movement that rejects
   that life has an inherent meaning, but instead requires each individual
   to posit his or her own subjective values. Existentialism, unlike other
   fields of philosophy, does not treat the individual as a concept, and
   values individual subjectivity over objectivity. As a result, questions
   regarding existence and subjective experience are seen as being of
   paramount importance, and initially above all other scientific and
   philosophical pursuits.

   There are several philosophical positions, all related to existential
   philosophy, but the main identifiable common proposition is that
   existence precedes essence, i.e. that a human exists before his or her
   existence has value or meaning. Humans define the value or meaning of
   both his or her existence and the world around him or her in his or her
   own subjectivity, and wanders between choice, freedom, and existential
   angst. Existentialism often is associated with anxiety, dread,
   awareness of death, and freedom. Famous existentialists include Sartre,
   Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Camus, Fanon, Miguel de Unamuno y
   Jugo, and Simone de Beauvoir.

   Existentialism emphasizes action, freedom, and decision as fundamental
   to human existence; and is fundamentally opposed to the rationalist
   tradition and to positivism. That is, it argues against definitions of
   human beings as primarily rational. More generally it rejects all of
   the Western rationalist definitions of "being" in terms of a rational
   principle or essence, or as the most general feature that all existing
   things share in common. Camus posits, in his essay "An Absurd
   Reasoning," that society and religion falsely teach humans that "the
   other" (i.e. the world of observable phenomena outside the self) has
   order and structure. In fact, all attempts by the individual, termed
   "consciousness," to attempt to map an order or purpose onto "the other"
   will be met with failure, as "the other" is non-rational and random.
   When "consciousness" longing for order collides with "the other's" lack
   of order, a third element is born, "the absurd."

   It then follows that, Existentialism tends to view human beings as
   subjects in an indifferent, objective, often ambiguous, and " absurd"
   universe, in which meaning is not provided by the natural order, but
   rather can be created, however provisionally and unstably, by human
   beings' actions and interpretations.

   Although there are certain common tendencies amongst existentialist
   thinkers, there are major differences and disagreements among them, and
   not all of them even affiliate themselves with or accept the validity
   of the term "existentialism". In German, the phrase Existenzphilosophie
   (philosophy of existence) is also used.

Historical background

   Existential themes have been hinted at throughout history in Western
   philosophy, Abrahamic philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. Examples
   include Socrates and his life, Gautama Buddha's teachings, the Bible in
   the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job, Saint Augustine in his
   Confessions, Mulla Sadra's writings, and Descartes' Meditations.
   Individualist politics, such as those advanced by John Locke, advocated
   individual autonomy and self-determination rather than the state ruling
   over the individual. This kind of political philosophy, although not
   existential in nature, provides a welcoming climate for existentialism.

   In 1670, Blaise Pascal's unfinished notes were published in the form of
   the poem, Pensées. In the work, he described many fundamental themes of
   existentialism. Pascal argued that without a God, life would be
   meaningless and miserable. People would only be able to create
   obstacles and overcome them in an attempt to escape boredom. These
   token-victories would ultimately become meaningless, since people would
   eventually die. This was good enough reason not to choose to become an
   atheist according to Pascal.

   Existentialism, in its currently recognizable 20th century form, was
   inspired by Søren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky and the German
   philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger.
   It became popular in the mid-20th century through the works of the
   French writer-philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir,
   whose versions of it were set out in a popular form in Sartre's 1946
   Existentialism is a Humanism and Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity.

   Gabriel Marcel pursued theological versions of existentialism, most
   notably Christian existentialism. Other theological existentialists
   include Paul Tillich, Rudolf Bultmann, Miguel de Unamuno, Thomas Hora
   and Martin Buber. Moreover, one-time Marxist, Nikolai Berdyaev,
   developed a philosophy of Christian existentialism in his native
   Russia, and later in France, in the decades preceding World War II.

   Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer are also
   important influences on the development of existentialism (although not
   precursors) because the philosophies of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich
   Nietzsche were written in response or opposition to Hegel and
   Schopenhauer, respectively.

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

   The first philosophers considered fundamental to the existentialist
   movement are Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, even though
   neither used the term 'existentialism'. Like Pascal, they were
   interested in people's concealment of the meaninglessness of life and
   their use of diversion to escape from boredom. However, what Pascal did
   not write about was that people can create and change their fundamental
   values and beliefs. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche wrote that human nature
   and human identity vary depending on what values and beliefs humans
   hold. Objective truths (e.g. mathematical truths) are important, but
   detached or observational modes of thought can never truly comprehend
   human experience. Nietzsche argued that human existence is the "will to
   power", a desire to create and destroy as we please, in an artistic
   sense. Great individuals invent their own values and create the very
   terms under which they excel. Kierkegaard's knight of faith and
   Nietzsche's Übermensch are examples of those who define the nature of
   their own existence. In contrast, Pascal did not reason that human
   nature and identity are constituted by the free decisions and choices
   of people.

   Kierkegaard and Nietzsche died too soon to be a part of the 20th
   century existentialist movement. They were unique philosophers and
   their works and influence are not limited to existentialism. They have
   been appropriated and seen as precursors to many other intellectual
   movements, including postmodernism and various strands of psychology.
   Thus, it is unknown whether they would have supported the
   existentialism of the 20th century or accepted tenets of Jean-Paul
   Sartre's version of it. Nevertheless, their works are precursors to
   many later developments in existentialist thought.

Heidegger and the German existentialists

   One of the first German existentialists was Karl Jaspers. Jaspers
   recognized the importance of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and attempted to
   build an "existenz" philosophy around the two. Heidegger, who was
   influenced by Jaspers and the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl, wrote his
   most influential work Being and Time which postulates Dasein, literally
   being there, a being that is constituted by its temporality,
   illuminates and interprets the meaning of being in time. Dasein is
   sometimes considered the human subject, but Heidegger denies the
   Cartesian dualism of subject-object/mind-body.

   Although existentialists view Heidegger to be an important philosopher
   in the movement, he vehemently denied being an "existentialist" in the
   Sartrean sense, and responded to Sartre in "A Letter about Humanism"
   denying his philosophy was existentialism.

Sartre and the French existentialists

   Jean-Paul Sartre is perhaps the most well-known existentialist and is
   one of the few to have accepted being called an "existentialist".
   Sartre developed his version of existentialist philosophy under the
   influence of Husserl and Heidegger. Being and Nothingness is perhaps
   his most important work about existentialism. Sartre was also talented
   in his ability to espouse his ideas in different mediums, including
   philosophical essays, novels, plays and the theatre. No Exit and Nausea
   are two of his celebrated works. In the 1960s, he attempted to
   reconcile Existentialism and Marxism in his work the Critique of
   Dialectical Reason.

   Albert Camus was a friend of Sartre, until their falling-out, and wrote
   several works with existential themes including The Rebel, The Stranger
   and The Myth of Sisyphus. He, like many others, rejected the
   existentialist label, and considered his works to be absurdist. In the
   Myth of Sisyphus, Camus uses the analogy of the Greek myth to
   demonstrate the futility of existence. In the myth, Sisyphus is
   condemned to roll a rock up a hill for eternity, but when he reaches
   the summit the rock will roll back to the bottom again. Camus believes
   that this existence is pointless, but he feels Sisyphus ultimately
   finds meaning and purpose in his task, simply by continually applying
   himself to it.

   Simone de Beauvoir, who was a long time companion to Sartre, wrote
   about feminist and existential ethics in her works, including The
   Second Sex and Ethics of Ambiguity.

   Maurice Merleau-Ponty, an often overlooked existentialist, was a
   companion of Sartre's. His understanding of Husserl's phenomenology was
   far greater than that of his fellow existentialists. His work, Humanism
   and Terror, greatly influenced Sartre.

   Michel Foucault would also be considered an existentialist through his
   use of history to reveal the constant alterations of created meaning,
   thus proving its failure to produce a cohesive form of reality.

Dostoevsky, Kafka, and the literary existentialists

   Many writers who are not usually considered philosophers have also had
   a major influence on existentialism. Franz Kafka created characters who
   struggle with hopelessness and absurdity. Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian
   literary writer, wrote such novels as Crime and Punishment and The
   Brothers Karamazov. Notes from Underground details the story of a man
   who is unable to fit into society and unhappy with the identities he
   creates for himself. Many of Dostoyevsky's novels, such as Crime and
   Punishment have covered issues pertinent to existential philosophy
   while simultaneously refuting the validity of the claims of
   existentialism (notably the 'superman' theory advocated by Nietzsche).
   Throughout Crime and Punishment we see the protagonist, Raskolnikov,
   and his character develop away from existential ideas and beliefs in
   favour of more traditionally Christian ones.

   In the 1950s and 1960s, existentialism experienced a resurgence in
   popular artforms. In fiction, Jack Kerouac and the Beat poets adopted
   existentialist themes. Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf, based on an idea in
   Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843), sold well in the West. In addition,
   "arthouse" films began quoting and alluding to existentialist thought
   and thinkers.

   Existentialist novelists were generally seen as a mid-1950s phenomenon
   that continued until the mid- to late 1970s. Most of the major writers
   were either French or from French African colonies. Small circles of
   other Europeans were seen as literary existential precursors by the
   existentialists themselves, however, literary history increasingly has
   questioned the accuracy of this idealism for earlier models.

   There is overlap between the expatriate American beat generation
   writers who found Paris their spiritual home, and writers of road
   novels. This also extends to the delayed action of the French permanent
   enamorment with U.S.' hard boiled, which, as Truffaut and others in the
   Cahiers du Cinéma indicated, influenced novels and plays. To some
   extent as well, the surrealist movement of Andre Breton and others,
   which questioned the established reality, made possible the isolation
   of non-academic novels protagonised by amoral anti-heroes. This
   curriculum is known to be taught by aspiring monk Jack Keithley.

Existentialism since 1970

   Although postmodernist thought became the focus of many intellectuals
   in the 1970s and thereafter, much postmodern writing considers themes
   similar to existentialism.

   One should not, however, confuse postmodernism with existentialism.
   Existential cinema deals more with the themes of:
    1. Retaining authenticity in an apathetic, mechanical world --
       something postmodernism would staunchly reject, as authenticity is
       related to a non-existent "reality".
    2. The consciousness of death; e.g. Heidegger's 'being towards death',
       exemplified in Ingmar Bergman's film " The Seventh Seal" (1957).
    3. The feelings of alienation and loneliness consequent to being
       unique in a world of indifferent others, or, in Kierkegaard phrase,
       "the crowd" or Nietzsche's "the herd"
    4. The concept Alltägliche selbstsein ("Everyday-ness," or ennui)
       which Heidegger explicated in his book Sein und Zeit (1927),
       (English translation Being and Time).

   Since 1970, much cultural activity in art, cinema, and literature
   contains postmodern and existential elements, which, ironically, would
   support the postmodern thesis of "borderlessness between concepts".
   Books such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, (now republished as
   "Blade Runner"), by Philip K. Dick, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and
   Toilet: The Novel by Michael Szymczyk all distort the line between
   reality and appearance while simultaneously espousing strong
   existential themes. Ideas from such thinkers as Foucault, Kafka,
   Nietzsche, Herbert Marcuse and Eduard von Hartmann permeate the works
   of writers such as Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Szymczyk, and Charles
   Bukowski, and one often finds in such works a delicate balance between
   distastefulness and beauty.

   In cinema, postmodern editing techniques, showing the displacement,
   discontinuity, and temporal perspective of postmodernism, can go
   hand-in-hand with a purely existential story, thus synthesizing
   technique and function to give meaning. Moreover, this has created the
   neologism "Neo-Existentialism"--combining postmodernism's epistemology
   with the reflective ontological belief of existentialism. Andrew Mixon
   is also a prime example of an existentialist. Mixon's DGAF ways prove
   him to be the epitome of an existentialist.

   The acclaimed 1976 film Taxi Driver, starring Robert DeNiro, is perhaps
   one of the most widely known existential films. The film was heavily
   influenced by Dosteovsky's Notes from Underground and even quotes
   Dosteovsky in the line: "I'm God's lonely man." The 2004 film The
   Machinist is also influenced by Dosteovsky's work, especially The
   Double: A Petersburg Poem, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov. In
   one scene in the film, star Christian Bale is seen reading a copy of
   The Idiot. The 1972 film Deliverance, as well as the 1970 book of the
   same name, has also been credited as existentialist, as have the 1999
   film Fight Club and 2001 film Donnie Darko.

Major concepts in existentialism

   Existentialism differentiates itself from the modern Western
   rationalist tradition of philosophers such as Descartes and Husserl in
   rejecting the idea that the most certain and primary reality is
   rational consciousness. Descartes believed humans could doubt all
   existence, but could not will away or doubt the thinking consciousness,
   whose reality is therefore more certain than any other reality.
   Existentialism decisively rejects this argument, asserting instead that
   as conscious beings, humans would always find themselves already in a
   world, a prior context and a history that is given to consciousness,
   and that humans cannot think away that world. It is inherent and
   indubitably linked to consciousness. In other words, the ultimate,
   certain, indubitable reality is not thinking consciousness but,
   according to Heidegger, "being in the world". This is a radicalization
   of the notion of intentionality that comes from Brentano and Husserl,
   which asserts that, even in its barest form, consciousness is always
   conscious of something. Existentialists also believe existence precedes
   essence, rather than essence preceding existence, man defines his own
   reality.

   Sartre, unlike Kierkegaard, denies the existence of God. Sartre argues
   that without God, there is no higher power to define man. However,
   there are versions of existentialism that are religious. Theological
   existentialism as advocated by philosophers and theologians like Paul
   Tillich, Gabriel Marcel, and Martin Buber posits God's existence, as
   well as accepting many tenets of atheistic existentialism. Belief in
   God is a personal choice made on the basis of a passion, of faith, an
   observation or experience. Just as atheistic existentialists can freely
   choose not to believe, theistic existentialists can freely choose to
   believe in God and could, despite one's doubt, have faith that God
   exists and that God is good.

   A third type of existentialism is agnostic existentialism. Again, it is
   a matter of choice to be agnostic. The agnostic existentialist makes no
   claim to know, or not know, if there is a "greater picture" in play;
   rather, he simply recognizes that the greatest truth is that which he
   chooses to act upon. The agnostic existentialist feels that to know the
   "greater picture", whether there is one or not, is impossible for human
   minds--or if it is not impossible, that at least he has not found it
   yet. Like Christian existentialists, the agnostic believes existence is
   subjective. However one feels about the issue, through the agnostic
   existentialist's perspective, the act of finding knowledge of the
   existence of God often has little value because he feels it to be
   impossible, and/or believes it to be useless.

   As mentioned above, opinions of philosophers associated with
   existentialism vary, sometimes greatly, over what "existentialism" is,
   and even if there is such a thing as "existentialism". One version,
   Sartrean existentialism, is elaborated below.

Sartrean existentialism

   Some of the tenets associated with the existentialism of Jean-Paul
   Sartre include:
     * Existence precedes essence: This is a reversal of the Aristotlean
       premise that essence precedes existence, where man is created to
       fulfil some telos and life consists of fulfilling that goal. Unlike
       tools that are created to fulfill a purpose (e.g. a pair of
       scissors is created for the express purpose of cutting things),
       Sartrean existentialism argues man exists without purpose, finds
       himself in the world and defines the meaning of his existence.

     * Identities are constructed by the individual consciousness only: As
       an extension of the first tenet, the individual consciousness
       constructs a "self" or "identity" for itself. An "identity" can
       include beliefs, projects, and various other things of value.
       Sartre argues that no one else, including God, can choose your
       "identity" for you. Kierkegaard's knight of faith and Nietzsche's
       Übermensch are some such examples of those who create their own
       "identity".

     * Values are subjective: Sartre accepts the premise that something is
       valuable because the individual consciousness chooses to value it.
       Sartre denies there are any objective standards on which to base
       values.

     * Responsibility for choices: The individual consciousness is
       responsible for all the choices he makes, regardless of the
       consequences. Sartre claims that to deny the responsibility is to
       be in bad faith. Here, existentialists draw on psychological
       concepts to investigate feelings such as angst and despair that
       arise by being in bad faith. Kierkegaard's works The Concept of
       Anxiety and The Sickness Unto Death are works that deal with such
       feelings.

     * Condemned to be free: Because our actions and choices are ours and
       ours alone, we are condemned to be responsible for our free
       choices.

   There are several terms Sartre uses in his works. Being in-itself are
   objects that are not free and cannot change its essence. Being
   for-itself are free: it does not need to be what it is and can change
   into what it is not. Consciousness is usually considered being
   for-itself. Sartre distinguishes between positional and non-positional
   consciousness. Non-positional consciousness is being merely conscious
   of one's surroundings. Positional consciousness puts consciousness into
   relation of one's surroundings. This entails an explicit awareness of
   being conscious of one's surroundings. Sartre argues identity is
   constructed by this explicit awareness of consciousness.

   In Repetition, Kierkegaard's literary character Young Man laments:

          How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why
          was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust
          into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier
          of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise
          called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of
          choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the
          manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager?
          To whom shall I make my complaint?

   Building on this, Heidegger, and later Sartre, dubbed the term
   "throwness" to describe this idea that human beings are exposed to or
   "thrown" into, existence - in that we have no choice to come into
   existence. Existentialists consider being thrown into existence as
   prior to, and the horizon or context of, any other thoughts or ideas
   that humans have or definitions of themselves that they create.

   This explanation of existentialism strongly favors a non-religious
   approach. Even in quoting Kierkegaard, a Christian existentialist, his
   words are used to support the anxiety and nothingness of the
   philosophy- which are definitely two fundamental elements, but not any
   more important than free will and decision.

Criticisms of existentialism

   Herbert Marcuse criticized existentialism, especially in Sartre's Being
   and Nothingness, for projecting certain features of living in a modern,
   oppressive society, such as anxiety and meaninglessness, onto the
   nature of existence itself: "In so far as Existentialism is a
   philosophical doctrine, it remains an idealistic doctrine: it
   hypothesizes specific historical conditions of human existence into
   ontological and metaphysical characteristics. Existentialism thus
   becomes part of the very ideology which it attacks, and its radicalism
   is illusory" .

   Theodor Adorno, in his Jargon of Authenticity, criticized Heidegger's
   philosophy, with special attention to his use of language, as a
   mystifying ideology of advanced industrial society and its power
   structure.

   Roger Scruton claimed, in his book From Descartes to Wittgenstein, that
   both Heidegger's concept of inauthenticity and Sartre's concept of bad
   faith were incoherent; both deny any universal moral creed, yet speak
   of these concepts as if everyone were bound to abide them. In chapter
   18, he writes,"In what sense Sartre is able to 'recommend' the
   authenticity which consists in the purely self-made morality is
   unclear. He does recommend it, but, by his own argument, his
   recommendation can have no objective force." Familiar with this sort of
   argument, Sartre claimed that bad and good faith do not represent moral
   ideas, rather, they are ways of being.

   Logical positivists, such as Carnap and Ayer, claim that
   existentialists frequently become confused over the verb "to be" in
   their analyses of "being". The verb is prefixed to a predicate and to
   use the word without any predicate is meaningless. Borrowing Kant's
   argument against the ontological argument for the existence of God,
   they argue that existence is not a property.

Existentialism in psychotherapy

   Many of the theories of Sigmund Freud, whom Sartre refuted
   systematically, were influenced by Nietzsche. Some have supposed that
   Thanatos and Eros were closely related to Dionysian and Apollonian
   aspects of Nietzsche philosophy.

   One of the major offshoots of Existentialism as a philosophy is
   Existential Psychology. Sometimes termed the Third Force Psychology,
   this branch of psychology was initiated by Viktor Frankl who had
   studied with Freud and Jung when young. Then early in his career he was
   sent to the Nazi Concentration camps where he survived from 1941
   through 1945. In the camps he mentally re-wrote his first book whose
   manuscript had been confiscated at the time of his arrest. He called
   his theory Logotherapy and the book was Man's Search for Meaning.
   Speaking at a seminar in Anahiem, California in the early 90's, Frankl
   stated that in the camps he would, at times, pretend to himself that he
   was actually in the future, remembering his experiences and noting how
   he was able to survive them. His years of suffering took him to the
   conclusion that even in the worst imaginable of circumstances, life can
   be assigned a worthwhile meaning. This conclusion was the heart of
   Frankl's psychological orientation. Logotherapy asserts that all human
   beings have a will to find meaning, and that serious behavioural
   problems develop when they cannot find it. The therapy helps patients
   handle the responsibility of choices and the pain of unavoidable
   suffering by helping them decide to give life meaning.

   An early contributer to Existential Psychology was Rollo May who was
   influenced by Kierkegaard.

   One of the most prolific writers on techniques and theory of
   Existential Psychology is Irvin D. Yalom.

   With complete freedom to decide, and through being responsible for the
   outcome of said decisions, comes anxiety--or angst--about the choices
   made. Anxiety's importance in existentialism makes it a popular topic
   in psychotherapy. Therapists often use existential philosophy to
   explain the patient's anxiety. Psychotherapists using an existential
   approach believe that the patient can harness his or her anxiety and
   use it constructively. Instead of suppressing anxiety, patients are
   advised to use it as grounds for change. By embracing anxiety as
   inevitable, a person can use it to achieve his or her full potential in
   life.

   Humanistic psychology also had major impetus from existential
   psychology and shares many of the fundamental tenets.

Terror management theory

   Terror management theory is a developing area of study within the
   academic study of psychology. It looks at what researchers claim to be
   the implicit emotional reactions of people, when they are confronted
   with the psychological terror of knowing we will eventually die.

Existentialism in popular culture

     * During the witty introduction sequence of the 1957 film Love in the
       Afternoon it is said that "even existentialists" make love in
       Paris.

     * The 2004 film I ♥ Huckabees revolved around two existential
       detectives, who aimed to help people solve their personal
       existential crises.

     * The band the Exies is named after existentialism.

     * The band Straylight Run was made famous almost overnight by their
       popular single Existentialism on Prom Night, a song that does in
       fact deal with the basic existential issues common to the teenage
       experience.

     * The burlesque existentialist is a stock character of the popular
       imagination, dressed in black and uttering gnomic assertions about
       life and the universe.

     * Existentialism was parodied in Paul Jennings's theory of
       resistentialism.

     * THOM PAIN (based on nothing) by Will Eno.

     * Much of Jhonen Vasquez's work contain heavy tones of
       Existentialism.

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