“Existentialism: What’s It All About & Who Cares?”
Patrick Jemmer
Swansea Philosophy Café: Wednesday 9 January 2013
How can we classify it? Existentialism maps out a believable and engaging “blueprint” for living a “good life,” rather than being a single, unified, and unchanging “school” of philosophical doctrine. We could say that is a way of life for individuals bold enough not to “prefer a handful of ‘certainty’ to a cartful of beautiful possibilities.”
How did it start? We might see Existentialism as originating with the Ancient Greeks who asked the all-embracing question, “What is the good life?” Over a thousand years later, after the “Enlightenment,” thee ideas were refined and extended. Hume (1711 – 1776) began to investigate the nature of science, and to ask “What is it to know anything?” Kant (1724 – 1804) was trying to explain the basic, general relationships between the reasoning human mind and experience. Hegel’s (1770 – 1831) “phenomenological” or “self-observational” investigations into the nature and operation of the human mind produced a vast theoretical "system” explaining the links between the subject and object of knowledge, between human consciousness and its environment, and gave a general framework for understanding art, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, and religion.
How did it develop? Next came, for example, Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860), Nietzsche (1844 – 1900), Jaspers (1883 – 1969), Heidegger (1889 – 1976), Merleau-Ponty (1908 – 1961),
Existentialism is a philosophy that puts emphasis on the existence of a person’s freedom or life. In a human point of view, it means to believe in oneself, not a group or religion. (33)
Existentialism is not a full-fledged worldview, therefore it takes on two basic forms; atheistic existentialism and theistic existentialism.
The world is a simple place but often at times, it seems more complicated than it really is. People exist in a world where others do not know of them because the world is so big. Existentialism is the belief that a person creates one’s self with the influence of external factors. However, more importantly, it is how a person is able to cope with these factors that allow a person to live their life. Existentialism is a key factor that is prominent throughout the story. The main characters in the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, are all influenced by outside factors that include a pregnancy substitute to make babies and pre-plan their futures, living in a controlled environment and by making the citizens live in a constant hallucination of “happiness”.
Jean-Paul Sartre is a outspoken advocate for Existentialism he state’s “We are condemned to be free… We are completely abandoned in the world with nothing to fall back on…consequence of our absolute freedom we are absolutely responsible for all our decisions”
What is existentialism? To put it simply, it is the belief that people are searching to find out who and
This essay will discuss how fate and free will as existential concerns are interrogated in the views expressed by both Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, specific reference will be made to existential philosophy as a relevant analytical paradigm, intertextuality as a relevant theoretical paradigm, Hamlet’s soliloquys as a view of understanding his views of existential concerns and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s awareness of the process of life and death. Existential philosophy as relevant analytical paradigm Existentialist philosophy emerged in the 20th century and it analyses existence and the way humans find themselves existing in the world, the notion is that humans first exist and then the individual spends a lifetime changing their essence. Existentialism is about finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice and personal responsibility. Hamlet explores existential questions like, who am i? What is mankind?
1.Rollo May's concept of care, love and will is based on his Existentialist theory that started to gain popularity in Europe after the Second World War. The main concept and aim of the Existentialist theory is that the modern people are less aware of their responsibilities, and are afraid to take up their responsibilities. The importance of the concept of care, love and will, as given by Rollo May is highly important. According to Rollo, care is an active process. The importance of this process lies in the fact that there is a certain level of importance associated with everything on the planet. People, relationships, family, and responsibilities; all require a certain level of care and worry. Love, on the other hand, means to show respect and care for the other person. The affirmation that the other person has some value in the heart of the other person. The third important part is the will. The will can be defined as the commitment that an individual makes to commit to another person. It is believed by Rollo May that a man is unable to understand the powers, origins and the relationships that love and will have. There may be some cases in which love and will could be superimposed (Ryckman, 2007, p. 423). The potential and heritage that the humanities have can only be appreciated by showing care and love. The importance of love and the will can only be understood in its proper form when an
According to Sartre, existentialism is a principle that provides human life possible. It also determines that every truth and action we know involves both an environmental and a human subjectivity.
According to Sartre, existentialism is a principle that provides human life possible. It also determines that every truth and action we know involves both an environmental and a human
Existentialism is best considered a philosophical movement established after World War II. People in this movement examined the problem of life for human beings. Each existentialist believes that life is absurd and has no meaning. Their common concern was with the “human condition”. Existentialists have differing evaluations of the human condition but all of them believe that “existence precedes essence”. This means that people are born without pre-existing or pre-determined circumstances or rules by which to conduct their lives. Sartre was an atheist and therefore didn’t believe in the morals set forth by the divine creator God. People come into the world lacking essence, and simply exist and can make choices to determine their essence. All existentialists reject systems which propose to have answers to the definitive questions of life. Existentialists believed that believing in an all-encompassing system such as Christianity was detrimental to a person’s true capability of being free. People who believe in God believe that “essence precedes existence”, which is the opposite of existentialist belief.
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines existentialism as “a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will”. Existentialist writings feature a protagonist that does or does not make their own life, their own way. Existentialism promotes the ideology that man’s actions are the only things that determine a person’s existence and that all events brought on by man are mutually exclusive and not the doing of coincidence or of any higher being. Existentialists are typically atheists, and existentialism heavily bases itself off of the ideas of isolation, alienation, and self-determination. Franz Kafka’s classic
Existentialism developed in the more extensive feeling to twentieth century rationality that is focused upon the investigation about presence and of the best approach people discover themselves existing or their existence as a whole. Existentialism takes its name from those philosophical topic of 'existence ', this doesn 't involve that there will be homogeneity in the way presence will be on be comprehended. On simpler terms, existentialism will be an logic worried for finding self and the intending from claiming an aggregation through spare will, choice and also personage obligation. Existentialism turned into prominent following those Second World War. In spite of seeing its philosophical viewpoint is little spot complex,
The conscious essence is what defines each person as an individual. In the adolescent years one establishes their true self and begins to feel out their adult personality as they mature and grow as a person. For some this is a daunting task filled with confusion and self-doubt. The existentialist movement focuses on the independence of an individual to shape their lives through choices which help create their own values and give meaning to their own lives. The absurdity of the natural world, authenticity of the individual, and the angst that comes with life, which define existentialism, would manifest themselves with the end of World War II and the onset of the Cold War. These same beliefs can be seen
This assignment is about “the main features of the existentialist view” (UoPeople, 2017), or existentialism, as well as the major strengths and weaknesses, and what is appealing or discouraging about Sartre’s Theory. First and foremost, existentialism is a philosophical theory or “approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will” (Prezi, 2017). In other ways is a philosophy that focuses on human existence and the important of their personal freedom, decision, and commitment. It “originated with the 19th century philosophers” (Philosophybasics, 2017) Kierkegaard, who was religious, and Nietzsche, an anti-Christian, though “they never used
Existentialism as a school of thought and literary movement burgeoned in the two decades following World War II. Although not typically labeled as existentialist writers, J. G. Ballard and Bernard Malamud created notable works during this time period that directly address themes of non-conformity, dehumanization, and individualism. Whereas “Billenium” illustrates a society that has reached an irreparable level of corruption, “The Prison” depicts human evil at a stage where it is still possible to be corrected.