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Existentialism3.pptxexistentialism
Jessika Harlow
Existentialism
A philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice.
It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe.
Associated mainly with certain 19th and 20th century European philosophers who shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject – not merely the thinking subject.
History of existentialism
Existentialist-type themes appear in early Buddhist and Christian writings.
In the 17th Century, Blaise Pascal suggested that, without a God, life would be meaningless, boring and miserable, much as later Existentialists believed.
Advocates for individual autonomy and self determination, like John Locke created a start to the existential movement.
19th and 20th century Philosophers
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855): prolific writer in the Danish “golden age” of intellectual and artistic activity.
Considered the first existentialist philosopher and the “father of existentialism.”
His work crosses boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, literary criticism and fiction.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881): Russian novelist, short story writer, journalist, and philosopher.
His literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th century Russia.
Wrote 11 novels, 3 novellas, 17 short stories and numerous other works – considered by some literary critics as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature.
19th and 20th century Philosophers
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): German philosopher and cultural critic who published intensively in the 1870s and 1880s.
Famous for uncompromising criticisms of traditional European morality and religion, as well as of conventional philosophical ideas and social and political pieties associated with modernity.
Often associated with late modern thinkers such as Marx and Freud who advanced a “hermeneutics of suspicion” against traditional values.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980): arguably the best known philosopher of the 20th century.
Commonly considered the “father of existential philosophy”, whose writings set the tone for intellectual life in the decade immediately following WWII.
Emphasized consciousness, freedom, subjectivity, dialectical thinking, and responsibility and the self.
Main beliefs
Existence is the ultimate reality and precedes consciousness.
“At first [man] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.” - Sartre
Rationality is a mechanism humans use to counter their existential anxiety.
Most existentialists believe that personal experience and acting on one’s own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth.
Famous Literary Works
Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
The Plague – Albert Camus
The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
Criticisms of existentialism
Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) criticized Sartre’s work, “Being and Nothingness” for projecting anxiety and meaninglessness onto the nature of existence itself.
Rodger Scruton claims that Sartre’s concept of bad faith is self inconsistent.
Marxists found existentialism countering their emphasis on the solidarity of human beings and their theory of economic determinism.
resources
wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky
www.philosophybasics.com/branch_existentialism.html
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sartre/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/
