Introduction To Existentialism

Introduction to Existentialism
Literature and Philosophy

WARNING:
EXISTENTIALISM DEALS WITH INTENSE THEOLOGICAL (“RELIGIOUS
STUDY”) AND ONTOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF BEING”) AS WELL AS
EPISTEMOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE”) ISSUES.
THIS CLASS IS NOT ENDORSING EXISTENTIALISM AS BEING

ANYTHING MORE THAN MERE THEORY. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
LEARNING THE TENETS OF EXISTENTIALISM AND RELATING THEM
TO LITERATURE.
EXISTENTIALISM CAN BE A WEE BIT DEPRESSING IT TENDS TO

PROJECT A “LIFE-IS-MEANINGLESS, GLASS-HALF-EMPTY” SORT OF
VIEW ON THINGS.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOVE IT YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND

IT.
What is
philosophy?
What does it all mean?
Why are we here?
What should I do with my life?
Philosophers analyze, they pick apart, and

then they try to come up with reasons for
their beliefs and reasoned answers for their
questions.
The Problem of Meaning
Humans crave meaning
A universe that makes sense
Create stories to make sense out of the universe; but
when the universe doesn’t cooperate you feel like a
stranger in the world
A complex
philosophy
emphasizing the
existence of the
human being, the
lack of meaning
and purpose in life,
and the solitude of
human existence…
ANDREW WYETH
Christina’s World (1948)
It was during the
Second World War,
when Europe found
itself in a crisis
faced with death and
destruction, that the
existential movement
began to flourish,
popularized in
France in the
1940s…
GEORGIO DE CHIRICO
Love Song
Two Different Types of Existentialists
Godly (Kierkegaard; Marcel and Maritain (Catholic); Tillich and Berdyaev
(Protestant) and Buber (Jewish))
Believe God exists, but people are alienated from Him.
Man is alienated from his God-like self, and the problem of his life is trying
to close that gap
freedom involves accepting the responsibility for choice and committing to
the choice
Ungodly (Sartre and Camus)
Do not believe God exists.
“Because there is no God to give purpose to the universe, each man must
accept individual responsibility for his own becoming.”
In choosing for himself, he chooses for all men “the image of man as he
ought to be.” He has to make good choices that others could follow
Big Ideas of Existentialism
Despite encompassing a
huge range of philosophical,
religious, and political
ideologies, the underlying
concepts of existentialism
MARK ROTHKO
are simple…
Untitled (1968)
Cogito ergo sum.
Existence Precedes Essence

“Existence precedes essence” implies that the human
being has no essence (no essential self).
Existence Before Essence
People are born like a blank slate and create their essence or
being through their unique experiences.
Tenant 1: Absurdism
• The belief nothing can explain or rationalize
human existence.
• There is no answer to “Why am I?”
• Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational
universe and any search for order will bring
them into direct conflict with this universe.
#2:Alienation or
Estrangement
• From all other humans
• From human
institutions
• From the past
• From the future
• We only exist right
now, right here…
EDGAR DEGAS
“L’absinthe” (1876)
Nothingness and Death
EDVARD MUNCH
Night in Saint Cloud
(1890)
#3: Nothingness and Death
• Death hangs over all of us. Our awareness of it
can bring freedom or anguish.
• “Nothingness is our inherent lack of self. We are
in constant pursuit of a self. Nothingness is the
creative well-spring from which all human
possibilities can be realized.” –Jean-Paul Sartre
#4: Freedom: Choice and Commitment
• Humans have freedom to choose

• Each individual makes choices that create his or
her own nature
• Because we choose, we must accept risk and
responsibility for wherever our commitments take
us
• “A human being is absolutely free and absolutely
responsible. Anguish is the result.”
–Jean-Paul Sartre
Dread and Anxiety
MAN RAY
Les Larmes (Tears)
#5: Dread and Anxiety
• Anxiety stems from our understanding and
recognition of the total freedom of choice that
confronts us every moment, and the individual’s
confrontation with nothingness.
KEY THEMES OF EXITENTIALIS
3. FREEDOM
“there is nothing else that acts through me, or that shoulders my
responsibility” For example, I say ‘I am a student’ (treating myself as
having a fixed, thing-like identity) or ‘I had no choice’ (treating myself
as belonging to the causal chain).
I am ascribing a fixed identity or set of qualities to myself, much as I

would say ‘that is a piece of granite’. In that case I am existing in denial
of my distinctively human mode of existence; I am fleeing from my
freedom.
This is inauthenticity or ‘bad faith’. As we shall see, inauthenticity is not

just an occasional pitfall of human life, but essential to it. Human
existence is a constant falling away from an authentic recognition of its
freedom.
THE END OF
EXISTENTIALISM
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Introduction to Existentialism

Literature and Philosophy

THIS CLASS IS NOT ENDORSING EXISTENTIALISM AS BEING

EXISTENTIALISM CAN BE A WEE BIT DEPRESSING IT TENDS TO

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOVE IT YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND

Philosophers analyze, they pick apart, and

Existence Precedes Essence

• Humans have freedom to choose

I am ascribing a fixed identity or set of qualities to myself, much as I

This is inauthenticity or ‘bad faith’. As we shall see, inauthenticity is not

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