Existence outline

Leilani Merrill

1. EXISTENTIALISM DEFINED–
2. This philosophy must concentrate on the individual and his or her confrontation with this world.
3. The world is fundamentally irrational.
4. Traditional philosophy is remote from the real concerns of daily life.
5. We live in an inexplicable and absurd world, because no explanations are provided for why things are the way they are.
6. No preordained order in the universe.
7. Triviality, Emptiness, Senselessnes and the inability to correctly communicate plague the human existence.
8. Such provides the basis for dread, anxiety, self doubt and despair.
9. The most prevalent aspect of life is the necessity of choice. 
10. Dostoyevsky argues that people do not want the necessity of choice.  They want magic, mystery, and authority. 
11. Despite of the fact that people seek refuge and guidance through a heavenly divination, worldly catastrophes remain.
12. Articulates the importance of individual existence, and moral individualism.
13. The individuals must confront the absurd and irrational world.

2.   HISTORICAL CONTEXT

      – Europe experiences the devastating repercussions of World War Two.

-Within a country traumatized by the repercussion of war, individuals failed to find  meaning or reason to the tragic existence which surrounded them.

      -Sir Henry Read concluded that with the publication of Camus’ book, The Rebel, “a cloud that has oppressed the European mind for more than a century begins to lift.  After an age of anxiety, despair, and nihilism, it seems possible once more to hope-to have confidence in man and in the future.”

-People pondered that there must be no meaning or structure to Universe.

– Due to such a profound ideology emerged, and hence the Existential Philosophy surfaced.

3.   OTHER POPULAR EXISTENTIALISTS-

      – Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) founded the pivotal maxim, “ I must find a truth for me… the idea for which I can live or die.”

– Kierkegaard argued that existence on earth must lead a sensitive person to despair.

-Earth is a realm of dread, fear, and suffering.

-Despair- inescapable result of an individual needing to make religious and ethical decisions as an individual. 

-Again, the theme that humans cannot handle the necessity of choice for themselves alone.

– To Kierkegaard, the most significant question is that is there anything in the world or outside the world to prevent humanity from being swept away into the  tides of despair?

-He deduced that nothing worldly can prevent this occurrence, therefore only a subjective allegiance to God can grant relief to suffering and despair.

– Friedrich Nietzsche- (1844-1900)

– The world is determined by one’s own will-to-power.

-According to Nietzsche, Western Society was comprised of a mass of individuals, or a herd of people which needed to be led and told what to do.

-To Nietzsche, the herd animal is cowardly, fearful, and reactionary.

-The Western populace has become an amalgamation of such ideals. 

-Only the Superman can vanquish the frivolous nature of society.

-The Superman embraces the will to power, defeats the existing mentality.

-The Superman creates his own happiness, and his own relative sense of morality.

-Jean Paul Sartre- (1905-1980)

–Argued against the existence of God, he believed that there is no God, and humans were not created by the power of God. 

–There is no such thing as human nature.

–Sartre stated that, “existence precedes essence.” That is, one must exist, live their life, to create their own individual essence one in which they have created solely through themselves.

Albert Camus

–Born in Mondovi Algeria Nov 7, 1913. 

– Raised in poverty. 

–Intellectual young man, as his talent was recognized by Loui Germain, whom ensured that the young man would attend the most highly acclaimed high school. 

–Became stricken by tuberculosis which caused a burden upon his aspirations of teaching.

–Became a journalist for the Algeria Republican. 

–Was dismissed from Algeria for drawing attention to the corruption of society. 

–At the time of World War Two, he was a prominent figure in the Combat, the French Resistance paper. 

–Major works was The Stranger, The Rebel, and The Plague.

–Was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1960. 

      -Fundamental theme in his work The Myth of Sisyphus is the absurd.

      -The absurd is the relentless conflict between human reason and the irrational universe.    

-Human beings maintain the inherent desire for reason and order within the universe. 

-Humans are idealistic and desire unity, clarity, and meaning in the universe.  But what we invariably find is corruption and conflict.

– There is a doomed juxtaposition between what we desire (clarity and reason) and what we get (haziness and tragedy.