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Intro to existentialism
Principles of existentialism
Intro to existentialism
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Freedom, a seven lettered word that varies in meaning for every individual. Freedom is the basis of human rights, without the freedom to do as one please, one feels confine. This confinement leads to many interesting tales of human curiosity expanding and exploring, such as Leonardo DiCaprio fascination with corpses or the escaping of where freedom is not a necessity such as North Korea. There are many aspects to freedom, it is reflected in actions, decisions and thought. In existentialism, one’s philosophical approach is that one is free and is the deciding factor of everything that they choose in their life. In existentialism since one has ultimate freedom in everything, without any authority deciding for them, this vast array of thought that can come for anyone from anywhere creates hell for others, because one is unable to control others.
In existentialism one’s mind and body are ultimately free, they have nothing controlling their actions; that freedom is in the way one communicates, one’s actions, one’s choices, one’s
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I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the “burning marl”. Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is-other people!” (No Exit, 45). Hell is other people in many situations. There are seven billion and counting people on earth, all with an incomprehensible amount of freedom. This infinite amount of freedom varies from person to person, one may have a different view on freedoms that one should have, depending on many factors, and because of this many things are viewed differently, this causes hell. These varying in freedoms and what one views as right and wrong can be affected by those one gives authority, such as Garcin and Estelle. Those who are similar to Inez, that face their actions, are seen as ones that creating hell, because they refuse to conform. Within existentialism, the reason why hell is other people is because of
In the play No Exit, by Jean Sartre, the author attempts to describe his vision of what Hell is, a subject that many have pondered, but none really know. Sartre was under the impression that Hell had nothing to do with the fire and brimstone, as many people before him believed. He instead voiced his thoughts through the characters of No Exit. “Obviously there aren’t any physical torments…and yet we’re in hell. And no one else will come here. We’ll stay in this room together, the three of us, forever and ever…in short there’s someone absent here, the official torturer…each of us shall act as the torturer of the two others.” (No Exit, p. 22) The three main characters in this play, Inez, Garcin, and Estelle create the hell they were banished to, but not by using the “racks and red-hot pincers” of the past, but by hurting each other in a disturbed form of a “love triangle”, where the love really doesn’t exist.
Existentialism is a philosophical movement rooted in the work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who lived in the mid-1800s. The movement gained popularity in the mid-1900s thanks to the work of the French intellectuals Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus, including Sartre’s Being and Nothingness (1943). According to existentialists, life has no purpose, the universe is indifferent to human beings, and humans must look to their own actions to create meaning, if it is possible to create meaning at all. Existentialists consider questions of personal freedom and responsibility.Existentialism, better classified as a movement rather than a doctrine of philosophy, emerged in the mid to
What is hell? Is it fire and brimstone? Is it one’s worst fears come to life? Is it an endless nightmare? Is it an eternity of demon torturing? Is it reliving the same horrible day over and over again for forever? What is hell? Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the play “No Exit.” It is an existentialist play. Sartre uses his characters to describe the setting saying, “Yes we have lots of time in hand. All time,” (43) and “... yet we’re in hell.” (17) Garcin, a character in the one act play, thinks that hell is simply other people. This is a running theme in the play as even another character, Inez, says, “I mean that each of us will act as a torturer of the two others.” (17) While many religions have their own versions of hell (like
Free will is the capacity that one has in choosing one’s own course of action, basically, having free will means that one has the ability to decide what one wants to do and he is the unique source of the decision. Moreover, free will is divided in two varieties, surface freedom and ultimate freedom; the first one is the ability to make your own choices to fulfill your desires, on the other hand, the second one is the power to form your own desires and then fulfill them. Most of the philosophers agree that the surface freedom exists and that we have it, however, the big question is in the existence of ultimate freedom.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) is referred to as the most popular existentialist of the twentieth century and was born out of the third force movement in psychology. The third force movement of the twentieth century consisted of a diverse collection of psychologists and philosophers that did not all share universal principles, but were all reacting to the new orientation of psychology, which differed from behaviorism in that it did not reduce psychological processes to reactions to mechanical laws of physiological events but acknowledged the mediating and active role of the mind (Brennan, 2003). Despite the diversity of the third force movement, there were commonly shared views amongst its pioneers. One of these views was the focus on personal freedom and responsibility in terms of decision making and fulfilling ones potential (Brennan, 2003). The mind was considered to be active, and dynamic and a place where an individual could express their uniquely human abilities of cognition, willing, and judgments (Brennan, 2003). There was an emphasis on the self, and an acknowledgement of the strive of humans toward individually defined personality development. Existentialism holds that an individual is free to define his or her life course through his or her choices and decisions, but individuals are responsible for the consequences of their personal choices and decisions, and therefore freedom is a burdensome source of anguish (Brennan, 2003).
Existentialism, which spread rapidly over continental Europe after the First World War, is essentially the analysis of the condition of man, of the particular state of being free, and of man's having constantly to use his freedom in order top answer the ever- changing and unexpected challenges of the day. According to the Existentialists, the starting point of every philosophical investigation is concrete human existence. That means that human personality in itself should point the way to the absolute value of reality. A single definition of existentialism is impossible. Definitions, provided by dictionaries are only part of what existentialism is about. …central to each definition is the assertion that existentialism is a theory or statement about the nature of man's existence. (1) The term is so difficult to define because, unlike other terms, existentialism is not universal. In other words, there are no two existentialists, which share exactly the same values or beliefs. Although, here is one major theme: a stress on individual existence, subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice.
“He? No, he hadn 't the guts for that. Still, he 'd every reason; we led him a dog 's life. As a matter of fact, he was run over by a tram. A silly sort of end... I was living with them; he was my cousin,” is what Inez had to say in response to Garcin’s question on her affair with Florence (Sartre). Her hatred for men only makes the situation in hell worse because Garcin is there and Inez feels that he is the reason she cannot get to Estelle. According to the Northern Existential Group, a group of people who analyze and discuss the meanings of plays, “Inez quickly realizes that the idea must be that ‘each of us will act as torturer of the other two” (Hell is other people?). According to this quote from the article “Hell is other People” by The Northern Existential Group, Inez does realize that the whole reason they are all together in the room is to tear each other apart and make the others’ lives, literally,
The Existential Approach stands for respect for the person, for exploring new aspects of human behavior, and for divergent methods of understanding people (Corey, 2013). Existentialists do not focus on instinctive drives or internalized others but on the person's unavoidable confrontation with the givens of the human condition. Yalom (1980) described those givens as death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. (Bauman, & Waldo, 1998).
The quote “Hell is other people” means that hell is maybe not how we imagined it to be, but is instead the lack of the things we find good in others. In the beginning of the play Garcín asks where the torture devices are. He is completely lost on why he went to hell. Once he realize what he did he couldn’t do anything to fix it. The three characters in the play Garcín, Inez, and Estelle, are all stuck in this room together. They're trying to figure out what they did to make it to hell. They also wonder what their punishment will be since none of them can see or hear any torture actually happening. What they don't realize is that they are each other's punishments for eternity. They are all complete opposite of each other which brings the worst
Existentialism believes that a persons own judgement is the only thing that matter. All over the play the characters have shown self doubt."because yoy amuse
Existentialism could be defined as a philosophical theory that focuses on the individual person being a free and responsible person who determines his or her own development through acts of will. Existentialism is a thesis that has been discussed by some of the greatest philosophical minds ever to live. Minds such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche all had their own view on what existentialism was and major impact on the development of this thesis. Each of these philosophies played a huge influence on a great mind that would come later on in history. That was the mind of Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre, who is considered one of the great philosophical minds, based many of his ideas around the idea of existentialism and phenomenology. Throughout this paper we will take an extensive look into the life and mind of Jean-Paul Sartre.
Firstly, Existentialism alone is the philosophy made around personal experience or responsibility and its consequences to one's individual actions and existence by free will and absence of moral judgement. In fact, it is a pessimistic and hopeless theory of human purpose on earth and existence for it describes human condition, his struggles, challenges and great progresses and the will to find higher purpose. Theorists and philosophers agree that it is characterized by free will, inescapable negative consequences, responsibility of decision-making, individuality and indifference of the world towards them. Moreover, Jean-Paul Sartre, an 20th century philosopher who influenced existentialism, argues this theory that the individual is eternally free. xxxBriefly, existentialism does not focus on studying human nature and how it became that way but rather how its study undermines the individual in question. The individual can make his own decisions while breaking the barrier of his so-called nature but bear the consequences of his actions alone.
Existentialism is the philosophical theory that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of there will. Friedrich Nietzsche central message concludes that “the basic drive of all living things is not a struggle to survive, but a struggle for power …” (p.530). Jean-Paul Sartre has a different central message stating “Nothing tells me what to do. I myself decide” (p.317). These messages show why they are regarded as existentialists.
The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte is known to have established existentialism in France after the liberation of Paris in 1944. Existentialism is the philosophy that states that the values people choose influences the choices they make and how they interpret the meanings of their decisions. When existentialism was introduced in the United States, it challenged Americans to access their ethical standards from a different perspective.
Existentialism emerged as a movement in twentieth century literature and philosophical works. It described the belief that took the human subject, not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual and his or her conditions of existence. According to Kafka’s personal beliefs on existentialism, people have both an individual side of themselves and a side with the responsibility of society. If a person chooses themselves before society, they wont have the support of their community. However, if an individual picks society before themselves, their individuality will be lost. At the beginning of ...