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Contribution of existentialism
Free essay on existentialism
Free essay on existentialism
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Every mind has struggled with Existentialism. Its founders toiled to define it, philosophers strained to grasp it, teachers have a difficult time explaining it. Where do these Existentialists get the right to tell me that my one and only world is meaningless? How can a student believe that someone was sitting in jail and figured out that our existence precedes our essence? Existentialism places man in the center of his own universe; free to make his own choices and decide his purpose. Many of us are not ready for this.
Fortunately, the world has come to trust its authors. You can't just sit down and explain the Existentialist belief to a person - it must be put into the context of the human situation. Through stories and situations the ideas are defined - Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea, Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and theater of the absurd plays like Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Eugene Ionesco's Amedee - they spin you around on your chair so you are facing the real world, and then shove you right into the middle of it.
Existentialism especially turns our attention toward the meaningless, repetitive and dull existences we all must lead. Two works, The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus and Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett have exemplified these existential points in contrasting perspectives. In the essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus takes a look at the story of Sisyphus, a man that scorns the Gods, challenges their power, and causes a lot of trouble in his life and afterlife. As his punishment, "His whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing." He pushes and strains his entire body to move a boulder up a mountain slope, and when he reaches the top, it rolls back to the very bottom. Sisyphus must repeat this task for eternity. This is a lonely and painful experience. At first, Sisyphus must feel such agony and regret, but Camus believes that Sisyphus is happy. Maybe the first, second, or hundredth time that he returned to his rock, he realized: though his fate ties him to this ceaseless and futile labour, he is the owner of that fate. Once we are conscious of the useless and absurd things we do daily, we can accept them as our duty, and revel in joy that we accomplish even the most meaningless goals. Sisyphus walks down the slope ready to try again, and ready to fail, because it is his purpose.
A good example of what might happen to someone going through an existential crisis described by Camus happens in the short story The Wall by Jean Paul Sartre. It is a story of three men that are sentenced to be executed and their time spent leading up to it. The main character Pablo at first loses basically all desire to live because he knows that his death is imminent. I am going to attempt to try and describe what I believe Albert Camus might think of the characters from the short story The Wall. I will from the point of view of Camus and explain what Pablo and the other characters might have done differently to use their freedom to the best of their ab...
But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.” This build on the essential idea of existentialism being in “a world that is stripped of all comforting illusions, explanations, and guidelines, and an existence that is essentially solitary and personally challenging. The absurdity arises in the paradoxical confrontation between the human hunger and yearning for meaning, purpose, and explanation and an awareness of the meaninglessness or the meaning-neutrality of a universe that cannot provide a grand design or a set of directions for living.” Albert Camus, defends his theory and writings by accepting the fact that many of existentialism questions are unable to be answered due to the nature of the philosophy understanding that it’s not comprehendible through reason. He even argues towards other existentialist who seek to answer the questions proposed by using transcendence through God as a cure for
“Existence.....what a strange word. He, set out by determination & curiosity, knows no existence, knows nothing [relevant] to himself. The petty destinations of others & everything on this world, in this world, he knows the answers to. Yet they have no purpose to him. He seeks knowledge of the unthinkable, of the [indefinable], of the unknown. He explores the everything...using his mind, the most powerful tool known to him. Not a physical barrier blocking the limits of exploration, time thru thought thru dimensions....the everything is his realm. Yet, the more he thinks, hoping to find answers to his questions, the more come up. Amazingly, the petty things mean much to him at this time, how he wants to be normal, not this transceiver of the everything” (Klebold 4). This quote was taken from the journal of Dylan Klebold.
Existentialism is a branch of philosophy mostly concerned with the ideas of choice, meaning, and the limits of existence. Existentialism denies any form of predetermined systems, for they generally imply an external source of meaning, or power. Existentialism is often misconstrued of being nihilistic (if there is no predetermined meaning, then the world is completely meaningles...
...gical argument for that of existence that parallels Wittgenstein’s investigations on the meanings of words. In my own life, I accept that my existence is largely ambiguous and that I am disclosing who I am every instant I make a choice, even if I direct that choice toward a goal. The indeterminate characteristic of ambiguity may make some uneasy when applying the word to their existence, but I find comfort in knowing that my existence can ultimately be defined as I see fit. I am glad that, through my own freedom, I am able to live and make sense of the world; I exist.
Taylor is careful to identify exactly which features of Sisyphus predicament account for the lack of meaning. He argues that the facts that Sisyphus task is both difficult and endless are irrelevant to its meaninglessness. What explains the meaninglessness of Sisyphus’s life is that all of his work amounts to nothing. One way that Sisyphus’s life could have meaning, Taylor proposes, is if something was produced of his struggles. For example, if the stone that he rolls were used to create something that would last forever then Sisyphus would have a meaningful life. Another separate way in which meaning might be made present is if Sisyphus had a strong compulsion for rolling the stone up the hill. Taylor points out, though, that even given this last option, Sisyphus’s life has not acquired an objectives meaning of life; there is still nothing gained besides the fact he just ...
Existentialism as a distinct philosophical and literary movement belongs to the 19th and 20th centuries. Although existentialism is impossible to define, some of its common themes can be identified. One of the major theme is the stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice. 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, was the first writer to call himself existential. He wrote in his journal, "I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.
Existentialism is a term that was coined specifically by Jean-Paul Sartre in regards to his own life. Sartre had adopted the Atheistic approach to life and its meaning, and while he was not the first or only one to do so, was the first and only one to come up with a way to describe it. Under Existentialism, man lives without higher power or guidance and must rely solely on himself and what he is aiming to do in order to lead a fulfilling life. This can be anything. Critics of Sartre propose that, because such a vast array of options exists within the meaningfulness of life, this philosophy is obsolete and trivial in nature. This is not true, as it is seen in everyday examples – celebrities, namely – that a thirst
Does life ever seem pointless and discouraging? In Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Camus describes the correlation between Sisyphus’s fate and the human condition. In the selection, everyday is the same for Sisyphus. Sisyphus is condemned to rolling a rock up a mountain for eternity. Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus” forces one to contemplate Sisyphus’s fate, how it relates to the human condition, and how it makes the writer feel about her part in life.
Existentialism is a term associated with intellectual history. Through propagation of postwar literary concepts and philosophical works, existentialism became part of a cultural drift that prospered in the 1940’s and 50’s, especially in Europe. This concept points out unique groups of philosophical quandaries and now identifies with distinct twentieth and twenty-first century inquiries. It is not so much concerned with “existence” indefinitely, but more precisely the assertion that human existence requires new classifications that are not found in the theoretical range of neither ancient or modern thought. Human beings as a whole can be established neither as beings with set attributes, nor as beings interacting with an abundance of objects. From an existentialist view, to know the truths of science is not enough to understand what exactly a human being is. Human beings cannot possibly be completely understood in terms of basic sciences, such as biology, psychology, physics, etc. They also cannot be understood in just a dualist, “mind and body” view. Existentialism does not reject the cogency of these categories, it just simply states that these cannot be the only traits examined, when trying to understand what it is to be a human. Neither moral theory nor scientific thinking is sufficient. Therefore, existentialism can be defined as “a 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad” (Merriam-Webster).
Existentialism is the epitome of the unknown. There is no straightforward explanation of what exactly it is, there is only certain characteristics and behaviors that describe existentialist views. Throughout today’s world, there are examples of it everywhere, it’s found in movies, books, songs, and just people in general. Existentialists are known to think and do for themselves only. They believe that to understand what it means to be human requires understanding of themselves first. Some very well known pieces of entertainment existentialism is found in are: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. The Stranger is a book written about a young man whose mother dies, which soon leads him to becoming acquainted with the feeling of not caring about what his actions do to others or himself. The main character Meursault starts helping his friend Raymond, carry out ways to torment his mistress. Out of nowhere while at the beach, Meursault shoots Raymond’s mistress’s brother. He is thrown into jail and tried, but he seems to not be affected as much as he should about his actions. He first finds it hard to live without cigarettes, women, and nature, but he soon finds out he doesn’t need any of those. After being sentenced to death, he is suggested to turn away from his atheism but later realizes that human existence has no greater meaning. This realization and acceptance is what truly makes him happy (Camus). Next, The Breakfast Club is a very relatable movie about high school students suffering the consequences of their actions in detention. The kids are all of ...
Existentialism is defined as a philosophical movement that human beings are completely free and responsible for their own actions. Existentialists will try not to cause waves and remain completely uninvolved with anyone because they do not want to hurt anybody. There is absolutely no such thing as an existentialist because he would have to be so uninvolved to the point where he would not be able to live at all. Although the two stories: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Stranger by Albert Camus are very different in approach, their endings are similar in that they both support the basics of existentialism.
Existentialism is a form of living a certain way but not living at all. Beliefs of existentialism are, Man cannot better himself meaning, living life without trying and just doing. Existence is chaotic and meaningless. A lot of existentialism beliefs, are concepts of there’s no point in life and people are just there because they have to and there’s no point in trying to be better. People who believe in existentialism tend to have no emotion because life is suffering so there’s no point in feeling. These ideas are expressed in The Stranger through a character named Meursault whom is a prime example of existentialism. His personality fits a lot of the beliefs in existentialism which makes him an odd character and stand out more than the rest. Through Albert Camus novel, The Stranger, Camus states that life is absurd and existence is chaotic and meaningless and an individual creates their own values and determines a meaning to their life.
My understanding of existence is what my mind reasons it to be. Even if someone tells me what existence is to them, I must still consider their comments in the context of my own knowledge and interpret it as what existence means to me. For example, a passenger in the airport lounge complains that a flight delay will lose him a valuable contract. I know what the loss of a contract means, but only because I can relate it to my own experience of a similar situation. I then make an assumption that it means the same to him, but I cannot be certain of that. I can only know what existence means to me, and it is egocentric subjectivism that takes this to its ultimate limit.
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.