existentialism
TRANSCRIPT
Existentialism1
Existentialism
Muzna AL Hooti
Sultan Qaboos University
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"'Know Thyself.' If I know myself, I know what I am; if I know what I am, then I will
know my place and purpose in the world . . . Any action I take as a result of my being
is correct [and] moral." This is how I understand myself as a being (Jimenez, 2003, p.
4-5). The term "existentialism" is derived from the word "existence" which means that
being is how individuals express it (Jimenez, 2003, p. 1).
Existentialism is a philosophy that takes "individuals' existence" as a priority.
All that he believes, "about that world . . . [his] feelings, thoughts, knowledge, [and]
ethics," are significant. Merleau-Ponty states, "I am the absolute source;" that is, the
self is understood through "personal insights" (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 1).
Existentialism appeared when the "idealistic optimism" was in conflict with
"human reason" or science. After World War I, the optimistic west was "shaken,"
"[the] disparate voices of doubt became lumped under a label that proclaimed them
representative of a new philosophy, existentialism" (Collins, 1996, p. 206). In this
period, France was a "shattered and defeated nation." After 1940, it was controlled by
the Nazi, so it is reasonable that the French would enfold a philosophy that reflects
their experience. (Faison, 2008, online book).
In this paper, I will reveal different dimensions of the existential philosophy.
First, I will talk about the philosophers who contributed in the development of
existentialism. Second, I will examine the areas that give existentialism life
nowadays. Third, I will show how some works of literature are influenced by the
existential philosophy. Finally, I will show how religions look at existentialism,
focusing on Christianity and Islam.
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The development of the existential philosophy
The first philosopher who established the basis of existentialism is Kierkegaard. He
was against Hegel's optimism that suggests that God has previously planned
everything for a human being. Kierkegaard separated God from human existence, so
that humans are not supposed to have a fixed knowledge in order to choose what they
will believe in (Collins, 1996, p. 206). He focused on individuals as subjects and he
dealt with the mind as conscious and with the self as dynamic (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31;
p. 47). His life was actually a model for his philosophy "albeit within strictly religious
context," and he made heroes of Jesus, for being an "outcast," and Socrates, for being
a skeptic (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31; Collins, 1996, p. 206-207). Kierkegaard divided life
into three hierarchical stages: "the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious." The person
tries to pass "the aesthetic" level, where life is seducing, to reach "the ethical" or
"serious commitment." Finally, when a person "chooses itself," he reaches the highest
level of being religious (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31). "[Kierkegaard] granted that his faith
was a personal choice rather than a logical conclusion, and he never lost touch with an
inner struggle between faith and doubt" (What you should think about existentialism,
2007).
"A second existential voice . . . is Friedrich Nietzsche." He argued against the
traditional "Western philosophy" that was presented by Plato and later was adopted by
Christianity (Collins, 1996, p. 207). He took a different path and he said, "I am not
narrow-minded enough for a system, not even for my own system" (Lavrin, 1997,
cited by Earnshaw, 2006, p. 46). Nietzsche argues that every man should conquer
himself to be a "higher man" or an "overman" that is "beyond good and evil" ; he
creates his own values. This is the foundation of the concept of a "superman"
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(Earnshaw, 2006, p.47; p. 51; Hill, 1999, p. 78). He supports experiencing everything,
even if it is risky, and breaking the habitual thoughts; that is, thinking outside of
conventional thoughts (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 49). Nietzsche supports his argument by
calling for "an art that is not consciously moral"; that is, a type of art that reveals the
"human animal," "and expresses the instincts, the life force, the will to power"
(Collins, 1996, p. 207).
Heidegger followed Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in which a conscious mind
comes from a solid human existence that is based on choice and feelings. He sees the
will of a person evident in his "desire for transcendence, to go beyond the given, [and]
to achieve what is not yet." After all, all man's actions are risky, but "would you rather
die fearful of taking risk with your life, or choosing to act with awareness of the
unavoidability of risk?" (Collins, 1996, p. 207-208). According to Heidegger, humans
have the character of "Dasein;" ("literally translated as [being-there]) that is, human
beings are aware that they exist and they question the meaning of existence and this
discriminates them from other creatures (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 60).
In the period of World War II, existentialism became famous because of Jean-
Paul Sartre's works. However, Sartre's existentialism tends to be pessimistic because
he knows the burden of taking a choice without having a reason for that choice
(Collins, 1996, p. 208). He states that "existence precedes essence;" that is, "a man
first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterwards
defines himself" (Saeverot, Reindal & Wivestad, 2013, p. 446). Sartre goes against
the idea that man is defined by a "pre-given nature" and he says that if a person
cannot be defined then it is because he starts as nothing and will not be anything until
"what he makes himself" (Sartre, 1973, cited by, Earnshaw, 2006, p. 74). According
to Sartre, things are "based on nothing" or they have no "material existence." This
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belief will lead to freedom (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 79; p. 87). For Sartre, freedom is to
deny that any power has the control over a person's life, "whether that power [is] God,
individual reason, science, political authority, or ethical obligation." As long as the
future is unknown, human beings are free (Collins, 1996, p. 208). Hill claims that
Sartre was trying to make changes in "political, social, and intellectual conditions"
and when he died, "existentialism . . . can no longer be considered a vital force"
(1999, p. 80).
Existentialism and literature
Existentialism influenced literature in France especially after World War II (Hill,
1999, p. 78). To start with, the novel The Trial by Kafka represents existentialism
metaphysically (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 10). The character K is arrested for unknown
reasons. He gets alienated in a world without rules. He seeks to know by whom he
was charged and who are the authorities and how he can ignore the accusation though
he is not in prison. After many events when K is closer to find the truth of his
situation, someone tells him a story about a man who tries to enter the "Law." The
doorkeeper of the front door will not let him and he is told that after the first door
there are other doors with tougher doorkeepers. The man does everything, but he fails.
When the man gets old and asks the doorkeeper what will happen to the door when he
dies, "the doorkeeper tells him the door will be closed- it exists for him only." This
explains the existential point of view about being as an individual; in other words,
"the fact that the door only exists for the man . . . suggests that meaning and truth are
individual matters, that whatever a man discovers is valid for him alone" (Earnshaw,
2006, p. 5-6).
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Second, Camus, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, tries to assert that the
universe should not be understood by "science and reason." He also notes that life is
worth living as long as we are living and people who commit suicide are convinced
that life is "no longer worth the struggle." He gives the sense that our being is not
necessary and we are "strangers to us" because we do not understand ourselves
(Earnshaw, 2006, p. 95; p. 96). Camus (2000) has written:
This very heart which is mine will for ever remain indefinable to me. Between
the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that
assurance, the gap will never be filled. For ever I shall be a stranger to myself
(as cited in Earnshaw, 2006, p. 97).
To Camus, freedom becomes a lie when a man understands that he is not free
to live and he does not have the power to control evil, yet by knowing this, he will
experience a "liberated feeling" (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 99). Also, in his novel The
Outsider, Camus shows that there's no internal meaning to the world. Doing
something is like doing any other thing; "to stay indoors or to murder are equivalent"
(Earnshaw, 2006, p. 102).
Another existential writer is Fyodor Dostevsky whose fictional characters
struggle between their evil and weak selves, and "the miracle and mystery of
recovery. "His exploration of the irrational and the depths of human despair has been
a major influence on . . . existentialism" (Hill, 1999, p. 79).
In addition, Sartre produced two plays, The Flies and No Exit, in which he
presented the themes of "solitude, freedom, alienation. And commitment" for the
people who were trying to do something against the authority of the occupying forces.
In his novel Nausea, the main character gets conscious about his being and his
freedom and that causes him "the anguish of nausea" (Hill, 1999, p. 79).
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Ernest Hemingway also has written some stories that reflect his existential
thoughts. "Obsession with war, trauma, social alienation, fear of death, [and]
insomnia," are abstract themes that Hemingway concretizes in his stories "Now I lay
me," "Soldier's home," "In another country," and "A clean well-lighted place." He
also refers indirectly in these stories that people are lonely and Godless (Gomez,
2013, p. 2; p. 4).
Regarding poetry, existentialist tendencies were found in "Blake , . . .
Holderlin, and Musset" and even more in Baudelaire and Rimbaud. In fact,
Kierkegaard himself was a poet as well as a philosopher (Hill, 1999, p. 78).
Existentialism today
First of all, many philosophers embraced existentialism to reform the educational
process (Collins, 1996, p. 208). Existential thoughts are combined within education to
create an educational approach called "existential education." This approach cares
about gaining subjective truth rather than objective truth (Saeverot, Reindal &
Wivestad, 2013, p. 443). Saeverot, Reindal and Wivestad (2013) point out that
developing a student's "own interest and utilities" will lead to developing his
educational skills as well. Nowadays, schools are focusing on "self-realization and
individualization" to give individuals the opportunity to define themselves (p. 445).
They argue that an education which is "one-sidedly directed" to what is thought to be
useful "[lacks] the [necessary] depth . . . [for preventing] possible misuse of skills,
knowledge and competencies" (Saeverot, Reindal, and Wivestad, 2013, p. 448).
Second, psychiatrists and psychologists found that there are gaps in the ways
human beings are interpreted. Many question about the reality of a patient alerted and
motivated psychiatrists and psychologists to "[comprise] the . . . existential-analytic
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movement" (May, 1983, p. 37-38). Binswanger (1956) mentions that "the
understanding of man . . . has its basis in the new conception that man is no longer
understood in terms of some theory" (as cited in May, 1983, p. 38). What's more,
"existentialism stands squarely within the scientific tradition in its widest sense," but
it is more than that. It accepts that people show their realities in art, literature, and
philosophy, and it profits from the "cultural movements which express the anxiety and
conflicts of contemporary man" (May, 1983, p. 40). Existentialism and today's
psychology are close (May, 1983, p. 53). To prove that, the techniques that were
developed by Freud to investigate "the fragmentation of the [individuals]" are
connected with how Kierkegaard and Nietzsche understood a human being and his
"crisis." This connection offered the "existential psychotherapy" its deep foundation
(May, 1983. P. 61). Existential psychotherapy helps a person to make a bond with his
condition, and face his meaningless existence (Schneider, 2010).
Third, "American film noir and the hard-boiled fiction" (a style or genre of
cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace) are one
other area that represents existentialism. These films were made in the period 1944–
54. American noir examines existential concepts of "absurdity, contingency,
meaninglessness, and despair." Many Hollywood crime fiction films are inspired by
these stories that were written by the working class in America. However, it is argued
that the American film noir was developed separately from the European existential
philosophy (Faison, 2008, online book).
Existentialism and Religions
In Christianity, a person is a Christian if he has faith in the truths surrounding God
and this faith should be "professed to God in a prayer." That tells that the "essence of
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Christianity" is positioned in these "abstract" concepts that determine if a person is
Christian or not (Neal, 2009, p. 1).
The existentialism we see today is rooted most prominently in the writings of
Søren Kierkegaard, and as a consequence, it might be argued that modern
existentialism started out as being fundamentally Christian in nature, only later
diverging into other forms (Cline, n.d.).
Kierkegaard questioned The Book of Genesis in his book, “Fear and
Trembling” in which he examines the relationship between God and Abraham. He
asks how Abraham knows that it was God's voice telling him to sacrifice his son. This
concept of disbelieving is there in Islam too where some people don't agree with the
"Imam" or their prophets (Sarkis, 2013).
Such ideas created the concept of "Existential Christianity". Its "fundamental
assertion is that Christianity is not a system of beliefs, but rather a lifestyle expressed
existentially." It is claimed that the Christianity we see today is more of an
"Existential Christianity" because it adopted a lot existential concepts under religious
basis (Neal, 2009, p. 1).
As for Islam, It has to be clear that the idea of man in Islam is that he has
"three faculties; intellectual, emotion and desire." These three will lead him to God.
The difference in existentialism is that the main thing is human senses, which is the
"intellectual faculty" that can be tested. "All three faculties must be functioning in
Islam if we want to deconstruct the image of existentialism through Islam." Also, the
concept of nothingness in existentialism can be opposed in another Islamic concept of man,
the "caliph." We carry "amanah" from God to complete our duty on earth before going
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back to Him. Thus, the concept of nothingness is not acceptable in Islam as long as
we have a purpose to live (Hamaru, Aliasa & Rahman, 2011).
Conclusion
To sum up, Existentialism is a philosophy that takes the existence of a human being as
priority. It emerged due to the lack of faith after World War I in the work of
Kierkegaard who was a Christian philosopher. Later, existentialism was developed by
many other philosophers and writers like Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The latter
was considered as an existentialist who wanted to change the conventional systems of
beliefs. Furthermore, existentialism affected literature. This is proved by the works of
Kafka, Camus, and Hemingway that express the existential themes of freedom,
loneliness, and choice. Interestingly, existentialism is active today through education;
existential education focuses on students as individuals rather than groups. It is also
active in psychotherapy, as it fills a gap in understanding human psychology. Also,
American film noir and hard-boiled fiction were influenced by existentialism.
Finally, religions' view on existentialism is quite significant. Kierkegaard
himself was a religious existentialist, but he was against restricted religion.
Christianity of today is more of an "existential Christianity" because it combines
aspects of Christianity and existential philosophy. In Islam, the root of existentialism,
existence precedes essence, contradicts the Islamic concept of essence precedes
existence. Islam states clearly that people are on earth for a purpose and that is again
in conflict with what existentialism said about being and nothingness. In fact, all this
says that existentialism is a philosophy that appeared for reasonable purposes even
though it is not perfect. Clearly, the philosophers who developed existentialism are
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not coming from the same school because their ideas contradict one another
sometimes, despite how close they are. It is also interesting that people nowadays are
taking advantage of the positive aspects of existentialism in Education and
psychotherapy. Of course, religions don’t agree with everything in existentialism
because it breaks the sacred rules that religions hold until now.
References List
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