Existentialism

An inquiry into purpose, meaning, truth, freedom, and faith Existentialism An inquiry into purpose, meaning, truth, freedom, and faith

What is Existentialism? “Existence precedes essence” – Sartre You are you (existence), an independent, before your labels (essence).

What is Existentialism? Late 19th and 20th century philosophy that poses: What does it mean to be alive? How do I make meaning in my life? What is my existence? How should I exist?

Think existentially Think about what your life is made of. Write these things down. Discuss You cannot remove yourself objectively from your own being (that’s called objectivism). You cannot be a spectator in your own life – like watching TV. I’ll prove it…imagine a lion for ten seconds. We all imagined the vague idea of a lion, but our own experiences and memories make our idea of what “lion” is different. One of you thought of Simba, another thought of a lion in Africa, another imagined a lion cub or a female lion. We did not all think of the same lion. This is because we cannot escape our own experiences or being. Therefore, since we cannot be objective, we must be active participants in living life. Refer back to what you wrote about your own life. Now try to pinpoint what the meaning or significance of your life is…yeah…it’s virtually impossible.

Yeah…kind of depressing. We are all just living to die.  BUT…people mistake Existentialism as the philosophy that says life has no meaning. This is far from the truth. It requires each individual to MAKE meaning for him or herself.

Plato Started It! What is Man? Plato is Socrates student. 350 BC The Greeks were fascinated by the relationship between the one and the many. Take men for example. There are many men: tall, short, fat, skinny, brae, cowardly, men with one leg, men with one eye, and eunuchs. There has even been the story of a pregnant man. No definition seem to cover all the exceptions. So what makes this man, and that man, both men? We have the same problem with other concepts like goodness, justice, courage. Every time you try to come up with an example there is an exception. So we come up with “forms” the perfect example: archetypes. (this is the lion example I just gave) WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THIS PHILOSOPHY? (This is also why its different from objectivism.) Existentialists favor the use of emotion as a tool for gaining insight into existence, but they don’t reject reason as a powerful source of knowledge. If you only use intellect when you investigate big questions concerning life you’ll limit what you find. How you feel matters as much as what you reason…Heinz steals the drug. What’s the right answer. All of them and none of them. It is up to your reason and feelings to decide that.

What is the joke here? Existentialists believe that your individual choices (as long as they are made intentionally – based on feeling and reason) navigate what is right for YOU.

A little history… Which do you prefer? Happiness or meaning? “Man does not desire happiness. Only the Englishman desires that.” ~ Nietsche The existentialist chooses meaning. Frederick Nietzsche said, “Man does not desire happiness. Only the Englishman desires that.” This stems from historical glimpses into trends of humans. Greeks and Rome: Myths explained the world Middle ages (end): Christians relied on God. The Puritans (pilgrims) who came to America said our lives were predestined by God (no choice or free will). Age of Enlightenment: Focused on reason and God through science (Deism). Challenged traditions based on faith. 18th Century England: Utilitarianism – choosing the right action will deliver happiness (hence the quote). Weigh all courses of action and their consequences to choose the “right” path. Existentialists reject all of this – it is up to you to define your life. You need your life to make sense and have meaning, otherwise, why live? Why not kill yourself? (I call this the Hamlet philosophy) We rely on patterns to show us meaning. Think about martyrs. If I am dying for a cause, then I can suffer through this pain. (Show The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt scene)

A little history… Greeks and Rome: Myths explained the world Middle ages (end): Christians relied on God. The Puritans (pilgrims) who came to America said our lives were predestined by God (no choice or free will). Age of Enlightenment: Focused on reason and God through science (Deism). Challenged traditions based on faith. 18th Century England: Utilitarianism – choosing the right action will deliver happiness (hence the quote). Weigh all courses of action and their consequences to choose the “right” path. The existentialist chooses meaning. Frederick Nietzsche said, “Man does not desire happiness. Only the Englishman desires that.” This stems from historical glimpses into trends of humans. Greeks and Rome: Myths explained the world Middle ages (end): Christians relied on God. The Puritans (pilgrims) who came to America said our lives were predestined by God (no choice or free will). Age of Enlightenment: Focused on reason and God through science (Deism). Challenged traditions based on faith. 18th Century England: Utilitarianism – choosing the right action will deliver happiness (hence the quote). Weigh all courses of action and their consequences to choose the “right” path. Existentialists reject all of this – it is up to you to define your life. You need your life to make sense and have meaning, otherwise, why live? Why not kill yourself? (I call this the Hamlet philosophy) We rely on patterns to show us meaning. Think about martyrs. If I am dying for a cause, then I can suffer through this pain. (Show The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt scene)

Philosophers Soren Kierkegaard (1813 -1855) – Father of Existentialism and Theistic Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) – Spiritual Atheist Albert Camus (1913-1960) – Author and popularized the ideas through literature Kierkegaard believed in the existence of God and founded in Christianity, but he rejected the constraints of the common faith of his time. It is up to the individual to find the answers for him/herself – not through god or deity. Nietzsche made existentialism live on – he did not believe in god and is quoted as saying “God is dead, and we have killed him.” Due to advances in science and learning, he believed we had no need for belief in god anymore to develop answers. He is an optimist! He believed that once we tear down the falsehoods of our world, then we are free to enjoy and love the world for what it really is.

Timed write Review what you listed about your life. These are the things you know. Now, write for ten minutes about what you want to know about yourself.

Camus 1913 - 1960 Absurdism “I am not an existentialist” The Stranger “The Myth of Sisyphus” Born in extreme poverty Tuberculosis Socialist Life is precious, but defies logic Human Rights Advocate What texts seem to follow existentialist thought?

Life is absurd and reason is impotent to deal with the depths of human life Our instincts tell us that the picture is impossible, but the brain tries to make sense of it and rationalize.Camus described existence as a combination of the basic irrationality of the world and humans wild longing for clarity. Absurdity really comes from a combination of 2 things: an irrational world and a person who’s looking out at it and trying to make it rational. Think about a time when you thought “Am I the only sane one here?” But the worst part if when humans try to impose that sanity and order on the circus around them. Then the world really laughs at them. A man lives rather than is, and every man’s experience is unique, radically different from everyone else’s and can be understood truly only in terms of his involvement in life or commitment to it.   There is no Platonic ideal of man—there is no universal of human nature of which each man is only one example. Don’t ask “What is mankind?” Ask: “Who am I?” The existentialist insists that each person is unique. He is an entire universe—the center of infinity.

Absurdity Defining Absurdity Absurdity includes an observation about the world Absurdity includes an observation about the individual Life’s absurdity results from connecting those two observations Anecdote: Seeing order in the world can take a variety of forms. A friend of yours has a girlfriend. He consistently cheats on his girlfriend. You think this is terrible. But your friend explains it that: he’s a guy, and guys are driven to this sort of behavior by their biology. He was the world in a certain way. He was an object in the world, and so was his girlfriend, and so was the fact that he wasn’t faithful- an event. He saw himself as an object (a guy) that had certain properties (driven by biology to cheat.) Another way to make sense of the world is to believe in fate. Perhaps you think that everything has a place in God’s plan. Some people think that when they meet their future wives or husbands, it was destiny. We’ve heard people claim when they lose their jobs, that it will al work out because “everything happens for a reason.” And some people do get better jobs. When this happens people tend to see the two events as being directly related. Nietzsche: People don’t find suffering problematic- they find meaningless suffering a problem. You see this with senseless tragedies- like a child dying. Absurdity

“Exinshilism” - Explain like I’m 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvz0CjtwH2k What is Nietzsche’s philosophy? What is the Ubermensche? What inherent problem does this present?