EXISTENTIALISM A complex philosophy emphasizing the absurdity of reality and the human responsibility to make choices and accept consequences! ANDREW WYETH Christina’s World (1948)

Big Ideas of Existentialism Despite encompassing a huge range of philosophical, religious, and political ideologies, the underlying concepts of existentialism are simple… MARK ROTHKO Untitled (1968)

Existence Precedes Essence Cogito ergo sum. Existence Precedes Essence Existentialism is the title of the set of philosophical ideals that emphasize the existence of the human being, the lack of meaning and purpose in life, and the solitude of human existence… “Existence precedes essence” implies that the human being has no essence (no essential self).

Absurdism The belief that nothing can explain or rationalize human existence. There is no answer to “Why am I?” Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and any search for order will bring them into direct conflict with this universe.

It was during the Second World War, when Europe found itself in a crisis faced with death and destruction, that the existential movement began to flourish, popularized in France in the 1940s. GEORGIO DE CHIRICO Love Song

Choice and Commitment Humans have freedom to choose. Each individual makes choices that create his or her own nature. Because we choose, we must accept risk and responsibility for wherever our commitments take us. “A human being is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. Anguish is the result.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

Dread and Anxiety MAN RAY Les Larmes (Tears)

Dread and Anxiety Dread is a feeling of general apprehension. Kierkegaard interpreted it as God’s way of calling each individual to make a commitment to a personally valid way of life. Anxiety stems from our understanding and recognition of the total freedom of choice that confronts us every moment, and the individual’s confrontation with nothingness.

Nothingness and Death EDVARD MUNCH Night in Saint Cloud (1890)

Nothingness and Death Death hangs over all of us. Our awareness of it can bring freedom or anguish. I am my own existence. Nothing structures my world. “Nothingness is our inherent lack of self. We are in constant pursuit of a self. Nothingness is the creative well-spring from which all human possibilities can be realized.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

Alienation or Estrangement From all other humans From human institutions From the past From the future We only exist right now, right here. EDGAR DEGAS “L’absinthe” (1876)

Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939)

Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939) Human Subjectivity “I will be what I choose to be.” It is impossible to transcend human subjectivity. “There are no true connections between people.” My emotions are yet another choice I make. I am responsible for them. Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939)

All existentialists are concerned with the study of being or ontology. TO REVIEW: An existentialist believes that a person’s life is nothing but the sum of the life he has shaped for himself. At every moment it is always his own free will choosing how to act. He is responsible for his actions, which limit future actions. Thus, he must create a morality in the absence of any known predetermined absolute values. God does not figure into the equation, because even if God does exist, He does not reveal to men the meaning of their lives. Honesty with oneself is the most important value. Every decision must be weighed in light of all the consequences of that action. Life is absurd, but we engage it!

Each of us is responsible for everything and to every human being. Human existence cannot be captured by reason or objectivity –– it must include passion, emotion and the subjective. Each of us is responsible for everything and to every human being. –Simone de Beauvoir GEORGIA O’KEEFFE Sky Above White Clouds I (1962)

Some Famous Existentialists Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) Albert Camus (1913-1960) “A woman is not born…she is created.” de Beauvoir’s most famous text is The Second Sex (1949), which some claim is the basis for current gender studies.

Nietzsche and Nihilism “Every belief, every considering something-true is necessarily false because there is simply no true world. Nihilism is…not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one’s shoulder to the plow; one destroys. For some time now our whole European culture has been moving as toward a catastrophe, with a tortured tension that is growing from decade to decade: restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that wants to reach the end… .” (Will to Power) Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Macbeth

Albert Camus dissociated himself from the existentialists but acknowledged man’s lonely condition in the universe. His “man of the absurd” (or absurd hero) rejects despair and commits himself to the anguish and responsibility of living as best he can. Basically, man creates himself through the choices he makes. There are no guides for these choices, but he has to make them anyway, which renders life absurd.

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” “It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning.”

About the Author Czechoslovakian born in 1937 Family moved to Singapore when concerns of Hitler invading increased Family settled in England after World War II Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was first presented as a play at the Edinburgh Theater Festival in 1966 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is Stoppard’s most famous work

Theater of the Absurd Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an example of Theater of the Absurd (or Absurdist Theater). Was a response to World War II Written primarily by European playwrights in the 1950s “In a world that has become absurd the theatre of the absurd is the most accurate reproduction of reality”

Characteristics of Theatre of the Absurd Characters ask the questions: Why are we here? What happens after death? Do we have control over our destiny? Characters tend to be clown-like and helpless, with no sense of purpose

More Characteristics The setting of the play is often featureless Life is often portrayed as void of significance and the world is meaningless Celebrates the breakdown of language and communication Empty phrases prevent communication and destroy the sense of personal identity.

More Characteristics Often the characters acknowledge the play and question the line between performance and reality Deliberately baffles the audience Usually lacks dramatic conflict and sequential plot Shows the human condition as one of confusion and chaos Explores the barrenness of life Other Theater of the Absurd playwrights are: Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Samuel Beckett.

Martin Esslin (from Absurd Drama) A Well-Made Play Characters are well observed & convincingly motivated Dialogue is witty & logically built up An Absurdist Play Characters are hardly recognizable human beings, their actions are completely unmotivated. Dialogue seems to have degenerated into meaningless babble

Beginning-middle-ending clearly recognizable It is primarily concerned to tell a story or illuminate an intellectual problem…It can thus be seen as a narrative or discoursive form of communication Result :Final Message DYNAMIC It starts at an arbitrary point & seems to end as arbitrarily It is intended to convey a poetic image os a complex pattern of poetic images; it is above all a poetic form It conveys a central atmosphere STATIC

The action goes from point A to point B: we constantly ask ‘What’s going to happen next?’ Conditioned by clear, comforting beliefs, a stable scale of values, an ethical system in full working conditions Action :gradual unfolding of a complex pattern .We ask ‘What is it that we are seeing?’ Absurdist playwrights no longer believe in the possibility of of a neat resolution: they express a sense of wonder , incomprehension, despair at the lack of cohesion and meaning they find in the world

Politics Religion Implicit belief in the goodness & perfectibility of people Unthinking acceptance of the moral & political status quo Implicit idea that the world does make sense, reality is secure , all outlines clear, all ends apparent There is no faith in the existence of a rational and well ordered universe Sense of shock at the absense , the loss of any such clear & well defined system of beliefs & values