Existentialism Madison Hayes, Rory Luxemburger, Hannah Manning, Madeline Crawford and Owen Aaron

Existentialism Philosophy that proposes an individual as free-thinking and acting Questions the meaning of “being” Some believed life had no meaning Existence precedes essence- be first, act and define later Existential angst- dread from responsibility of choosing own fate

Authors That are Considered Existentialist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, philologist, Latin, and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history. He preferred not to be called an existentialist. Søren Kierkegaard Was born in Copenhagen to a wealthy family. This enabled him to be a philosopher, religious writer, satirist, psychologist, journalist, literary critic and generally considered the ‘father’ of existentialism. He was also against the title of an existentialist.. Martin Heidegger Hiedegger didn’t do overly much in the existentialist world compared to the others. He remains notorious for his involvement with National Socialism in the 1930s

Authors That are Considered Existentialist Albert Camus- Albert Camus was a French-Algerian journalist, playwright, novelist, philosophical essayist, and Nobel laureate. He was born in 1913. He as important to Existentialism through two ways. His work followed the themes of many existentialists and he posed one of the 20th centuries vest existentialist questions. He preferred not be called an existentialist. Literature They Wrote- Twilight of the Idols and Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche The Stranger and The Plague were written by Camus The Corsair by Kierkegaard Heidegger wrote Being and Time

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka was born on July 3rd, 1883 to a jewish family in the Czech Republic. Neither of his parents appreciated his creativeness or love for writing. His difficult relationship with his father inspired most of his stories. He wrote of isolation, alienation, and authoritarian oppression. He did well in school and went to university to study law. While working, he still wrote. However, he did not become famous for his writing until after his death. He only published one of his writings, The Metamorphosis, while he was still alive. He deemed all his other writings unfit and requested that upon his death all his manuscripts were to be destroyed. However, Max Brod who was supposed to destroy them did not and started publishing Kafka’s work. His writings became popular during World War II and in the 1960s during the Communist eras. He died in 1924 from Tuberculosis.

Absurdism Absurdism - the thought that humanity will fail while trying to find its ingrained meaning. Absurdism affects mankind by how failure affects people's actions. Failure closes people off from the world resulting in sadness, and in an extreme case death. If finding humanity's meaning will ultimately fail, then what is the meaning of life? This is also considered existentialism. Franz Kafka faced a confused world and didn't know how to understand or accept it. He expressed this in his writings by letting the characters embrace their absurd fates.

To Be or Not to be a Good Existentialism Example The Metamorphosis is a great example of Existentialism as it proposes the many ideas that makes the reader question life around them. When the main character gets turned into a bug he begins to question how he was living his life as a human, he would always devote himself to his work and his family leaving no room for personal pleasures. Is our purpose in life to just work all the time, and to completely devote ourselves to a single group of people?.

What Does This Mean? As a group we decided that this piece of artwork reflects Existentialism because it makes us question about the actions people make that can turn them into mindless robots, hence the little person figure made out of mechanical parts. What does this picture make you question?

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