1. 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)

2. Big Ideas of Existentialism
Despite encompassing a huge range of philosophical, religious, and political ideologies, the underlying concepts of existentialism are simple…
we must forge our own values and meaning from existing in an inherently meaningless or absurd world.
MARK ROTHKO
Untitled (1968)

3. 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… i.e. Catch 22

4. 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.

5. Dread and Anxiety MAN RAY Les Larmes (Tears)
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.
MAN RAY
Les Larmes (Tears)
“A human being is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. Anguish is the result.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

6. 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
EDVARD MUNCH
Night in Saint Cloud (1890)

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

8. Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939)

9. Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939)
Human Subjectivity
“I will be what I choose to be.”
It is impossible to transcend human subjectivity.
My emotions are yet another choice I make. I am responsible for them.
Edward Hopper “New York Movie” (1939)

10. Humanistic-Existential Theories
Humanism: The view that people are capable of free choice, self-fulfillment, and ethical behavior.
Existentialism: The view that people are completely free and responsible for their own behavior.

11. 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)

12. It was during the First and Second World Wars, when Europe found itself in a crisis faced with death and destruction, that the existential movements began to flourish
GEORGIO DE CHIRICO
Love Song

13. Some Famous Existentialists
Søren Kierkegaard( )
Friedrich Nietzsche ( )
Martin Heidegger
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Jean-Paul Sartre
( )
Simone de Beauvoir
( )
Albert Camus
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“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.
Heidegger
German existentialist member of nazi party
Social critic
Educated in phenomenological tradition of Husserl
Sein und Zeit (1927) translated to Being and Time (1962)
Freedom
Existence in the world
Inauthenticity
Dread, guilt, destiny
Simone De Beauvoir
was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She is now best known for her metaphysical novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins, and for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. She is also known for her lifelong non-monogamous relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre.

14. “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.” Albert Camus

15. Self-Actualization
An innate tendency to strive to realize one’s potential. The goal to “be all you can be”.
Abraham Maslow believed that we progress from one level to the next, but only if the needs of the prior level are met. Thus, self-actualization is difficult if we are homeless.

16. Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Born in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Generally thought to be founder of existentialism.
Kierkegaard thought that the individual, the personal, and the subjective aspects of human life are the most important.

17. Kierkegaard (cont.):
Most important human activity is decision-making: through our choices, we create our lives and become ourselves.
Scientific objectivity is dangerous: reveals facts and truths but not the truth. Felt people were too dependent on experts to point out way to salvation or personal growth.
Authenticity results when an individual lives honestly and courageously in the moment without refuge in excuses, and without reliance on groups or institutions for meaning or purpose.
In-authenticity results when the nature and needs of the individual are ignored, denied or made less important than institutions, abstractions, or groups.

18. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
“God is dead.”
Believed life is meaningless, full of suffering and striving; the universe is indifferent to human suffering; still, he believed life is all there is and that we should live life to the fullest and get all we can out of it.
Question for Nietzsche: How do we live a full life in a godless, meaningless world?
Because there is no God, the morals and values that we attribute to God are instead human creations; therefore, we are free to choose whatever values it is in our interests to have.
-Nietzsche didn’t believe in God or that we have immortal souls.
-Freedom - no God, no rules we must live by.

19. Nietzsche (cont.):
For Nietzsche what we should value is the “will to power” or the drive to reach our full potential. The human being who reaches his full potential is a super-human-being or “superman.”
Accepting this value will lead to great human achievement and allow the gifted self-fulfillment and personal happiness. Although it may lead to conflicts, these should be welcomed as should the destruction of the weak.
-Ancient morals and values come from societies unlike our own and from religions many no longer believe in.
-Values such as those proposed by figures like Socrates and Jesus were wrong: protecting the weak from the strong or that justice should reign over strength. -

20. Jean-Paul Sartre ( ):
Born in Paris; internationally known philosopher, novelist, playwright. Awarded Nobel Prize in literature in 1964; turned it down.
Existence precedes essence: We have no “given nature;” we become who we are through freedom of choice and moral responsibility.
We are born into existence that has no divine purpose; life is often absurd or horrible and the only true values are the ones we create for ourselves.
“Bad faith”: when people are too terrified to face the freedom and responsibility of choice and revert to old existing norms and rules (religious).
“Commitment”: Choosing and living in accord with the choice.

21. Jean-Paul Sartre (cont.):
WWII: Joined the French army in Captured and imprisoned by Germans for nine months. Released for poor health; contributed to Sartre’s belief that evil is not an abstraction; it is real and concrete.
Any attempt to rationalize or deny evil fails: an ordered universe governed by a loving, powerful God is not possible; the universe is indifferent to us. Science is not a certainty given that concentration camps were both “scientific” and “rationally ordered.” Even the order of Nature is a delusion; nature does not care about us.
Belief in these ideas are attempts to evade the awesomeness of choice.

22. Albert Camus :
Born in Algeria to working-class parents. Father was killed in WWI.
Studied at the University of Algeria until diagnosed with tuberculosis. Later completed studies.
Joined French Communist Party in 1935 to fight inequities he saw in treatment of native Algerians and French colonists. Later criticized communism, which led to break with Sartre.
In Paris during WWII, joined French Resistance cell called Combat; wrote for underground publication.
Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
died in car accident in 1960.

23. 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.

24. The Myth of Sisyphus
Camus’ 1942 essay which introduces the idea of the absurd.
The myth: As punishment from the gods for trickery, Sisyphus was forced to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, but just before he reached the top, the rock would roll back down the hill, forcing him to begin again.
The punishment is both frustrating and pointless; to Camus, life is similarly absurd in that it, too, is pointless.
In the essay, he offers his solution to this situation.

25. 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!
) is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.