Existentialism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy
Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to ...
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# Existentialism

[Introduction](#Introduction) \| [Main Beliefs](#Main) \| [History of Existentialism](#History) \| [Criticisms of Existentialism](#Criticisms)

**Introduction**[Back to Top](#Top)

**Existentialism** is a philosophy that emphasizes **individual existence**, **freedom** and **choice**. It is the view that humans **define their own meaning** in life, and try to make **rational decisions** despite existing in an **irrational universe**. It focuses on the question of **human existence**, and the feeling that there is **no purpose** or **explanation** at the core of existence. It holds that, as there is **no God** or any other **transcendent force**, the only way to **counter** this nothingness (and hence to find **meaning** in life) is by **embracing** existence.

Thus, Existentialism believes that individuals are entirely **free** and must take **personal responsibility** for themselves (although with this responsibility comes **angst**, a profound anguish or dread). It therefore emphasizes **action**, **freedom** and **decision** as fundamental, and holds that the only way to rise above the essentially **absurd condition** of humanity (which is characterized by **suffering** and **inevitable death**) is by exercising our personal **freedom and choice** (a complete rejection of [Determinism](branch_determinism.html)).

Often, [Existentialism](movements_existentialism.html) as a movement is used to describe those who refuse to belong to **any** school of thought, repudiating of the **adequacy** of any body of beliefs or systems, claiming them to be superficial, academic and remote from life. Although it has much **in common** with [Nihilism](branch_nihilism.html), Existentialism is more a **reaction** against traditional philosophies, such as [Rationalism](branch_rationalism.html), [Empiricism](branch_empiricism.html) and [Positivism](branch_positivism.html), that seek to discover an ultimate **order** and universal **meaning** in metaphysical principles or in the structure of the observed world. It asserts that people actually make decisions based on what has **meaning to them**, rather than what is **rational**.

Existentialism **originated** with the 19th Century philosophers [Søren Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html) and [Friedrich Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html), although neither used the **term** in their work. In the 1940s and 1950s, French existentialists such as [Jean-Paul Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html), **Albert Camus** (1913 - 1960), and **Simone de Beauvoir** (1908 - 1986) wrote scholarly and fictional works that popularized **existential themes**, such as dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom, commitment and nothingness.

**Main Beliefs**[Back to Top](#Top)

Unlike [René Descartes](philosophers_descartes.html), who believed in the primacy of **consciousness**, Existentialists assert that a human being is **"thrown into"** into a concrete, inveterate universe that cannot be "thought away", and therefore **existence** ("being in the world") **precedes consciousness**, and is the **ultimate reality**. Existence, then, is **prior to essence** (essence is the **meaning** that may be ascribed to life), contrary to **traditional** philosophical views dating back to the ancient Greeks. As [Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html) put it: "At first \[Man\] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be."

[Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html) saw **rationality** as a **mechanism** humans use to counter their **existential anxiety**, their fear of being in the world. [Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html) saw rationality as a form of "bad faith", an attempt by the self to impose structure on a **fundamentally irrational** and random world of phenomena ( **"the other"**). This bad faith **hinders** us from finding meaning in freedom, and **confines** us within everyday experience.

[Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html) also stressed that individuals must choose their **own way** without the aid of **universal, objective standards**. [Friedrich Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html) further contended that the individual must **decide** which situations are to count as **moral situations**. Thus, most Existentialists believe that **personal experience** and acting on one's own **convictions** are essential in arriving at the **truth**, and that the **understanding** of a situation by someone **involved** in that situation is **superior** to that of a detached, objective observer (similar to the concept of [Subjectivism](branch_subjectivism.html)).

According to Camus, when an individual's **longing for order** collides with the real world's **lack of order**, the result is **absurdity**. Human beings are therefore subjects in an indifferent, ambiguous and **absurd universe**, in which meaning is not provided by the **natural order**, but rather can be **created** (however provisionally and unstable) by human **actions and interpretations**.

Existentialism can be [atheistic](branch_atheism.html), theological (or [theistic](branch_theism.html)) or [agnostic](branch_agnosticism.html). Some Existentialists, like [Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html), proclaimed that "God is dead" and that the concept of God is **obsolete**. Others, like [Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html), were intensely religious, even if they did not feel able to **justify** it. The important factor for Existentialists is the **freedom of choice** to believe or not to believe.

**History of Existentialism**[Back to Top](#Top)

Existentialist-type themes appear in early **Buddhist** and **Christian** writings (including those of [St. Augustine](philosophers_augustine.html) and [St.Thomas Aquinas](philosophers_aquinas.html)). In the **17th Century**, [Blaise Pascal](philosophers_pascal.html) suggested that, **without a God**, life would be meaningless, boring and miserable, much as later Existentialists believed, although, unlike them, [Pascal](philosophers_pascal.html) saw this as a **reason** for the **existence** of a God. His near-contemporary, [John Locke](philosophers_locke.html), advocated **individual autonomy** and **self-determination**, but in the positive pursuit of [Liberalism](branch_liberalism.html) and [Individualism](branch_individualism.html) rather than in response to an Existentialist experience.

Existentialism in its **currently recognizable form** was inspired by the 19th Century Danish philosopher [Søren Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html), the German philosophers [Friedrich Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html), [Martin Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html), **Karl Jaspers** (1883 - 1969) and [Edmund Husserl](philosophers_husserl.html), and writers like the Russian **Fyodor Dostoevsky** (1821 - 1881) and the Czech **Franz Kafka** (1883 - 1924). It can be argued that [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](philosophers_hegel.html) and [Arthur Schopenhauer](philosophers_schopenhauer.html) were also important **influences** on the development of Existentialism, because the philosophies of [Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html) and [Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html) were written in **response** or in **opposition** to them.

[Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html) and [Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html), like [Pascal](philosophers_pascal.html) before them, were interested in people's **concealment** of the **meaninglessness** of life and their use of diversion to escape from **boredom**. However, unlike [Pascal](philosophers_pascal.html), they considered the role of making **free choices** on fundamental values and beliefs to be essential in the attempt to change the **nature** and **identity** of the chooser. In [Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html)'s case, this results in the **"knight of faith"**, who puts complete **faith** in himself and in God, as described in his 1843 work **_"Fear and Trembling"_**. In [Nietzsche](philosophers_nietzsche.html)'s case, the much-maligned **"Übermensch"** (or **"Superman"**) attains **superiority** and **transcendence** without resorting to the **"other-worldliness"** of Christianity, in his books **_"Thus Spake Zarathustra"_** (1885) and **_"Beyond Good and Evil"_** (1887).

[Martin Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html) was an important early philosopher in the movement, particularly his influential 1927 work **_"Being and Time"_**, although he himself vehemently **denied** being an existentialist in the Sartrean sense. His discussion of ontology is rooted in an analysis of the **mode of existence** of individual human beings, and his analysis of **authenticity** and **anxiety** in modern culture make him very much an Existentialist in the usual modern usage.

Existentialism came of age in the **mid-20th Century**, largely through the **scholarly** and **fictional** works of the French existentialists, [Jean-Paul Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html), **Albert Camus** (1913 - 1960) and **Simone de Beauvoir** (1908 - 1986). **Maurice Merleau-Ponty** (1908 - 1961) is another influential and often overlooked French Existentialist of the period.

[Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html) is perhaps the most **well-known**, as well as one of the few to have actually **accepted** being called an "existentialist". **_"Being and Nothingness"_** (1943) is his most important work, and his novels and plays, including **_"Nausea"_** (1938) and **_"No Exit_** (1944), helped to **popularize** the movement.

In **_"The Myth of Sisyphus"_** (1942), Albert Camus uses the analogy of the **Greek myth** of Sisyphus (who is condemned for eternity to roll a rock up a hill, only to have it roll to the bottom again each time) to exemplify the **pointlessness** of existence, but shows that Sisyphus ultimately finds **meaning** and **purpose** in his task, simply by continually **applying himself** to it.

Simone de Beauvoir, an important existentialist who spent much of her life alongside [Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html), wrote about [feminist](branch_feminism.html) and **existential ethics** in her works, including **_"The Second Sex"_** (1949) and **_"The Ethics of Ambiguity"_** (1947).

Although Sartre is considered by most to be the **pre-eminent** Existentialist, and by many to be an important and innovative philosopher in his own right, others are much **less impressed** by his contributions. [Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html) himself thought that Sartre had merely taken his own work and **regressed** it back to the **subject-object** orientated philosophy of [Descartes](philosophers_descartes.html) and [Husserl](philosophers_husserl.html), which is exactly what [Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html) had been trying to **free** philosophy from. Some see **Maurice Merleau-Ponty** (1908 - 1961) as a better [Existentialist](movements_existentialism.html) philosopher, particular for his incorporation of the **body** as our way of being in the world, and for his more complete analysis of **perception** (two areas in which [Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html)'s work is often seen as **deficient**).

**Criticisms of Existentialism**[Back to Top](#Top)

**Herbert Marcuse** (1898 - 1979) has criticized Existentialism, especially [Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html)'s "Being and Nothingness", for **projecting** some features of living in a **modern oppressive society** (features such as anxiety and meaninglessness) onto the nature of **existence itself**.

**Roger Scruton** (1944 - ) has claimed that both [Heidegger](philosophers_heidegger.html)'s concept of **inauthenticity** and [Sartre](philosophers_sartre.html)'s concept of **bad faith** are both **self-inconsistent**, in that they **deny** any universal moral creed, yet speak of these concepts as if everyone is **bound to abide by them**.

[Logical Positivists](branch_logical_positivism.html), such as [A. J. Ayer](philosophers_ayer.html) and **Rudolf Carnap** (1891 - 1970), claim that existentialists frequently become **confused** over the verb "to be" (which is **meaningless** if used without a predicate) and by the word "nothing" (which is the **negation** of existence and therefore cannot be assumed to refer to **something**).

[Marxists](branch_marxism.html), especially in post-War France, found Existentialism to run counter to their emphasis on the **solidarity** of human beings and their theory of **economic determinism**. They further argued that Existentialism's emphasis on **individual choice** leads to **contemplation** rather than to action, and that only the bourgeoisie has the **luxury** to make themselves what they are through their choices, so they considered Existentialism to be a **bourgeois philosophy**.

**Christian critics** complain that Existentialism portrays humanity in the **worst possible light**, overlooking the **dignity** and **grace** that comes from being made in the **image of God**. Also, according to Christian critics, Existentialists are unable to account for the **moral dimension** of human life, and have no **basis** for an ethical theory if they deny that humans are bound by the **commands of God**. On the other hand, some commentators have objected to [Kierkegaard](philosophers_kierkegaard.html)'s continued espousal of **Christianity**, despite his inability to effectively **justify** it.

In more general terms, the common use of **pseudonymous characters** in existentialist writing can make it seem like the authors are unwilling to **own** their insights, and are **confusing** philosophy with **literature**.

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