Existentialism

Introduction

Existentialism is related to ontology (being). The classical distinction between soul and body (beginning with Plato and Aristotle) is completely eliminated. The body is a "lived-through" object and an integral part of human existence.

All possible ways of existence are voided and the human future is uncertain. Humans have nothing else to do than resign themselves to there existence or being in the here and now. Existentialism recognize that humans have a responsibility to create an effective action toward transforming society and the world toward a Marxist like society.

Existentialism shares with Marxism that humans have a materialistic relationship with nature and society. The transformation toward Marxism should be dialectic or two fold.

First, being should be a condition of material existence, and individual's conscious effort to form a relationship with others.

Second, individuals should form a freedom from everyone else. This is also how Karl Marx described society in his system.

The Existential philosophy was particularly relevant in Europe during World War II, when it was threatened by material and spiritual destruction. Under those circumstances, the former optimism of Romantic inspiration or Renaissance idealism, where man's destiny was guaranteed by an infinite force of Reason or by the will of God, disappeared.

The existentialist theory recognizes the uncertainty all human beings face when they are "thrown into the world". The world is a place that can make all human initiatives and dreams impossible. It can also hamper their freedom and joy by limitations that can occur at any time in their life.

For an existentialist, pain, frustration, sickness, and death, become the essential features of human reality. In this light, the key issues of Existentialism are those of man himself, of his situation in the world, of his ultimate significance, and of his ability to manage the human condition.

Existential Thoughts

The thinkers who went against Romantic optimism, Idealism, and Rationalism, then, became known as the Existential thinkers. For example, Soren Kierkegaard, father of Existentialism, went against Hegelian Rationalism and interpreted existence in terms of possibility and dread.

According to Kierkegaard, it is possible that anything can happen to any human being, even when they have taken every possible precaution. In this case, if humans feel despair, despair is a natural possibility for man. The understanding of dread and death does not teach humans to transform their situation in the world. It enables them to perceive of their common destiny to which everyone is subjected, and to freely accept that death and dread is part of normal existence.

Therefore, dread is not a fear, it is an emotional understanding of life's possibilities, or the possibility of Nothingness. Once humans have realized their possibility of nothingness, they can live authentic lives.

This is done either by abandoning oneself to any situation in which we find ourselves, or by being indifferent to any possible situation. The way Sartre explained it: It amounts to the same thing whether one gets drunk alone or is the leader of the world.

The most important point held by all Existentialists, and identify Existentialism, is the antithesis between possibility and reality.

Possibility vs. reality.

On one hand, existence is interpreted in terms of possibilities, however, not purely logical possibilities.

On the other hand, in contrast to possibilities is reality. This reality is oneself, the world, a factual presence in which possibilities are pure Nothingness.

This reality, however, is also interpreted in terms of possibilities. Things, for example, are reduced to the possibility of utilization. Being or existence is reduced to the possibility of anonymous relationships between people, and transcendence is reduced to a mysterious relationship between God and Man.

It has been pointed out by philosophers that a coherent Existentialism should avoid the constant "mortal leap" between Being and Nothingness, between existence and factuality, between the finitude of possibilities and resignation to the situation, between choice and determinism, because it confuses the already problematic understanding of Existentialism. Some younger Existentialists are now taking steps to make Existentialism easier to understand. Furthermore, all Existentialists are agreeing on the difficulty of jargon and terms concerning Existential philosophers, therefore, communication is not well-grounded.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Father of Existentialism

Kierkegaard was born in Denmark. At the age of 27 he received a degree in theology from the university in Copenhagen. Kierkegaard inherited a great deal of money from his father's estate and decided to become a "gentleman writer."

He went to Berlin Germany, the center for philosophy, to attend lectures Hegel and Schilling. While in Berlin, he developed his own philosophical ideas which later contributed to Existentialism.

During the next ten years Kierkegaard published several books and articles. For example in 1843, he published "Either/Or," in 1844 he published both "Repetition" and "Fear and Trembling," in 1845 "Stages on Life's Way" was published. Many of Kierkegaard writings were published under pseudonyms.

During his youth, Kierkegaard lived a decadent life and received much criticism for this lifestyle. He challenged the criticism, and found that he had derived a lot of power from his "inner self" and that his inner self was so much more powerful than all the people who tried to spread rumors about him. This discovery became probably the most important event in the movement of Existentialism.

Kierkegaard, then, created the theory that human beings have a free will to do what is important for them. That "will," however, causes them a lot of anxiety, but existential anxiety is the price humans pay for their free will. The Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard's contemporary, came to a very similar conclusion on his own. These men both shared a sense of alienation from society; Kierkegaard through fighting off public opinion, while Dostoevsky was literally imprisoned and exiled.

Kierkegaard's Christian Existentialism

Kierkegaard was a Christian by choice. He felt that a freedom to choose, whatever it may be, is a punishment, not a reward, yet mankind relishes this freedom to have choices and alternatives. For Kierkegaard, Existentialism was, in large part, the idea that life is a series of usually poor alternatives. Even a "good" decision has negative aspects. We always have choices, and no matter what we might use as an excuse to believe that the choice we made is the best one, others may believe the opposite, and indeed, the opposite choice may, in the long run turn out to be the best.

Kierkegaard's three stages of life

One of Kierkegaard's major contributions to philosophy was his theory that life is experienced in three distinct stages. Not everyone experience all three stages. They are stages of maturity, reflecting the mental and spiritual growth of individuals. The stages are: aesthetic, ethical, and religious. Simplified they are (1) the pursuit of pleasure, (2) the assumption of duty to society, (3) the obedience to our Creator.

Aesthetic Stage

People at this first stage are preoccupied with Hedonism, Materialism, Narcissism, and Individualism, or other pleasurable gratifications. People believe that life is to be enjoyed in the here and now, long term goals are not considered. Every situation at this stage is relativistic or rationalistic in terms of the individual. People at this stage see events in a detached and objective manner, as if the past does not relate to the present.

Aesthetic life eventually becomes a source of boredom; for some people even a source of despair because life is without meaning. Some of those experiencing despair, may go on the next stage of life.

Ethical Stage

Individuals who reach this stage, understand the despair of the aesthetic stage, and they want to find a greater meaning with life. These people begin to make conscious life choices and built deep relationships. They are becoming self-actualized or self-aware. They feel a duty to society and may be motivated to become writers, educators, politicians, or pursue other public serving interests.

Religious Stage

The individuals reaching this stage experience both a deep faith and deep suffering. Only at this stage, does one really understand oneself. Kierkegaard believed that the despair that leads a person from one life stage to the next, is the despair of "sin." Faith and spirituality are expressed through authenticity and integrity. When a person admits to all he or she thinks about and does, the person is spiritual. This can be compared to St. Augustine's Confessions: admission frees one from guilt and despair. Kierkegaard admitted that although he was "true" in his faith, religion is illogical. He often talked about experiencing a "leap of faith" in order to advance from the ethical to the religious stage, the tangible to the intangible stage.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Nietzsche was a German philosopher that together with Kierkegaard was a precursor of Existentialism. He received his doctorate at 25, and soon thereafter became professor in classical philosophy in Switzerland. In his first book called "The Birth of Tragedy," (1872), Nietzsche presents a pagan mythology for those individuals who could neither accept traditional Christianity nor Social Darwinism.

In the book he introduced his famous distinction between the Appolonian, or rational elements of human nature and the Dionysian, or passionate, elements exemplified in Greek mythology by the gods Apollo and Dionysus. When the two elements are mixed in human nature, there exists a balance or harmony in people.

Nietzsche resigned his post as professor in 1879 due to ill health. He then lived in Switzerland, Italy and Germany writing extensively until his death.

Nietzsche's next book is called "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," (1885). This was to be his most celebrated work in which he introduced the concept of the death of God, the Ubermensch (referred to as Superman), and the will to power. He vigorously attacked Christianity and democratic morals as values only for the weak. He argued that the Ubermensch, who is driven by "the will to power" celebrates life on earth rather than sacrificing it for some unknown heavenly reward. He has the courage to live "after his own will," thus, rise above the masses.

Nietzsche's idea about the Ubermensch was distorted by the Nazis in order for them to justify creating the master race referred to as "Aryan race."

Nietzsche's criticism of the meritocracy (those who has merit. In Nietzsche's time it was the aristocracy) of German culture, eventually led to his exile from Germany. Nietzsche's following work is called "Beyond Good and Evil," (1886), in this book he elaborated on his concept of the Ubermensch and "the will to power." He explained that humans should learn to live without their gods or any other supernatural ideology. Instead they should incorporate their "devil" into their being.

Nietzsche viewed the "Amor fati" (love of fate) as the formula for man's greatness. Freedom consisted of desiring "what is and what has been" and in choosing freedom and loving it as if nothing better could be desired.

Nietzsche challenged all tradition and the social values that had existed since the Greco-Roman period, (as Kierkegaard had done one generation earlier in Denmark). He "deconstructed" social values and all the "noble lies" that had existed for centuries. Nietzsche wanted to show everyone that "human existence as is" should change. All traditional values, ethics, and morals were errors of humanity, they robbed man of his individuality, they were "herd" values, for the masses, but not for the individual.

Humans should watch out when they subscribed to those herd values in order not to become part of the herd themselves. Every individual should create their own values and decide for themselves what is good and evil.

Herd morality forces the individual to take on the burden of existence from the creator of the herd morality, and individuals feel guilty when they do not maintain that burden and instead try to set themselves free.

Since herd morality is based on tradition, our knowledge does not come from truth, but from old moldy tradition, and people accept all these traditions without proof. Nietzsche thought humans were spell-bound by tradition. This attitude was based on laziness. People wanted the easy way out, they wanted to live a "sleepy" life.

According to Nietzsche, herd morality is based on religion. When morality is based on something as unattainable as religion, morality itself becomes unattainable. Based on that belief, the real "truth" is concealed from the masses.

For Nietzsche this was the worst crime of all. In his autobiography he contended that the lie of religious morality was the curse of man. All the Dionysian nature (passion) has been denied to man and labeled evil. However, this evil of "man" is the Truth. Lies or herd morality had been fabricated to seal the truth of existence. The truth of existence is chaos. The herd morality destroyed individualism and the freedom of man.

Nietzsche believed that society should experience a balance between Dionysian nature and the wisdom of Apollo. However, Nietzsche was careful not to create a new morality for everyone. Above all he wanted every human being to create their own values. He wanted each of us to destroy our herd mentality.

Nietzsche was talking about the "Ubermensch" as a type of a prophet who would come to earth and create new values, but before that happened all humans souls die, otherwise the new creation would be contaminated by the old herd morality. The new morality would cause man to love life as it is "Amor fati".

The paradox of Nietzsche's theory is that a new morality will eventually also become a herd morality imposed on people and set in stone. In reality Nietzsche had created a morality of ranks. The traditional herd morality was still to be used for the masses. The new morality was to be used for the Ubermensch, for those people who had overcome humanity as-is, and realized that existence is chaotic. These people would become the new nobility, they would all be gods, however, not gods in traditional Christian terms.

Nietzsche and ethics.

Nietzsche targeted Jewish people for having a "slave morality," and being envious of others. The Christian ethics was even worse, because it made virtue out of meekness, poverty, and humility. In addition, rather than struggle, Christians were to turn the other cheek if they were injured. Such an ethic, he continued, undermines the strength, pride, self-affirmation and drive, which led to the greatest and most noble human achievements.

Nietzsche wanted the era of traditional religion to be over. God is dead, he insisted. What Nietzsche wanted to replace traditional Christian religion, was Aristotle's concept of "the greatness of the soul," which meant that humans should feel noble and take pride in their achievements. Nietzsche suggested that people should overcome the human "condition" of herd mentality and Christian humility. People who were able to overcome the human condition, would become the new ideal for humanity, the Ubermensch.

Some have regarded Nietzsche's concept of "The Ubermensch" and his praise of the "will to power" as evidence for the approval of Hitler. This is not true. However, after Nietzsche's death, his racist sister arranged some of Nietzsche's unpublished writings in such a manner, that it suggested Nietzsche was a forerunner of Nazism. Nietzsche, however, was as contemptuous of pan-German racism and anti-Semitism as he was of Jewish and Christian ethics.

When the Ubermensch raised above traditional humanity, and gained the "will to power," they were not to oppress others.

Nietzsche did acknowledge two types of people, the Ubermensch and the "herd." and he believed humans only had the duty to be ethical responsible to their own group of people. With all others they could do as their heart saw fit. The essence being that the Ubermensch knew what was morally right, and what would be harmful to them would also be harmful to others, therefore, they would not engage in such behavior. The Ubermensch were the ones to create values as they saw fit.

Existentialism dating from the 1930s

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were precursors to the Existentialism that developed in the 1930s in Europe. Even more so than before the philosophy focused on the concreteness and problematic nature of human beings and their situation. For example, the dread of death, the limitations, struggles, and suffering that humans encounter in every-day-life, and the guilt accompanying choices and responsibilities derived from those choices.

In addition, Existentialists began to examine negative and confusing concerns about relationships and people's dependence upon one another and all the possibilities that arise due to those relationships, one's intra-personal relationship (a dialogue with oneself), boredom and repetition of every-day-life, and finally, the absurdity of human's infinity, aspirations, and the finitude of their possibilities.

Existentialism, thus, focus on ontology (being) and most importantly through the analysis of possibilities. There is a therapeutic value in Existentialism. It permits the liberation of human thoughts, such as angst or joy, and brings them to the forefront, so we gain an awareness of the authenticity of existence, that is grounded in oneself, in other humans, in the world at large, and with God.

Major concepts about 20^th century Existentialism

1. Existence is always particular and individual, for example, my existence, your existence, his existence.

Existentialism is opposed to any doctrine that views man as the manifestation of an absolute or an infinite substance. It opposes Idealism or Absolutism, those ideologies that stress consciousness, spirit, or soul.

2. Existence is the primary problem of being and the primary problem of finding meaning with ones life. It opposes any doctrine that is objective such as scientific analysis, because it is anti subjectivism.

3. Being means to continually be faced with a diversity of possibilities, from which man must select and commit to.

4. Possibilities are always present in relation to things and to humans. Consequently, possibilities are limited to situation that put conditions on choices. Existentialism focus on the relationship with other beings and objects as subjective experiences.

Twentieth Century Existentialists

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

Sartre lost his father at a very young age and grew up with his maternal grandfather, the uncle to the famous medical missionary, Albert Schweitzer. Carl Schweitzer was a professor of German at the university in Paris. Sartre and his mother, being of German decent, were shunned by the Parisians and Sartre spend his childhood playing alone in a fantasy world. He graduated from a very prestigious school in Paris and while a student formed a life long partnership with Simone de Beauvais, also a writer and forerunner of feminism. Sartre's first book, "Nausee" (1938), or in English Nausea, (1949), was his first claim to fame. The book narrates the feeling of revulsion one might undergo when confronted with the world of matter, not just the world of other people, but also the awareness of ones own body. The book was appreciated as an individualistic, antisocial piece of work, containing many of the philosophical themes Sartre later developed. Sartre adopted the phenomenological method, which proposes careful, unprejudiced description rather than deduction.

In his famous book "Being and Nothingness" (1956), Sartre revealed himself as a master of outstanding talent. In this book, he placed human consciousness, or no-thingness, in opposition to being, or thingness.

Things are matter and therefore do not escape determinism.

Thoughts and consciousness are non-matter, they are what create the "self" and make decisions and commitments and, thus, escape all determinism.

For Sartre non-matter is what represents freedom, a force toward action and activity. Freedom, however, is dependent on how well we are able to relate to other beings, or rather escape others' ways of identifying us as objects and, thus, judge us and make us into objects, unable to escape determinism.

When we have been subjected to determinism by others, it is up to us to free ourselves from this determinism.

In this respect Sartre is hopeful, he gives us choices and responsibilities accompanying those choices, to free ourselves from becoming objects of others' imagination or judgements. Choices and responsibilities, however, make us feel ANGST. Angst is that state of not knowing, feeling that one does not have the power to alter one's situation. Furthermore, the world is filled with obstacles and illusions, alienation and terror. Such a world is a reminder that human endeavor is and remains useless, nothingness, this is where Sartre makes us feel disillusioned.

According to Sartre, freedom is our responsibility, even though it creates angst. For many, who fear angst too much, freedom is an impossibility. One of the problems of living, is that we live in the present. If we were able to look back at our life, we could react to it with new knowledge and consciousness, thus have a different attitude toward life, and maybe even escape the angst.

Sartre denied that there is authentic communication among people, because we tend to make "objects" out of each other or categorize them.

In 1964, Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature but he declined it.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965)

Tillich was born in Germany in a small walled town founded in the middle ages. Tillich studied theology and was ordained a Lutheran clergyman. He served as a chaplain during WWI and that experience had a horrifying effect on him. He felt that 19th-century humanism had vanished and the era of Western civilization was ending.

Tillich wanted to expand on the traditional "Protestant principles" to include human intellectual life and existence. He rejected the traditional anthropomorphic "personal" God, but he did not deny the reality of God as conventional atheists did. Rather Tillich wanted to create a much grander vision of God.

In his book "The Courage to Be", he discussed theism transcended or the "God above God" which can give us the ultimate courage to be. This God is concerned with being and meaning of human life. When humans believe in "the God above God" they have courage to be and they dare face anxiety, doubt and meaninglessness in everyday life. For Tillich, God was more reasonable than the God of traditional Christian faith, "he" was a God with whom humans could explore the meaning of life and faith in modern times.

Tillich felt he was a boundary man, standing between the old and new faith or the sacred and the secular orientation of the modern culture. His books "The Courage to Be" (1952) and "Dynamics of Faith" (1957) integrate the realms of traditional Christianity and modern culture. The books reached a large public audience not usually concerned with religious matters.