a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the issue of human existence.
Existentialist philosophers explore questions related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence.
Common concepts in existentialist thought include
and anxiety in the face of an absurd world,
as well as authenticity, courage, and virtue.
critiqued rationalism and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning
Sartre posits the idea that
"what all existentialists have in common is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence
Sartre described existentialism as
"the attempt to draw all the consequences from a position of consistent atheism."
For others, existentialism need not involve the rejection of God, but rather
"examines mortal man's search for meaning in a meaningless universe,"
considering less "What is the good life?" (to feel, be, or do, good),
instead asking "What is life good for?
individuals shape themselves by existing and cannot be perceived through preconceived and a priori categories, an "essence".
Human beings, through their own consciousness, create their own values and determine a meaning to their life
in contradiction to Aristotle and Aquinas who taught that essence precedes individual existence
the subjective thinker has only one setting—existence—and has nothing to do with localities and such things
people are defined only insofar as they act and that they are responsible for their actions
Someone who acts cruelly towards other people is, by that act, defined as a cruel person. Such persons are themselves responsible for their new identity (cruel persons). This is opposed to their genes, or human nature, bearing the blame.
"Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards." The more positive, therapeutic aspect of this is also implied: a person can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person instead of a cruel person
it belongs to the essence of a house to keep the bad weather out, which is why it has walls and a roof. Humans are different from houses because—unlike houses—they do not have an inbuilt purpose: they are free to choose their own purpose and thereby shape their essence; thus, their existence precedes their essence
an essence is the relational property of having a set of parts ordered in such a way as to collectively perform some activity
freedom: nothing fixes our purpose but we ourselves, our projects have no weight or inertia except for our endorsement of them
Simone de Beauvoir, holds that there are various factors, grouped together under the term sedimentation, that offer resistance to attempts to change our direction in life. Sedimentations are themselves products of past choices and can be changed by choosing differently in the present, but such changes happen slowly. They are a force of inertia that shapes the agent's evaluative outlook on the world until the transition is complete
The notion of the absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the amorality or "unfairness" of the world.
opposes the traditional Abrahamic religious perspective, which establishes that life's purpose is the fulfillment of God's commandments. This is what gives meaning to people's lives
To live the life of the absurd means rejecting a life that finds or pursues specific meaning for man's existence since there is nothing to be discovered.
life becomes absurd due to the incompatibility between human beings and the world they inhabit
absurdity is limited to actions and choices of human beings. These are considered absurd since they issue from human freedom, undermining their foundation outside of themselves
The absurd contrasts with the claim that "bad things don't happen to good people"; to the world, metaphorically speaking, there is no such thing as a good person or a bad person; what happens happens, and it may just as well happen to a "good" person as to a "bad" person
Because of the world's absurdity, anything can happen to anyone at any time and a tragic event could plummet someone into direct confrontation with the absurd
helping people avoid living their lives in ways that put them in the perpetual danger of having everything meaningful break down is common to most existentialist philosophers.
The possibility of having everything meaningful break down poses a threat of quietism, which is inherently against the existentialist philosophy
It has been said that the possibility of suicide makes all humans existentialists.
The ultimate hero of absurdism lives without meaning and faces suicide without succumbing to it
Facticity is a limitation and a condition of freedom. It is a limitation in that a large part of one's facticity consists of things one did not choose (birthplace, etc.), but a condition of freedom in the sense that one's values most likely depend on it.
the value ascribed to one's facticity is still ascribed to it freely by that person
to disregard one's facticity during the continual process of self-making, projecting oneself into the future, would be to put oneself in denial of oneself and would be inauthentic.
Authenticity involves the idea that one has to "create oneself" and live in accordance with this self.
For an authentic existence, one should act as oneself, not as "one's acts" or as "one's genes" or as any other essence requires.
The authentic act is one in accordance with one's freedom
The Other is the experience of another free subject who inhabits the same world as a person does
The world is constituted as objective in that it is something that is "there" as identical for both of the subjects; a person experiences the other person as experiencing the same things.
This experience of the Other's look is what is termed the Look
In Sartre's example of a man peeping at someone through a keyhole, the man is entirely caught up in the situation he is in.
He is in a pre-reflexive state where his entire consciousness is directed at what goes on in the room.
Suddenly, he hears a creaking floorboard behind him and he becomes aware of himself as seen by the Other.
He is then filled with shame for he perceives himself as he would perceive someone else doing what he was doing—as a Peeping Tom.
For Sartre, this phenomenological experience of shame establishes proof for the existence of other minds and defeats the problem of solipsism.
For the conscious state of shame to be experienced, one has to become aware of oneself as an object of another look, proving a priori, that other minds exist.
The Look is then co-constitutive of one's facticity.
Another characteristic feature of the Look is that no Other really needs to have been there: It is possible that the creaking floorboard was simply the movement of an old house; the Look is not some kind of mystical telepathic experience of the actual way the Other sees one (there may have been someone there, but he could have not noticed that person).
It is only one's perception of the way another might perceive him
"Existential angst", sometimes called existential dread, anxiety, or anguish
negative feeling arising from the experience of human freedom and responsibility.
The archetypal example is the experience one has when standing on a cliff where one not only fears falling off it, but also dreads the possibility of throwing oneself off.
In this experience that "nothing is holding me back", one senses the lack of anything that predetermines one to either throw oneself off or to stand still, and one experiences one's own freedom.
angst is before nothing, and this is what sets it apart from fear that has an object.
While one can take measures to remove an object of fear, for angst no such "constructive" measures are possible.
The use of the word "nothing" in this context relates to the inherent insecurity about the consequences of one's actions and to the fact that, in experiencing freedom as angst, one also realizes that one is fully responsible for these consequences.
Despair is generally defined as a loss of hope.
In existentialism, it is more specifically a loss of hope in reaction to a breakdown in one or more of the defining qualities of one's self or identity.
What sets the existentialist notion of despair apart from the conventional definition is that existentialist despair is a state one is in even when they are not overtly in despair. So long as a person's identity depends on qualities that can crumble, they are in perpetual despair
