Existentialism
By Logan YoumansSection 11
Existentialism is a philosophical and literary movement attempting to confront the nihilistic implications of modernism or "The Modern Condition", and by confronting it, rise above it. Life is inherently absurd, because it makes no sense. It defies our sense of reason. In the end, regardless of our actions, love, or accomplishments, we all die. All meaning is essentially meaningless; the greatest work of art today will be utterly forgotten two thousand years from now. Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people, and so on, so life really makes no sense at all. Nothing has any true meaning. This gives mankind a certain freedom. Man alone can determine the course of mankind. No “higher source” will ever be found to determine right or wrong, or what the truth really is. Man alone can create meaning. We simply exist, same as a squirrel or a cat running down the street, with no real innate purpose or responsibility to do anything, which in turn gives us the responsibility to find meaning in our lives, and to give our existence a purpose. Thus is the basis behind the saying, "existence precedes essence." This statement can be read as saying that there cannot be a meaning without the existence of something that gives itself that meaning.
While nihilism and existentialism are different philosophies, they are easy to mix up. Probabaly one of the biggest reasons is that Friedrich Nietzsche is an important philosopher of both sides. Existentialist philosophers often emphasize the importance of fear as a sign of the absence of any objective basis for action, a movement often reduced to moral or existential nihilism. Existential nihilism is the theory that life has no meaning or value of its own. In terms of the universe, existential nihilism suggests that a single person or even an entire human species is meaningless, with no purpose or likelyhood to change the universe. According to the theory, each individual is its own isolated being, who cannot know why they exist but is forced to invent a meaning for existence. This suggests that these two terms, existentialism and nihilism, may not be easily distinguishable for some philosophers.
While nihilism can be seen as the negative half of the spectrum of these two views, existentialism is the positive antithesis in a sense. While nihilism leans toward nothing mattering, existentialism leans towards making life matter with your choices and how you spend your days. It opens up freedom for living, as there is no higher power dictating what one must do or how to live. It can be freeing or terrifying, depending on how you think about it. Such is the burden and liberty of existence.
Questions:
Do existentialists believe in a higher power?
What philosophy is similar yet opposite to existentialism?
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/absurdism-section-13.html?showComment=1575694854062&m=1#c3682343499898149400
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/technology.html?showComment=1575695295992&m=1#c4310176986280522619
This really made me ask myself why we value what we do.
ReplyDeleteUnlike squirrels & cats, presumably, we have the evolved cranial capacity (or curse) to ask ourselves questions about meaning and purpose... and thus, the opportunity to create meaning and purpose through our choices. The only "innate" functions are those we share with other, less reflective species. So it's hard for me to see this as a problem of nihilism, since nothing in our condition seems to require or reward the view that nothing matters. Mattering is what we do, when we find reflective reason to do anything at all. So... I hope you'll direct some of your discussion to what's positive and appealing about the existentialists' perspective.
ReplyDelete