Existentialism

philosophyterms.com/existentialism

October 16, 2016

Table of Contents [hide]

I. Definition
Existentialism is a European philosophy that started in the mid-1800s and hit its stride in
the years around World War II. It has two parts:

Life has no inherent meaning. Nothing we do matters in an absolute sense. There is

no God, no objective morality, and no cosmic “purpose” in life.

That’s OK. Or even better than okay, because it means that life can have the
meaning that we give it—that we are more important than any pre-conceived notions
about our lives.

If you have only the first part and not the second, you’d be considered a nihilist; with both
parts, you become an existentialist. The reason it’s called existentialism is the idea that our
actual existence—what we’re doing or experiencing at any given moment, is primary, rather
than some absolute reality, like god, behind the scenes. So, existentialism is a positive
alternative to nihilism. Existentialism also grew out of phenomenology, a philosophy which
attempted to make a new firmer foundation for philosophy by only making statements about
what you know to be true, 100%, without a doubt, which turns out to be only that you are
having such-and-such an experience, right now. So, phenomenologists strongly justified
the idea that your individual experience here and now is more real than any gods or
abstract ideals.

So, existentialists focus on individual experience and freedom; for existentialists, it’s OK
that the universe has no inherent meaning, because that leaves us free to create our own
meanings, which are more real, and may even turn out to be more beautiful and inspiring
than the old universal certainties of religion and traditional philosophy. On the other hand,
the risks are considerable; if meaning in life is entirely up to us, then what do we say to
people who make their meaning by harming others?

II. Existentialism vs. Transcendentalism

Existentialists and Transcendentalists both originated around the same time, and both
responded to the threat of nihilism. People in this time were worried that they were slipping
into nihilism because rationalism and contact with non-European cultures were making it
difficult for European and American thinkers to believe in absolute religious meanings. Both
philosophies were partially influenced by Eastern philosophies like Buddhism, which has no
dogma and focus on experience rather than belief. In fact, some people consider Buddhism
a nihilistic religion.

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Whereas existentialism accepted the basic claims of nihilism (part 1 of the idea) and then
tried to re-interpret them, Transcendentalism rejected part 1 entirely, arguing instead that
meaning and purpose in life do come from a universal, transcendent source, but one which
does not rely on a particular religious dogma – some kind of divinity which pervades all
nature and is consistent with reason and science; it was a kind of pantheism.

As such, Transcendentalism can be consistent with many different religions, as long as one
believes that god is in everything; some Transcendentalists are Christians, others are
inspired by Eastern religions, and still others are Secular Humanists, believing in no
traditional religion.

III. Famous Quotes About Existentialism

Quote 1

“We must imagine Sisyphus happy.” (Albert Camus)

Albert Camus, a French philosopher, is widely considered an existentialist, although he

might have disagreed; he promoted a unique kind of existentialism called absurdism. This
short quote sums up the idea pretty well. Sisyphus was a character in Greek mythology, a
man condemned to Hades by the gods. He was given a boulder to roll up a hill and told that
if he pushed it to the top he would be set free; but every time he would get within inches of
the top, the boulder would slip from his grasp to roll all the way back down to the bottom.
Camus argued that this was a good metaphor for human life – pointless, endless, absurd.
But he believed that we could imagine Sisyphus smiling as he worked in spite of all that.
Sisyphus, after all, makes a choice: every time the boulder rolls down the hill, he chooses to
go back to the bottom and start again, rather than choosing to give up. For Camus, this is
how human beings must learn to be happy – we must choose, over and over again, to go
about our daily lives and fight for what we believe, even though it’s certainly all absurd in
the end.

Quote 2

“The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.” (Carl Sagan)

Carl Sagan was an astronomer who dedicated his life to showing people the beauty of the
natural universe. Like Neil deGrasse Tyson today, Sagan was a popular figure who made
poetry out of science. In this quote, Sagan sounds like an existentialist, as he suggests that
there is no inherent purpose or meaning in the universe.

IV. The History and Importance of Existentialism

The history of existentialism can be traced back to the Danish philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard. It wasn’t called existentialism then, but Kierkegaard is still considered the first
existentialist. Given that Existentialism involves a lack of belief in God or inherent purpose
in life of faith, it may be surprising to learn that Kierkegaard was a devout Christian! Not
only that, his whole philosophy was based on trying to explain why faith in God was
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important. Kierkegaard argued that no logic, science, or philosophy could ever prove God’s
existence, and therefore that a “Leap of Faith” was necessary. But there was no reason for
this Leap of Faith other than the fact that it would help make human life worth living! In other
words, Kierkegaard was existentialist because he claimed that we humans are responsible
for giving meaning to our own lives—through the leap of faith. We’ll see another example of
this “religious existentialism” in the next section.

Kierkegaard died in 1855, but the philosophy of existentialism didn’t truly come into its own
until almost a hundred years later, in the aftermath of World War II. During the Holocaust,
many Jewish intellectuals suffered through the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps,
and nearly all lost family members and friends. These intellectuals, and many sympathetic
non-Jews, found it impossible to believe that the world had any inherent meaning after that
experience. If God allowed the Holocaust to happen, then He was either evil, or too weak to
be worth worshipping. Many people abandoned their faiths and tried to make new meaning
in their lives based on existentialist ideas.

The biggest name in existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, write during this period and defined
existentialism more than any other philosopher. He is most famed for saying “existence
precedes essence” which means that what you are or do in each moment comes before (is
more real) than any general category or idea that might be applied to you—which is the
opposite of the way many people had thought in the western world, at least since ancient
Greece.

Existentialism had the greatest impact on western thinking in the late 20th Century in all
sorts of different areas. Psychologists, sociologists, and even some physical scientists
adopted this stance toward the meaning of life. They asked questions like: why didn’t more
Jews and other Holocaust victims commit suicide? How is it possible to live on after such
trauma? Meanwhile, the idea that we make meaning, rather than being given it, became
central to all of the humanities—linguistics, anthropology, history, literary theory, etc. Later
in the 20th century, after people had had time to explore the implications of existentialism, it
evolved into a variety of further philosophies, especially deconstructionism, which focuses
on the idea that all meanings are constructed by people and have no absolute foundation.

V. Existentialism in Popular Culture

Example 1

“[They say] the world is a fine place and worth fighting for . . . I agree with the second part.”
(Detective Somerset, SE7EN)

The horror movie SE7EN features an Existentialist detective who, after years of chasing
serial killers, has pretty much given up on humanity. However, he doesn’t slip into nihilism
despite his grim view of the world. Instead, he dedicates himself to his job and gains some
solace from the choice to keep fighting even though he believes it’s a lost cause.

Example 2

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 “Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and
maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up. But I have a great life, and a great family, and I have
the Book of Mormon to thank for that! The truth is, I don’t care if Joseph Smith made it all up,
because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people.
And even though people in this town might think that’s stupid, I still choose to believe in it.”
(Gary, South Park)

In one of the most popular episodes of South Park, a Mormon kid moves into town from
Utah. Much of the episode ridicules Gary’s religion, poking all sorts of holes in its sacred
stories. In the end, though, we learn that Gary’s commitment to his religion is based on faith
in its deeper teachings, not belief in the stories themselves. This is a very existentialist way
to relate to your religion – not to see it as based on eternal, sacred, or transcendent truths,
but simply as a set of ideas and rituals that help you live a better life in the here-and-now.
The element of choice at the end makes this quote particularly existentialist.

Quiz
1.
An Existentialist might say . . .

a.

b.

c.

d.

2.
Who is considered the first existentialist?

a.

b.

c.

d.

3.
Existentialism came to the fore in response to this event:

a.

b.

c.

d.

4.
Existentialism and Transcendentalism are both responses to…
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a.

b.

c.

d.

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