Existentialism the idea that there is no point to anything. If there isn’t any point to anything what's the point of living? We need guidance but the Existentialists say that there is no right or wrong.
Existentialists say you should make any decisions for yourself. t’s all about choice.
To make a choice is at the heart of existentialism, violence is like a accelerated choice. Preferred to do something. Violence is the ultimate type of choice by Existentialists.
Existentialism as an agent for political change via Existentialism principles established by Nietzsche, Heidegger- a call to arms from Sartre and the explicit embracing of violence by Franz Fanon: 'The rebel's weapon is the proof of his humanity. This irrepressible violence is man recreating himself'.
Key figures in Existentialism are:
Nietzsche: 'God is dead'- the end of certainty and we are faced with a crisis- we need something new to sustain us. This crisis is fantastic according to Nietzsche because it means freedom. It gives us the freedom to find a value for ourselves. When we believed in a superstructure such as Religion we were in the mindset of children (believe everything to be perfect/ have an answer) but the reality of life is that nothing is perfect i.e. 'God is dead'.
Plato believed there to be perfect forms in another world but Nietzsche believed that the world in which we live and experience life is the only world that exists. He believes that human nature isn't universal- our natures are different and it therefore follows that different people can find and follow different conceptions of excellence, different moralities. This is therefore opposing the position of natural rights (Locke) and Rousseau's view of general will (rules set out to guide us in life).
Nietzsche firmly believed that if we are all different and there is no absolute morality we must all have different morals and also have our own rules. Nobody gives us these morals, not even God.
Ubermensch- The superman the overman, overcomes what has so far defined us as human. The ubermensch will overcome and ignore other values set out. Choice is crucial.
Heidegger: 'Being and Time' was highly influenced by Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'. The book was about human existence and focused on what it means to exist and consequently the problems of human life.
Believed himself to not be an Existentialist. Said that we must question the nature of the being which causes us to question the nature of being.
There is reason in the world. But where does it come from? Existentialists say it's derived from and is about existence.
He first asks what is it that exists? What is the basic beginning of existence? It is Dasein. Simply us, we are Dasein, it is in each of us.
Attacks Descartes and the Cartesian idea that the world is split into two substances:
1. The mind
2. The body
Heidegger believed this concept made it impossible to understand ourselves because when you talk about the mind and body we become stuck with the fact that we are our minds. How do we then get out of our minds and out into the world in itself? Hume says you can't, we'll never know everything. Billboard example. Anything in the future is unknowable, everything can be falsified. Instead of Hume's spectacle idea, Cartesian and Dualism, Heidegger believes 'Dasein' is the answer since 'Dasein' is ‘being in the world.’
Our existence is simply our interaction with the world. Our place in the world is not our existence, our existence is the interaction and engagement we make with the world. We make this through choice. You have to make a choice to engage with something and so 'Dasein' is your engagement with the world. Therefore existence is how you engage with the world. The most important thing that defines you is your next decision, it’s the choices you make. You are defined by your choices.
Das Man
This is the inauthentic self- what Heidegger has in mind in a sort of social construal of the self. It is inauthentic because it is simply a social self, it is not one's own self at all.
Facticity are those parts of ourselves which are simply given- we are thrown into the world. Where you were born. All of the facts that have happened up to this point in your life is a person's facticity. If you are defined what has come before this moment you are Das Man, meaning you are imperfect. For the Existentialist the future is the most important decision, we are creatures of the possible.
Transcendence is my reaction to my facticity- our possibility which may not be realised. I am defined by my choices and I re-create myself but I am not defined by my past (crucial to Fanon).
Sartre's key idea was that existence precedes essence- we create our own purpose. E.g. Simone de Beauvoir: 'One is not born a woman, but becomes one.' We are defined by our own essence.
The Absurd- There is no guiding point/spirit, no teleological driving force- stuff happens, good and bad without reason and so life is in some way ridiclious and absurd.
Bad Faith
The life of a person isn’t determined in advance by God or moral laws according to Sartre. The only thing you cannot escape is the need to choose. People will try to avoid this freedom, however, since the possibility of recreating oneself is frightening. This is 'Bad Faith'.
The alternative is to take responsibility for your actions and be defined by your choices.
Humanity for Sartre is:
1. Abandonment- 'God is dead' (Nietzsche) we are alone and there is no one/thing to guide us on how to act.
2. Anguish- Humans are fundamentally free 'condemned to be free' the responsibility of being free is enormous, no excuses we are the reason for being who we are. We cannot choose our past but we choose how to feel and act to every situation.
3. Despair- This is the realisation that the world may prevent us from getting what we want, we are the totality of what we actually do.
Existentialism is the reaction to the realization that there is no reason to anything.
His examples:
· Stare’s pupil ( a real example of a pupil in the Second World War, the choice for a boy to look after his mother whilst the Nazi’s were in France, or should he join the resistance and fight the Germans)
Obviously he loves his mother. But the only chance to get rid of the Nazi’s is to fight them.
Choice between his mother and joining the Free French.
Abandonment, Anguish and despair all felt due to this choice.
Sartre says 'you are free, therefore choose.' You define yourself by this choice. No right choice.
· Bad faith
Most people think that because you have a certain role they have expectations of you. For example students are expected to go to lectures. But Sartre says No, you are radically free, you have no obligations. It’s a simple choice.
Sartre believes such people are making a metaphysical mistake by turning themselves into inert objects rather than being free beings.
Creative Commons attribution to Caro Wallis
