Existentialism

A revolt against traditional metaphysics

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari
Dr. Suraksha Bansal
Phd
Phd
Principal
Senior Lecturer
DIMS
DIMS
Meerut, India
Meerut, India
Existentialism is the most individualistic of all modern philosophies. Its overriding
concern is with the individual and its primary value is the absolute freedom of the
person, who is only what he makes himself to be, and who is the final and
exclusive arbiter of the values he freely determines for himself. Great emphasis is
placed on art, on literature, and the humanistic studies, for it is in these areas that
man finds himself and discovers what values he will seek to attain.

Existentialism is the philosophic standpoint which gives priority to existence over

essence. What is meant by this is that existentialism gives priority in significance to
existence, in the sense of my existence as a conscious subject, rather than to any
essence which may be assigned to me, any definition of me, any explanation of me by
science or philosophy or religion or politics. Existentialism affirms the ultimate
significance, the primacy of my existence as this flickering point of consciousness of
myself and of objects of which I am aware, my existence as this conscious being
against all efforts to define me, to reduce me to a Platonic essence, or to a Cartesian
mental substance, or to a Hegelian carrier of the spirit of my culture, or to a scientific
neurological mechanism, or to a social security number. Whereas classical and modern
rationalism have regarded rational essences or self-evident ideas as having primacy
over individual existence. Whereas rationalism claims that the individual existence can
be comprehended by the concept or essence or by any conceptual system."
--T.Z. Levine, From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest, page 328—
Existentialism represents a protest against the rationalism of traditional philosophy,
against misleading notions of the bourgeois culture, and the dehumanizing values of
industrial civilization. Since alienation, loneliness and self-estrangement constitute
threats to human personality in the modern world, existential thought has viewed as its
cardinal concerns a quest for subjective truth, a reaction against the ‘negation of Being’
and a perennial search for freedom. From the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, to
the Twentieth Century. French philosopher, Jean Paul, Sartre, thinkers have dealt with
this tragic sense of ontological reality - the human situation within a comic context.
Existentialism is a 20th century philosophy concerned with human existence, finding
self, and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The
belief that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as
they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook without the help of
laws.Existentialism then stresses that a person’s judgment is the determining factor for
what is to be believed rather than by religious or secular world values.

Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of 19th- and 20th-century

philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, generally held that the focus
of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the
individual person and his or her emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts. The
early 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, posthumously regarded as the father
of existentialism, maintained that the individual solely has the responsibilities of giving
one's own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many
existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation,
and boredom.

Subsequent existential philosophers retain the emphasis on the individual, but differ, in
varying degrees, on how one achieves and what constitutes a fulfilling life, what
obstacles must be overcome, and what external and internal factors are involved,
including the potential consequences of the existence or non-existence of God.
Existentialism became fashionable in the post-World War years as a way to reassert the
importance of human individuality and freedom. A keen study of quite an amount of
existentialist philosophy would reveal that to write about existentialism is neither easy
nor simple but a challenging and complex one. If doubts and confusions are left
unlearned, one can only say that “contradictions and inconsistencies are fundamental to
their thought.
“Another very significant source of confusion arises out of the different personal lives
and convictions of existential philosophers. Kierkegaard, Marcel and Jaspers are theists
whereas Sartre and Heidegger are agnostics. Jaspers is a protestant whereas Marcel is
a staunch Roman Catholic. Less said the better about the diversities of other
existentialist philosophers like Berdyaev, Buber, Tillich and Niebuhr.”

Historical Retospect-:

Just as the whole of Indian philosophy is an extension, interpretation, criticism and

corroboration of the Vedas and in it the Upanishads or an outright revolt against them,
similarly it may be remarked of western philosophy as either a clarification of Socrates
or his rejection. One would be still right in saying that the whole of western philosophy is
an appendix on Socrates. So it is even true with existentialism that Socrates has been
considered to be the first existentialist. Socrates statement: “I am and always have been
a man to obey nothing in my nature except the reasoning which upon reflection,
appears to me to be the best.” Right from Plato down to (Spinoza, Leibnitz) Descartes,
the majority of western thinkers have been believing in the immutability of ideas and the
rest of the thinkers have been suggesting correctives to it. Anyhow their frame of
reference has always been ‘Essence Precedes Existence’, essence being referred to
ideas, values, ideals, thoughts, etc. and existence being referred to our lives. The last in
the series was Hegel who carried farthest this effort to understand the world rationally

19th century
At least for the western world, the first half of the twentieth century has been an age
marked by anxieties, conflicts, sufferings, tragic episodes, dread, harrow, anguish,
persecution and human sacrifices caused by the two intermittent world wars. As Harper
writes : “Tragedy, death, guilt, suffering all force one to appraise one’s total situation,
much more than do happiness, joy, success, innocence, since it is in the former that
momentous choices must be made.” So, there sprang up a group of philosophers
spread all over Germany, France and Italy which were the places of social crisis.

Significant among these philosophers were Karl Jaspers and Martin Headgear from
Germany. France contributed two other existentialists -: Gabriel Marcel and Jean Paul
Sartre. ‘There are quite a few gentlemen who are associated remotely with the
philosophy of existentialism like Schelling, Nietzsche, Pascal, Husserl who have
influenced existential thought but cannot be rigidly classified as existentialists.”
Existentialism thus has a short history of nearly two centuries.

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche were two of the first philosophers
considered fundamental to the existentialist movement, though neither used the term
"existentialism Kierkegaard's knight of faith and Nietzsche's Übermensch are exemplars
who define the nature of their own existence. These idealized individuals invent their
own values and create the very terms under which they excel.
Dostoyevsky and Kafka
Two of the first literary authors important to existentialism were the
Czech Franz Kafka and the Russian Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky's portrays a man
unable to fit into society and unhappy with the identities he creates for himself.

Early 20th century

In the first decades of the 20th century, a number of philosophers and writers had
explored existentialists ideas,. The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, ,
emphasized the life of "flesh and bone" as opposed to that of abstract rationalism.
Unamuno rejected systematic philosophy in favor of the individual's quest for faith..
Another Spanish thinker, Ortega y Gasset, held that the human existence must always
be defined as the individual person combined with the concrete circumstances of his
life: "

Two Russian thinkers, Lev Shestov and Nikolai Berdyaev became well-known as
existentialist. Gabriel Marcel, long before coining the term "existentialism", introduced
important existentialist themes to a French audience In Germany, the psychologist and
philosopher Karl Jaspers — who later described existentialism as a "phantom" created
by the public,[ — called his own thought, heavily influenced by Kierkegaard and
Nietzsche — Existenzphilosophie.

After the Second World War

Following the Second World War, existentialism became a well-known and significant
philosophical and cultural movement, mainly through the public prominence of two
French writers, Sartre and Albert Camus, who wrote best-selling novels, plays and
widely-read journalism as well as theoretical texts. These years also saw the growing
reputation outside Germany of Heidegger's book Being and Time.

.Paul Tillich, an important existential theologian following Søren Kierkegaard and Karl
Barth, applied existential concepts to Christian, and helped introduce existential
theology to the general public.
Meaning and Definition of Existentialism

There is a wide variety of philosophical ideologies that make up existentialism so there

is not a universal existentialism definition. It is necessary to remain open and realize
that most existentialists have a different view and form

The term "existentialism" seems to have been coined by the French

philosopher Gabriel Marcel in the mid-1940sand adopted by Jean-Paul Sartre, on
October 29, 1945
Etymological meaning of ‘existence’ from two German words -: ‘ex-sistent’ meaning that
which stands out, that which ‘emerges’ suggests that existentialism is a philosophy that
emerges out of problems of life.

: There are numerous ways to analyze the currents of existential thinking. As a system
of philosophy or a school of thought, existentialism is a revolt against traditional
metaphysics. As a theory of human development, it is an approach to highlight the
existence of being the process of becoming..”.

As a term, 'Existentialism' appears to refer to a unified school of thought, but this is a

problematic assumption, because it is derived from a variety of existential philosophers.
Amongst the best known are Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre. Other
important contributors include Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel,
Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, Miguel de Unamuno and writers of literature such as Fyodor
Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka and Joseph Conrad. 'Existentialism' refers to
the common themes found amongst these and other thinkers, and is able to stand as a
recognized integrated system of philosophy in its own right
Since its introduction by Gabriel Marcel in the post-war period, 'Existentialism' has
suffered from various interpretations and misinterpretations to such a degree that even
Sartre wrote that "the word [existentialism] is now so loosely applied to so many things
that it no longer means anything at all". As a term, it is derived from the word existence,
implying that the individual has presence-in-the-world. Heidegger included the hyphen
in his term Ek-sistenz to accentuate the Greek and Latin origins which mean 'to stand
out from', and applied it to mean that the individual stands out from, or beyond, his or
her present. He described this as 'possibilities' or 'ways to be', and explained it as, "The
analysis of the characteristics of the being of Da-sein is an existential one. This means
that the characteristics are not properties of something objectively present, but
essentially existential ways to be Heidegger used the term existential to refer to the
structure of the individual in general. He designated his term existentiell to mean self-
understanding, how an individual understands himself or herself. But this self-
understanding is only possible through existence itself, as Heidegger often emphasized
the practicality of his lived philosophy. He argued that "We come to terms with the
question of existence always only through existence itself. We shall call this kind of
understanding of itself existentiell understanding".
Blackham has described existentialism as a philosophy of being “a philosophy of
attestation and acceptance, and a refusal of the attempt to rationalize and to think
Being.”, “it deals with the separation of man from himself and from the world, which
raises the question of philosophy not by attempting to establish some universal form of
justification which will enable man to readjust himself but by permanently enlarging and
lining the separation itself as primordial and constitutive for personal existence.”

Harries and Leveys defined existentialism as “any of several philosophic systems, all
centered on the individual and his relationship the universe or to God.”

Tiryakian defines it as “an attempt to reaffirm the importance of the individual by

rigorous and in many respects radically new analysis of the nature of man.”

In the opinion presented here, existentialism is a humanistic perspective on the

individual situation, a philosophy of existence, of being, of authenticity and of universal
freedom. It is a quest, beyond despair, for creative identity. It is the philosophy that is a
counselor in crisis, “a crisis in the individual’s life, which calls upon him to make a
‘choice’ regarding his subsequent existence.”

In brief, Existence does not mean living alive alone, it means to maintain perfect,
powerful, self-conscious, responsible and intelligent life. Man should get opportunity for
subjective consciousness. Truth is realised only in inner life. Existentialism lays
emphasis on Freedom and Individual Responsibility. It has an Eye-view on human
weakness and insecurity as man is leading a lonely life, being surrounded by anxieties,
frustrations, fear, feeling of guilt etc. His individuality is being crushed. philosophy that
emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or
indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom
of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.

Philosophical Rationale of Existentialism

Rather than attempt to define existentialism (which existentialists themselves maintain

is futile) it might to be better to determine what the task of philosophy is according to the
proponents of this school of thought. First of all, the existentialist does not concern
himself with problems concerning the nature, origin, and destiny of the physical
universe. The philosopher should not even concern himself with the basic assumptions
of the physical or biological sciences.

Metaphysical Position

Concept of God-

There are two forms of existentialism: (1) theistic existentialism, and (2) atheistic
existentialism.
According to theistic existentialism (e.g., Kierkegaard, Heidegger), God has created us
& yet has also apparently withdrawn from Her creation--so that we find ourselves bereft
of divine guidance & lost in the world & questioning our faith. Then in the face of a
seemingly meaningless, pointless world, individuals must create meaningful lives for
themselves by making active choices and by taking full responsibility for those choices.
According to atheistic existentialism, "God is dead." This is because the very idea of
God contains a tragic incoherence:
Assume that God exists and is all-powerful & all-knowing & all-good. Then also assume
that evil exists in the world. Then God is either responsible for the existence of evil, in
which case God is Himself evil & not all-good; or else God is not responsible for the
existence of evil & yet knew that it was going to happen & couldn’t prevent it--so God is
not all-powerful; or else God would have prevented evil but didn’t know it was going to
happen, and is therefore not all-knowing. So given evil, God is either not all-good, not
all-powerful, not all-knowing, or does not exist.
The atheistic existentialist then concludes that God does not exist. What this means is
that human beings have no pre-established nature or essence or goal for their lives, and
that in the face of a meaningless pointless world, individuals must create meaningful
lives for themselves by making active choices and by taking full responsibility for those
choices
Frederic Nietzsche’s statement, “God is dead,” succinctly expresses the atheistic
existentialist’s view on the issue of the existence of a supernatural realm. Neither
Nietzsche, Heidegger, nor Sartre makes any attempt to refute the traditional arguments
for the existence of God presented by the scholastics or those who use the “ontological
argument.” Rather, they simply begin with the assumption that God does not exist and
proceed to construct their philosophical views on the postulate. Nietzsche says: Where
is God gone ?.... I mean to tell you! We have killed him – you and I !..... Do we not here
the noise of the grave – diggers who are burying God? God is dead! God remains dead!
And we have killed! …. The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto
possessed had bled to death under our knife - …. What are our churches now, if they
are not the tombs and monuments of God?

Martin feels that man does not need to seek answers in divine revelation since
philosophy can solve the basic riddles of human existence. For Heidegger, then, the
existence or nonexistence of God and supernatural values is irrelevant to man’s major
task, that of creating himself.

Sartre’s atheism is more thoroughgoing than either that of Heidegger or Nietzsche.

Whereas Nietzsche felt that God was dead and Heidegger that God’s existence was
irrelevant, Sartre maintains that man can never comprehend the true meaning of his
own existence unless he presupposes there is no God. For when we being with the
premise that there is God, then we must conclude that man possesses an essence
which precedes personal existence

Thus Sartre rejects classical atheism which suppresses the idea of God but retains the
notion that men possess a common, rational mature or essence. This position, Sartre
believes, is inconsistent with atheism because it retains all the significant elements of
theism and refuses to accept the individual responsibility for self-creation which all true
atheism implies.

Sartre argues that it is inconsistent to speak of free will in man if one accepts the
existence of God. Only when one rejects God can one be said to be “in possession of
himself as he is ….. “ Only then does the responsibility for one’s own existence,
decisions, and acts rest squarely one one’s own shoulders. Only then can man be
considered truly free since he is no longer hamstrung by precepts :from above” or by a
nature imposed by a creator.

Concept of Self

The very question of the nature of man is a meaningless one for the existentialist. In
both of the sections above it was emphasized that man has no “nature” as such but
rather that he must create his own essence. Man is nothing more than what he makes
or himself. Perhaps, then, it might be more accurate to speak of certain characteristics,
state, or conditions which man creates for himself or into which he is thrown.
The most important of these characteristics is freedom. Man is condemned to freedom.
“Human freedom is not a part of human existence, “Sartre says, “it precedes human
existence and makes it possible. The freedom of man cannot be separated from the
being of man. It is the being of man’s consciousness. It is not a human attribute but is
the raw material of my being. I own my being to my freedom.”

Man, then, does not possess free will as a part of his essential mature, but rather he
exists in a state of absolute freedom The centre of existence is man rather than truth,
laws, principles or essence.

Man is characterized by decisions, will and choice. Although existentialists emphasize

man’s place in the world, or man’s relationship to Being, or even man’s relationship to
God, they still indicate that there is a certain uniqueness and mystery about the human
person. The phenomenon of man is life as it is lived, and the mystery is an awareness
of man’s deep and complex meaning, science and rational thinking cannot grasp or
explain it.

The uniqueness of man comes from his emotions, feelings, perception and thinking.
The philosophy of existentialism stresses meaning, only through development of
meaning in his life, man can make something of the absurdity which surrounds him.
Man is the maker, and, therefore, the master of culture. It is man who imposes a
meaning on his universe, although that universe may well function without him. Man
cannot be ‘taught’ what the world is about. He must create this for himself.

Nature of society

Man is not alone in the world.He is connected to other men; he communicates with
others; therefore, he cannot live in a state of anarchy. Life is seen as a gift, which, in
part is a mystery. Man is free to choose commitments in life, in his choice, he becomes
himself. He is the product of his choices. He is, therefore, an individual who is different
from other persons. The real living person is more important than any statement we can
make about him. Man’s existence is more important than his essence are considered
strong enough (by the existentialist) to impair man’s freedom.

The task of defining the nature of society is much more difficult than, it was for other
philosophies Man’s place is society and the effects of society on man’s nature are
clearly spelled out.. If man has no predetermined nature, certainly society must have
none. In other words, there is no place in existentialist philosophy for social theory as
developed within the other philosophies The existentialist often is accused of being
“antisocial” in his behavior as well as in his philosophy. if existentialists have no theory
of society, it might be more accurate to ask how they view other men. First, they would
grant to others the same existential freedom which they demand for themselves. That
is, man is never to be viewed as a means but rather as an end..
Second, individual man is not bound to other men by any predetermined notion of
brotherhood or by allegiance to a certain group. On the contrary, each man should
express his freedom in the creation of his own selfhood, first by “withdrawing from the
crowd,” and then by communicating only with those whom he personally chooses as
kindred spirits. Sartre is most emphatic on this point. He carries to its logical conclusion
Kierkegaard’s fight for the individual against the crowd, social institutions, or the system.
Sartre feels that the entire network of social life is anti-individual. Churches, schools,
political parties, and even the family tend to militate against man’s absolute freedom.

This antisocial outlook seems to be one of the facets of existentialism which the “lunatic
fringe” of the movement has given major emphasis they dislike attending formal
educational institutions since these, too, limit one’s freedom by holding the student to
very specific requirements, class attendance, examinations, and the like. To summarize,
the main points in the existentialist beliefs about the nature of man and society hinge on
the basic assumption that man is absolute freedom. This existential freedom generates
anguish, abandonment, and despair. Because man is a lonely being, he cannot seek
solace in social relations but must choose and act as an individual rather than as a
member of society. A person who will and acts in accordance will the notion of absolute
freedom will never be swayed by the “will of the mob” or by the demands of social
institutions. He will do as he wishes; he will create himself “according to his image and
likeness

.Epitomological Position

Existentialists, have given little attention to inductive reasoning. Science, they believe,
has been on of the major dehumanizing forces in the modern world. It is not that
existentialists want to put an abrupt halt to all scientific work. Rather, they argue, the
philosopher should not concern himself with such matters. It should be quite evident
from the section above that “philosophizing” is performed on such topics as the nature
and importance of freedom, man’s metal states, decisions, and action.

The existentialist approach to philosophy, then, calls for a new epistemology. This new
approach to knowledge is known as the phenomenological method. The atheistic
existentialists inherited this method from Husserl. It was adapted further by Heidegger
and Sartre to suit their philosophy of “will and action,” especially as it concerns the
individual.. The phenomenological method consists in the expression of the experiences
of consciousness through the media of ordinary language

Clearly, then, existentialism is not so concerned as are other modes of thinking with the
kind of knowledge found in the empirical sciences. Such knowledge is not concerned
with choices of values, modes of living, and acting.

In opposition to this cold impersonal approach to knowledge, the existentialist argues

that true knowledge is “choosing, actions, living, and dying.” Let the scientist continue
his pursuit of cold, lifeless fact and theory, but let the philosopher concerns himself with
the aspects of the world which involve personal true humanism.

Axiological Position

The idea of the highest ehthical good can be found in philosophy since the days of
Socrates and Plato. It was generally held that this good was the same for everybody; as
a person approached this moral perfection, she/he became morally like the next person
approaching this moral perfection. Kierkegaard reacted to this way of thinking by saying
that it was up to the individual to find his or her own moral perfection and his or her own
way there. "I must find the truth that is the truth for me. . .the idea for which I can live or
die" he wrote. Other Existentialists have followed along this way of thinking, one must
choose one's own way, make their own individual paths without the aid of univeral ideas
or guidance

Existential ethics
Existentialism is also the basis of an ethics. According to existential ethics the highest
good for humans is "becoming an individual) or "authenticity" = psychological coherence
+ integrity = not merely being alive but having a real life by being true to yourself
Authenticity & human freedom Existentialists have a special connotation of the
Authentic man According to the existentialists, becoming authentic allows one to
determine how things are to count towards one's situation and how one is to act in
relation to them. This term 'authentic' is derived from the Greek autos, referring to 'one
who does a thing for himself'. Derived from this is the German eigen meaning to 'own',
and by implication, 'to have, possess'.

Generally the existentialists consider authentic individuals to take responsibility for

determining and choosing possibilities and not to simply become a determined product
of a cultural moment. Heidegger stated that the 'existentia' has priority over the
'essentia', and this view has been made popular through the works of Sartre,. By living
authentically, one can choose one's own identity and possibilities rather than have these
dictated by the crowd Freedom, or the human ability to make choices and take
responsibility, determines authenticity. Thus the act of choice is an act of self-creation:
we are nothing but we make of ourselves.
Freedom in the existential sense entails that at least sometimes you must take full
responsibility for things over which you have no control. So what you ought to do, or
what is morally right, , is to choose a particular way of life, and to take full responsibility
for that life
Inauthenticity & human unfreedom The failure to choose in this way, or the failure to
take full responsibility for one’s choices, is "inauthenticity" = psychic incoherence + lack
of integrity Accordingly, the worst thing of all is inauthenticity & unfreedom, so it is
morally impermissible.
From what has been said above in connection with the nature of man and the knowing
process it is quite evident that the atheistic existentialist cannot subscribe to any value
theory which purports to be objective, absolute, universal, or social. If there were a
preexistent moral law which detailed general or specific behavioral patterns for all men,
true existential freedom would be mockery as well as an impossibility. Also, since man
himself has no specific or evil,” one cannot argue that a good man will make certain
since society has no independent existence it cannot claim any rights over the moral
choice and behavior of individuals. Values, then, do not exist except in conjunction with
the freely chosen acts of individuals.

Truly, it is because of his lack of an external moral authority that he individual finds
himself in the states of anguish, abandonment, and despair. In fact, even those
individuals who have committed themselves to the assumedly “objective systems” of
morality have done so for their own free choice. They have not made this choice
because these ethical system are “objective”; rather, by choosing this or that code of
behavior they have “objectified” for themselves their own subjective choices.”

All choices must be good, at least for the nonce. At a later date, one might regret
having made such a choice but that is beside the point. The very essence of good is
choosing.It seems them, that man never chooses evil. If one makes no choice one is
not creating his own essence. This is how animals behave – their masters choose for
them. But animals are not free so they cannot be accused of good or evil. But man, who
is “condiment to freedom,” must choose if he wishes to consider himself more than an
animal. A man “becomes a man” when he makes choice. When he makes choices he
creates his own values. When he creates his own values, he creates his own being or
essence.

Existential Aesthetics.

The existentialist, , considers the development of aesthetic theory as one or the major
concerns of the philosopher.

Another distinctive feature of the aesthetical views of existentialists lies in their use of he
art forms, especially literature, drama, and painting, as media for communicating
philosophical doctrines. The history of philosophy records no parallel of a school of
thought which uses the arts as the avenue for putting their beliefs into the cultural steam
of the age.

Fundamental Postulates of Existentialism

The existentialist movement is based on an intellectual attitude that philosophers

term existentialism

Permanence and Change

The philosophy of Aristotle and the scholastics explains change in such a way that
change is impossible without something stable which endures throughout the process of
change. When a child change to a man, becomes a man, there is continuity of past with
present, as it is the same person who once was a child and is now a man. In his
essence as rational animal the child-become-a-man abides. Existence then is not prior
to essence; man is born with an essence. As soon as he exists he has a predetermined
essence.

The existentialists, on the contrary, deny the preeminence of essence. They reject the
notion that there is a predetermined nature for every human being. Man is not born with
a rational soul which “forms the matter,” the body. Man has no essence at birth; he must
create his own essence. And with Darwin, the existentialist would concur that no living
beings will remain the same – all are in the process of changing. Consequently,
existentialism is to be classified as one of the philosophies of change..

If man as the existentialist sees him is not definable it is because to begin wit he is
nothing. He well not be anything until later, and then he will be what makes himself.
Thus, there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it.
Man simply is. Not that he is simply what he conceives himself to be, but he is what he
wills, and as he conceives himself after already existing – as he wills to be after that
leap towards existence. Man is nothing else but that which he make himself. That is the
first principle of existentialism …….. Man will only attain existence when he is what he
purposes to be)

Existence precedes essence

It was Plato who said that the surrounding world is a world of essences - ideas, values,
ideals, thought etc. and the purpose of life is to discover these essences. Essences are
already there and they precede existence. Even existence is an embodiment of an
essence - the self, which is a part of an universal essence - the self.

, Existentialism is a revolt against any kind of determinism and an affirmation of the free
nature of man. They affirm that existence is prior to essence that man is fundamentally
free to create his essences .As Blackham writes, “There is no creater of man. Man
discovered himself. His existence came first, he now is in the process of determining his
essence. Man first is, then he defines himself.”17

As Sartre himself explains his concept to us, “what is meant here by saying that,
‘existence precedes essence?’ “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears
on the scene, and only afterwards defines himself. It mean, as the existentialist sees
him is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterwards will be something
and he himself will have made what he will be…”

Therefore, it can be easily observed that when idealists believe in transcendental

values, Naturalists believe that values are resident in nature, pragmatists believe that
values arise out of social life, existentialists affirm that the individual alone creates
values. Reality is a state of becoming. Existence increases with every moment of life
and essence is a consequence of this perpetual becoming.
 Jean Paul Sartre's classic formulation of existentialism--that "existence precedes
essence"--means that there exists no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and
exist, and then we ourselves freely determine our essence Some philosophers
commonly associated with the existentialist tradition never fully adopted the "existence
precedes essence" principle. Nevertheless, that principle is fundamental to the
educational existentialist movement
Freedom is identical with existence
The existentialist concept of freedom is often misunderstood as a sort of liberum
arbitrium where almost anything is possible and where values are inconsequential to
choice and action. This interpretation of the concept is often related to the insistence on
the absurdity of the world and the assumption that there exist no relevant or absolutely
good or bad values
What is not implied in this account of existential freedom, however, is that one's values
are immutable; a consideration of one's values may cause one to reconsider and
change them. A consequence of this fact is that one is not only responsible for one's
actions, but also for the values one holds. Even though these are the values of the
society the individual is part of, they are also his own in the sense that she/he could
choose them to be different at any time. Thus, the focus on freedom in existentialism is
related to the limits of the responsibility one bears as a result of one's freedom: the
relationship between freedom and responsibility is one of interdependency, and a
clarification of freedom also clarifies that for which one is responsible
Individual freedom can be understood through the possibilities that an individual has.
Therefore existential freedom cannot be absolute as it is always contextualised to the
situation of each individual. Freedom is therefore inextricably linked to the notion of
choice, in that one can choose from amongst one's own possibilities. Once a choice has
been made and acted upon, then one possibility becomes actuality, while other
possibilities become negated. The dynamics of this interface between possibility,
actuality and freedom of choice, is a major part of Existentialism.
An inherent aspect to this notion of freedom of choice, is responsibility. The existential
perspective developed here considers that the individual who exercises personal
freedom of choice must also be willing to accept responsibility for these decisions..
According to Sartre freedom is identical with existence. As such existentialism has even
been described as a search for ways in which man’s freedom to create may be widely
established and understood According to existentialists, man is not only free but he is
condemned to be free. He is only not free, not to be free. This is the tragedy of human
life. This infinite freedom entails upon him a heavy sense of responsibility and this
situation of being burdened with a heavy responsibility is the cause of dread, anguish
and anxiety. The peculiar quality of human reality is that it is without excuse. A bold,
honest, responsible and authentic existence would help man to face this situation.

The most important of these characteristics is freedom. Man is condemned to freedom.

“Human freedom is not a part of human existence, “ Sartre says, “it precedes human
existence and makes it possible. The freedom of man cannot be separated from the
being of man. It is the being of man’s consciousness. It is not a human attribute but is
the raw material of my being. I own my being to my freedom.”
Man, then, does not possess free will as a part of his essential mature, but rather he
exists in a state of absolute freedom. None of the environmental or hereditary forces
are considered strong enough to impair man’s freedom. When a person selects a
certain advisor or counselor, this very choice represents his freedom.

The most important characteristic to existentialist freedom, then, is that it is absolute. It

does not consist, as some traditional philosophers hold, in the freedom to choose
among alternative goods. Man has no guideposts by which to make his choice. He must
simply make choices and these choice will determine his being. He is completely
responsible for his own decisions and the effects they will have upon himself and
others.

Reason
. Existentialism asserts that people actually make decisions based on the meaning to
them rather than rationally. The rejection of reason as the source of meaning is a
common theme of existentialist thought,. Kierkegaard saw strong rationality as a
mechanism humans use to counter their existential anxiety, their fear of being in the
world: "If I can believe that I am rational and everyone else is rational then I have
nothing to fear and no reason to feel anxious about being For Camus, when an
individual's consciousness, longing for order, collides with the Other's lack of order, a
third element is born: absurdity
The Absurd
The notion of the Absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning to be found in the
world beyond what meaning we give to it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the
amorality or "unfairness" of the world. This contrasts with "karmic" ways of thinking in
which "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 thing; what happens happens, and it
may just as well happen to a "good".
Facticity
A concept closely related to freedom is that of facticity, a concept defined by Sartre in
Being and Nothingness as that "in-itself" of which humans are in the mode of not being.
This can be more easily understood when considering it in relation to the temporal
dimension of past: One's past is what one is in the sense that it co-constitutes him
However, to say that one is only one's past would be to ignore a large part of reality
while saying that one's past is only what one was in a way that would entirely detach it
from them now. A denial of one's own concrete past constitutes an inauthentic lifestyle,
and the same goes for all other kinds of facticity
However, to disregard one's facticity when one, in the continual process of self-making,
projects oneself into the future, would be to put oneself in denial of oneself, and would
thus be inauthentic. In other words, the origin of one's projection will still have to be
one's facticity,. Another aspect of facticity is that it entails angst, both in the sense that
freedom "produces" angst when limited by facticity, and in the sense that the lack of the
possibility of having facticity to "step in" for one to take responsibility for one has done
also produces angst
Anxiety & Alienation
Feelings of alienation can emerge from the recognition that one's world has received its
meaning from the crowd or others, and not from oneself, or that one is out of touch with
one's 'inner self'. This latter notion is emphasised by Zohar and Marshall who argue
that our present "personal and collective mental instability follows from the peculiar form
of alienation associated with alienation from the centre - alienation from meaning, value,
purpose and vision, alienation from the roots of and reasons of our humanity"..
To experience feelings of alienation, one questions and doubts the way that one relates
to the relations that one has with other entities. The term 'doubt' is etymologically
related to doubleness. This reflects the uncertainty of the tension between actuality and
possibility.
When Heidegger's Dasein is confronted with the structure of its existence, it
experiences angst - or anxiety. This experience individuates, it acknowledges
the throwness by which one is in the world with its entities, including language and
culture. He argued that that "What Angst is anxious for is being-in-the-world", and yet is
"nothing and nowhere" (Heidegger, 1996, p. 175). In angst, Dasein is anxious for itself.
This individualizing experience lays before Dasein the choice of authenticity or
inauthenticity as possibilities of its being:1

. Angst
Angst, sometimes called dread, anxiety or even anguish is a term that is common to
many existentialist thinkers. It is generally held to be the experience of human freedom
and responsibility... It is this condition of absolute freedom in which man finds himself
and the responsibility entailed by it hat creates the condition in man called anguish.
Sartre describes this condition as one which necessarily arises when a man commits
himself to a course of action fully realizing that he is deciding not only what he will be
but also what effect his decision will have on others. Every decision adds something to
one’s being; every decision affects other beings. The realization of this responsibility
causes existential anguish. Sartre remarks that those who do not conceal it. They are in
flight from anxiety which itself produces greater anxiety.
A second condition brought upon man by absolute freedom is abandonment. By
abandonment, the atheistic existentialist means that since God does not exist, man is
left to his own deserts in crating himself and the kind of world in which he will live. There
are no apriority values according to which he can make his decisions; there are no
transcendental codes of behavior; there is no moral law in “nature” to be discovered and
followed by man. Since neither God nor the “natural law” exist, man cannot find any
source out side himself by which he can judge his decisions or actions to be right or
wrong – all is permitted. Men is abandoned to his own decision – he must do what he
wills; he must create his own essence..
Despair
Commonly defined as a loss of hope Despair in existentialism is more specifically
related to the reaction to a breakdown in one or more of the "pillars" of one's self or
identity.
What sets the existentialist notion of despair apart from the dictionary definition is that
existentialist despair is a state one is in even when one isn't overtly in despair:
Despair is another condition resulting from absolute freedom. Sartre describes this
condition in these words. “it [despair] merely means that we limit ourselves to a radiance
upon that which is within our wills, or within the sum of the probabilities which render our
action possible.” Thus, when on makes a decision to act, he never can be sure what the
result will be for himself or others. There is no certainty whatsoever that events will turn
out as we will them. Nevertheless, one must make decisions and act in spite of all the
uncertainty involved. Man must decide and act without hope. This willing and doing
without any certain hope that what we wish or do will be as we would like it, is
existentialist despair.

The condition of existentialist despair is important since it places upon each man the
sole responsibility for creating his own essence. If he had some certainty that his
decisions and deeds would have the desired outcomes, either in this life or the next, his
freedom would be limited since actions would have a predetermined outcome. Under
such conditions, the existentialist argues, both the world of events and man would be
determined. This state of affairs, of course, would contradict the basic assumption of
existentialism, absolute freedom.

Subjectivity (self consciousness)

According to existentialist, education should make a man subjective and should make
him conscious for his individuality or ‘self’. Being self conscious he will recognise his
‘self’ and he will get an understanding of his ‘being’.

Individuality lies on self-realisation, a motivating force, which makes the inner life of man
centre of concentration free from anxiety. There is a basic desire and inclination for the
existence of individuality in man. It should be recognised. If this existential individuality
is recognised, his life becomes purposeful and important. At the same time he becames
conscious for his ‘self’
From an existential perspective, a sense of self-identity is gained by how an individual
relates to and values his or her relations. Kierkegaard says, “ Because I exist, because I
think, therefore, I think that I exist.” According to the statement ‘I think’ it is clear that ‘I’
exists and it has existence. ‘I’ that exists is always subjective and not objective. Now the
person because of knowing the object does not desire to know the object, but he
emerges himself in knowing the self. Subjectivity

According to Existentialism, individuals cannot understand their own being ontologically,

because this requires knowing objectively what is. Kierkegaard's claim that "subjectivity
is truth" was not a declaration as to what 'Truth' in an absolute sense might be. He
argued that such a claim clearly identified that his interest regarding human existence
was not upon any 'objective' what, but rather it was upon how the individual made sense
of and related to entities Existential subjectivity, sometimes referred to as inwardness,
focuses upon the way that the individual believes, rather than the object of the belief..
Existential Crises.
The phenomenon of anxiety - as an important characteristic of the existential crisis - is
regarded as a rarity and has been described as "the manifestation of freedom in the
face of self Experiencing anxiety individuates, hence 'death' as an issue readily lends
itself to this crisis because only oneself can die one's own death
An existential crisis is understood as a 'crisis' because it offers a potential turning point
to change. It is 'existential' because it produces an angst, or anxiety, characterised by
feelings of doubt and uncertainty, and itindividuates, in that the meanings decided upon
become one's own for which one becomes responsible.

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