A rchive Date
[ 19-01-2017 ]
Category
[ Philosophy ]
sub-Categoy
[ Søren Kierkegaard ]
|
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
The Existentialist asks, not why do we exist but rather, Why does He exist.
Existentialism:
A term applied to the work of some late 19th - 20th-century philosophers who, despite doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject. Not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.
In existentialism the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called 'the existential attitude' or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
Many existentialists also regard traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in style and content, as being too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.
Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first Existentialist philosopher - though he himself did not use the term Existentialism..He proposed that each individual, not society or religion, is solely responsible for giving meaning to His life - through living it passionately and sincerely (authentically').
Existentialism became popular in the years following World War II and strongly influenced many disciplines besides philosophy (including theology, drama, art, literature, and psychology).
Issues and Background:
Definitional: There has never been general agreement on the definition of Existentialism. The term is often seen as a historical convenience that was first applied to many philosophers in hindsight - post-homously.
Existentialism is generally considered to have originated with Kierkegaard but the first prominent Existentialist philosopher to adopt the term as a self-descriptor was Jean-Paul Sartre.
Sartre purports the idea that that which 'all existentialists have in common' is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence. (Scholar F.C.Copleston) Then, according to philosopher Steven Crowell, defining Existentialism is relatively difficult as it is better understood as a general approach used to reject certain systematic philosophies rather than as a systematic philosophy itself.
Though many outside Scandinavia consider the term Existentialism to have originated from Kierkegaard himself, it is more likely that Kierkegaard adopted the term or the term 'existential' as a description of his philosophy from the Norwegian poet and literary critic Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven. This assertion comes from Norwegian philosopher Erik Lundestad who refers to the Danish philosopher Fredrik Christian Sibbern.
Sibbern is supposed to have had two conversations in 1841 - the first with Welhaven and the second with Kierkegaard. It is believed that in the first cnversation Welhaven came up with 'a word' that he said covered a certain thinking which had a close and positive attitude to life. A relationship he described as 'existential'.
This was then brought to Kierkegaard attention by Sibbern.
The second claim comes from the Norwegian historian Rune Slagstad who claims to prove that Kierkegaard himself said the term 'existential' was borrowed from the poet. He believes that it was Kierkegaard himself who said that 'Hegelians' do not study philosophy 'existentially' - to use a phrase by Welhaven from one time when I spoke with him about philosophy'.
On the other hand, the Norwegian historian Anne-Lise Seip is critical of Slagstad and believes the statement in fact stems from the Norwegian literary historian Cathrinus Bang, the Norwegian literary historian. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathrinus_Bang).
Concepts: Existence precedes essence
A central proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence. Meaning that the most important consideration for the individual is the fact that he or she is an individual - an independently acting and responsible conscious being ('existence') - rather than what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived categories the individual fits ('essence').
The actual life of the individual is what constitutes what could be called his or her 'true essence' instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence used by others to define him or her 'perception or attributes'. Thus, human-beings - through their own consciousness- create their own values and determine the meaning to their life.
Although it was Sartre who explicitly coined the phrase, similar notions can be found in the thoughts of Existentialist philosophers such as Heidegger, and Kierkegaard.
It is claimed that, in this context, that a person defines himself or herself (often perceived as stating that they can wish to be something - anything - and then be that 'that the wish to be'.
But, according to most existentialist philosophers, this would constitute an 'inauthentic existence'. That is, the Individual person is defined only as he or she acts; and he or she is solely responsible for his or her actions.
For example, he or she who acts cruelly towards others is, by their actions, defined as being either a cruel or kind person. By their action(s) of cruelty, such persons are themselves solely responsible for their new identity (a cruel or kind person). This is in opposition to their genes or human nature. They, alone, bear the blame or praise.
It is Jean Paul Sartre who writes that Existentialism is a Humanism. For '... a man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – then defines himself afterwards."
The opposite is also implied - A person can choose to act in a different way and be a good person instead of a cruel one. Thus, humans can choose to be either cruel or good. However, neither of these is essential to them being Human.
Etymology:
The term 'existentialism' was coined by the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel in the mid-1940s. It was adopted by Jean-Paul Sartre who, (October 29th 1945) discussed his own existentialist position in a lecture to the Club Maintenant in Paris.
The lecture was published as L'existentialisme est un humanisme (Existentialism is a Humanism), a short book that did much to popularize existentialist thought.
Some scholars argue that the term should be used only to refer to the cultural movement in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s associated with the works of the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. While other scholars extend the term to Kierkegaard (some even as far back as Socrates). However, the term is often identified with the philosophical views of Jean-Paul Sartre.
Criticism of Sartre's Philosophy:
Critics argue that Sartre's philosophy is contradictory. Specifically, they argue that Sartre makes metaphysical arguments despite his claiming that his philosophical views ignore metaphysics.
Herbert Marcuse criticized 'Being and Nothingness' (Jean-Paul Sartre, 1943) for projecting anxiety and meaninglessness onto the nature of existence itself:
"Insofar as Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine, it remains an idealistic doctrine: it hypostatizes specific historical conditions of human existence into ontological and metaphysical characteristics. Existentialism thus becomes part of the very ideology which it attacks. Its radicalism is illusory".
In Letter on Humanism, Heidegger criticized Sartre's existentialism as follows:
Existentialism says existence precedes essence.
In this statement Sartre is taking Existentia and Essentia according to their metaphysical meaning. Which, from Plato's time on, has said that Essentia precedes Existentia. Sartre reverses this statement.
But the reversal of a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it, he stays with metaphysics, in oblivion of the truth of Being.]
Cross-Indexed:
|
|