Existentialism Research Paper example:
It is certainly true that the emergence of existentialism and its later idea of embodiment at mid nineteenth century have played a key role in shaping people’s view of how they look at themselves in the world. While previous philosophers focus on using systematic and logical way to search for the meaning of truth, for instance, Descartes believed that “cogito, ergo sum?(“I think, therefore I am?, more and more people have come to feel that philosophical idea has been pushing the human being into a more and more peripheral position in its perspectives (Kaplan 1962: 114). Conversely, existentialism has provided us a kind of philosophy that centred on the individual and his or her relationship to the universe or God. Thinkers in existentialism asserted that philosophy should not be a set of propositions but a way of life. Nevertheless, the diversity and complexity of the ideas among existentialists are acknowledged (Mounier 1948:2; Breisach 1962, 4; Kaplan 1962:116; Roubiczek 1964:10; Solomon 1987:x). Hence, in this essay, I am going to examine only some of the existential themes that are common amid philosophers and authors.
Existential Themes
In my personal point of view, the most significant contribution by existentialism is individual’s existence. That is, one feels himself separated from the world and also from other people. According to Soren Kiekegarrd, an individual has to find his uniqueness. And he saw this searching could not be met by a merely intellectual thinking but required the personal experience of the individual (Breisach 1962:26). In fact, the world we are living is dominated by technology. People habituate to use logical, rational method which said to “law of thinking?to solve the problem they encountered. However, Roubiczeld (1964:1) stated that purely logical , rational way of thinking only indicates a strictly limited sector of reality, it is the fact that scientific way of though cannot help us when we want to deal with individual’s existence. For example, when we have to introduce a person, we might say “Soren Kierkegaard was Danish. He was a philosopher. He was neither tall nor handsome…?Here, what we concern was the commonalities that Kierkegarrd possessed with other people. It is because the words “Danish?and “philosopher?are unable to indicate the individualities of Kierkegarrd but depicting a group of people. The description of “neither tall nor handsome?can be applied to many people too. In order to focus on the individual’s existence of Soren Kierkegarrd, on the other hand we have to study his individual past history and recognize him as the unique person but not just being one of the people. Similarly, although we may have resembling emotions, confront the identical situation or undergo the same physical process, we assume that no two people are exactly alike. It is vital for a man to notice his individual’s existence. If one cannot distinguish oneself from others, he is merely living, in Heidegger terms “anonymous one? but not authentic existence. Thus, It is part of the role of a human to identify himself as the one and the only one. Breisach (1962:57) added that remaining in the state of “merely living?is not worthy of a human being as it is the denial of the great potentialities of man.
Next to individual’s existence, choice and freedom, is what existential thinker to put the idea of “the great potentialities of man?into practice. And it is also the second most essential theme in existentialism for me to understand what human is. Existentialists see choice is continous as we go through life (Kaplan 1962: 134). A man is free to make his own choice but the choice itself is inescapable. Even he does not choose, that is still a choice (Winn 1960:15). Therefore, he is not free to choose to give up his freedom. That may be the reason why all existential thinkers agree “man is free?unanimously. In addition, Jean Paul Sartre proclaimed that the most important choice in our existence is the choice of ourselves by saying that “man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself?(Mairet 1966: 28). For those atheistic existentialists, Nietzsche tells us that man is free to choose his own ethical standards in life because he is alone which there is no God for him to rely on (Roubiczek 1964:39). Albert Camus believes that freedom is the ability of man to rebel and transcend one’s destiny(Solomon 1987:247). It seems to me that the concept of choice in existentialism is vivacious and enthusiastic for human to view his life. Making his own choice and carrying out the action, man creates his nature and is opened to a future that he can anticipate. That is, he is what he has decided to be. Although Sartre’s idea “life has a meaning if we choose to give it one?is yield more than one hundred years ago, I believe that it is still an appropriate solution for those people who are claiming that they got lost themselves in the materialistic world. Moreover, because individuals are free to choose their own path, they must accept the risk and responsibility of their action. One is not just responsible for oneself but all the people involved one’s action. This concept might be a way to solve the social problem likes selfishness.
Besides, the other existential theme that is meaning to be human is time. Sartre said that time separates man from what he has been “past?and from what he wishes to be “future? Winn 1960: 103). Heidegger calls man is “being-thrown-into-this world? No one has asked him whether he want to be here or not. Likewise, death is beyond man’s control. Consequently, every moment in life is precious because in it a decision is made by man to work out his future (Breisah 1962:194). Man should not waste time as Kierkegaard said “waiting for others to begin is paralysing?(Roubiczek 1964:67).
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