Transcript Existentialism and Absurdism - Danso's Daily

Existentialism and Absurdism
OR
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Existentialism emphasizes
the uniqueness and
isolation of individual in a
hostile and indifferent
universe.
It stresses freedom of
choice and responsibility
for the consequences of
one’s acts
It was during the
World War II, when
Europe found itself
in a crisis, faced with
death and
destruction, that the
existentialist
movement began to
flourish.
It was popularized in
France in the 1940’s.
Existence Precedes Essence
THIS MEANS THAT MAN IS
1. IDENTIFIED BY HIS ACTIONS
2. THAT HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS
ACTIONS
Conclusions
 An individual’s essence is
 As Jean Paul Sartre put it
defined by that
individual.
 The way the individual
creates identity is
through the way he/she
creates or lives their life.
“Man first of all exists,
encounters himself,
surges up in the world
and defines himself
afterwards.”
Truth?
 Existentialists insist that
personal experience and
acting on one’s own is
essential in arriving at the
truth.
 Thus, an individual’s
understanding of a situation
that person is involved in is
superior (and more truthful)
to the understanding of a
detached, objective
observer.
ABSURDISM
 Instead, the existentialist says
that life is
ABSURD
 Nothing can explain or
rationalize human existence.
 The efforts of man to find
meaning in this life will fail
because, well because life has
no identifiable
meaning/purpose.
 Humans exist in a (possibly)
meaningless, irrational
universe and any search for
order will bring them into
direct conflict with the
universe.
So What’s the Point?
So What’s the Point?
 The “point” is that something (an object or simply living one’s
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life) must have a higher purpose to justify it.
However, for that higher purpose to have a point, then it too,
must have an even higher purpose
So you can see, that every purpose, must have a higher purpose,
must have a higher purpose, ad nauseum.
These chains of justification never come to an end, so nothing
can be considered the ultimate or transcendent purpose.
And even if something did come to an end, it will not satisfy us.
Rather than not caring, the true existentialist cares deeply. Why?
Because everything is for a higher purpose.
So for example …
 If a cow knew that his
higher purpose was to be
eaten, that cow would
not be satisfied.
 If we knew that we were
born to die, we could not
ultimately find
contentment.
Choice and Commitment
 Humans have freedom to choose.
 Each individual makes choices that create his or her
own nature.
 Because we choose, we must accept risk and
responsibility for wherever our commitments take
us.
How this stuff works…
 So Ms. Danso – are you saying that if I cross the
street and get hit by a bus, that’s my fault?
 I did not make the bus hit me
 I did not make a choice to be mushed to a pulp
How this stuff works…
Yes but ..
 You did make the choice to get up that morning, take a
walk, step into that crosswalk, put one foot in front of the
other and place yourself dead on in front of that enormous,
moving vehicle.
 You made the choice to be in that place and that time.
 “A human being is absolutely free and absolutely
responsible. Anguish is the result.”
–Jean-Paul Sartre
Dread and Anxiety
 Dread is a feeling of general
apprehension. Soren Kierkegaard,
the Danish philosopher and
theologian often associated with this
philosophy, interpreted it as God’s
way of calling each individual to
make a commitment to a personally
valid way of life.
 Anxiety stems from our
understanding and recognition of
the total freedom of choice that
confronts us every moment, and the
individual’s confrontation with
nothingness.
Alienation and
Estrangement
 From all other humans
 From human institutions
 From the past
 From the future
 We only exist right now,
right here.
Summations
 All existentialists are concerned with the study of being -
called ontology.
 TO REVIEW: An existentialist believes that a person’s life is nothing
but the sum of the life he has shaped for himself. At every moment it is
always his own free will choosing how to act. He is responsible for his
actions, which limit future actions. Thus, he must create a morality in
the absence of any known predetermined absolute values. Even if God
does exist, He does not reveal to men the meaning of their lives (this
changes some depending upon the philosopher). Honesty with oneself
is the most important value. Every decision must be weighed in light of
all the consequences of that action…
 Life is absurd, but we engage it!
Existentialism and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Focus Questions
1.
Despite their apparent inability to
change their fate, or to affect Hamlet’s
fate, what is the freedom available to R
and G?
2.
How does Shukov’s illustrate the
existential belief that responsibility is
the "darker side" of the freedom
existentialism gives?
3.
What is the truth that Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern construct for themselves?
4.
How does Rosencrantz deal with an
absurd world? What about
Guildenstern?
Guildenstern is a
meditative man who
believes that he can
understand his life
Rosencrantz has a
carefree and artless
personality that
masks deep dread
about his fate.