Introduction to Existentialism

Literature and Philosophy

What is
philosophy?
What does it all mean?
Why are we here?
What should I do with
my life?

Philosophers analyze,
they pick apart, and
then they try to come up
with reasons for their
beliefs and reasoned
answers for their
questions.
 WARNING:
EXISTENTIALISM DEALS WITH INTENSE THEOLOGICAL (“RELIGIOUS
STUDY”) AND ONTOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF BEING”) AS WELL AS
EPISTEMOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE”) ISSUES.

THIS CLASS IS NOT ENDORSING EXISTENTIALISM AS BEING ANYTHING

MORE THAN MERE THEORY. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LEARNING THE
TENETS OF EXISTENTIALISM AND RELATING THEM TO LITERATURE.

EXISTENTIALISM CAN BE A WEE BIT DEPRESSING IT TENDS TO PROJECT

A “LIFE-IS-MEANINGLESS, GLASS-HALF-EMPTY” SORT OF VIEW ON
THINGS.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOVE IT YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

The Problem of Meaning
Humans crave meaning
A universe that makes sense
Create stories to make sense out of the universe;
but when the universe doesn’t cooperate you feel
like a stranger in the world
 A complex
philosophy
emphasizing the
existence of the
human being, the
lack of meaning
and purpose in life,
and the solitude of
human existence…
ANDREW WYETH
Christina’s World (1948)
It was during the
Second World
War, when
Europe found
itself in a crisis
faced with death
and destruction,
that the
existential
movement began
to flourish,
popularized in
France in the
1940s…
GEORGIO DE CHIRICO
Love Song
Two Different Types of Existentialists
Godly (Kierkegaard; Marcel and Maritain (Catholic); Tillich and Berdyaev
(Protestant) and Buber (Jewish))
Believe God exists, but people are alienated from Him.
Man is alienated from his God-like self, and the problem of his life is trying
to close that gap
freedom involves accepting the responsibility for choice and committing to
the choice
Ungodly (Sartre and Camus)
Do not believe God exists.
“Because there is no God to give purpose to the universe, each man must
accept individual responsibility for his own becoming.”
In choosing for himself, he chooses for all men “the image of man as he
ought to be.” He has to make good choices that others could follow
Big Ideas of Existentialism

Despite encompassing a
huge range of
philosophical, religious,
and political ideologies,
the underlying concepts
MARK ROTHKO
of existentialism are
Untitled (1968)
simple…
 Cogito ergo sum.

Existence Precedes
Essence
“Existence precedes essence” implies that the
human being has no essence (no essential self).
Existence Before Essence
People are born like a blank slate and create their
essence or being through their unique experiences.
 Tenant 1: Absurdism
• The belief nothing can explain or rationalize
human existence.
• There is no answer to “Why am I?”
• Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational
universe and any search for order will bring
them into direct conflict with this universe.
#2:Alienation or
Estrangement
• From all other
humans
• From human
institutions
• From the past
• From the future
• We only exist right
now, right here…
EDGAR DEGAS
“L’absinthe” (1876)
Nothingness and Death

EDVARD MUNCH
Night in Saint Cloud
(1890)
 #3: Nothingness and Death
• Death hangs over all of us. Our awareness of it
can bring freedom or anguish.
• “Nothingness is our inherent lack of self. We
are in constant pursuit of a self. Nothingness is
the creative well-spring from which all human
possibilities can be realized.” –Jean-Paul Sartre
 #4: Freedom: 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
• “A human being is absolutely free and
absolutely responsible. Anguish is the result.”
–Jean-Paul Sartre
Dread and Anxiety

MAN RAY
Les Larmes (Tears)
 #5: Dread and Anxiety
• 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.
The Big Names of
Existentialism
Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger
Some Famous
Existentialists
• Søren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855)
• Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900)
• Jean-Paul Sartre “A woman is not
(1905-1980) born…she is created.”
de Beauvoir’s most famous text is
• Albert Camus The Second Sex (1949), which
(1913-1960) some claim is the basis for current
gender studies…
Nihilism is the
state of belief
in nothing
“When you ain’t got nothin’,
you got nothing to lose.” (Bob Dylan)

A nihilist refuses to see this possibility. For the

nihilist, when you ain’t got nothin’, you got
nothing to win
Existential Literature
Three people to know: Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80),
Albert Camus (1913-60) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86)
Albert Camus:
The Smiling Sisyphus
• Born Nov. 7, 1913 in Mondovi, French Algeria

•Father dies in 1914 during World War I, only

story Albert knows is that his father became
violently ill at a public execution.

•Mother was illiterate, partially deaf, and

afflicted with a speech disorder – very poor.

•Attended elementary in a school close to a

Moslem community and saw first-hand the idea
of the “outsider” he would later develop.
 Significant Events
• High school: developed a lifetime love for literature,
theater, and film.

• Also enjoyed soccer for sport and the life lessons it

taught him

“I learned . . . that a ball never arrives from a direction you

expected it. That helped me later in life, especially in mainland
France, where nobody plays straight.”
Significant Events
• Briefly joined the Communist Party but was disillusioned by
the mindless, even absurd, work he was assigned to do.

• In the 1940’s his writing began to attract international

attention.

• In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was grateful,

but he felt he had not yet achieved the fame such an award
indicated.
Significant Events

On January 4, 1960, Camus died tragically in a car

accident.
THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

Camus publishes this non-fiction work a year after

completing The Stranger. In this retelling of the
myth of Sisyphus, he embodies his concept of the
Absurd.

The story concludes with Camus’ pivotal

philosophical statement:

“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to

fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus
happy.”

To understand his point, we must understand the

themes that his writing explores.
L’Étranger
(The Stranger or The Outsider)
Written by Albert Camus in 1942
(who did not sail the ocean blue)
Albert Camus
The Stranger
A tale of absurdity, death,
and coming to grips with
the meaning of one’s
existence.
No single work by any
existentialist has reached
more people directly
The Nobel Prize for
literature in 1957
Themes of Albert Camus
 The Absurd
 Revolt
 The Outsider
 Guilt and Innocence
 Christianity vs.
Paganism
 Individual vs. History
and Mass Culture
 Suicide
 The Death Penalty
Camus’ Absurd World

The world of values is

never predictable nor controllable.
Revolt
“A spirit of opposition
against any perceived
unfairness, oppression,
or indignity in the
human condition.”

This idea runs counter to existentialism as it proposes that

there is a common good that is more important than one’s
destiny. True revolt is performed out of compassion for
others.
The Outsider
“The `stranger’ or the outsider
observes everything, even his own
behavior, from an outside
perspective.”

Camus lived most of his life being

in various groups without being of
them. This view requires a “zero-
degree” objectivity about
everything. Camus had this with
friends and community.
Guilt and Innocence
Paganism vs. Christianity
There is no clear answer
to this in The Stranger.
The reader must decide if
the character is legally
innocent of the murder he
is charged with or if he is
technically guilty?
It is the struggle between
universal guilt (original sin)
and universal innocence
(pagan primitivism)
Camus respects the
Christianity even uses many
Christian symbols in his
writing, but he maintains
Pagan world views.
“I continue to believe that
this world has no
supernatural meaning . . .
But I know that
something in this world
has meaning – man.”
Individual vs.
History and Mass Culture
Modern life has an
alienating and
dehumanizing effect of
man. We live in an age
that is becoming more
impersonal everyday. If
anything, modern man
lives the drudgery of
Sisyphus in
meaningless jobs with
mind-numbing
repetitions.
Suicide Death
Penalty
This, for Camus, is Camus opposes
the fundamental the death penalty
issue for moral in all of his
philosophy as it writings. He
represents the only considered it “the
possible response most
to the Absurd. In premeditated of
the end, the murders”
morally valid because it causes
response is to the victim to
continue living. suffer his death
every day until it
happens.
 EXISTENTIALISM?

Although Camus was personally

committed to values such as
individualism, free choice, inner
strength, authenticity, personal
responsibility, and self
determination, he repeatedly
denied that he was an
existentialist.
Although he embraced many of
the ideas, he believed that for
one to be considered anything
one must commit themselves
totally to that doctrine, he was
unwilling to do this.