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Merits of existentialism
Essay on existentialism by jean paul sartre
Essay on existentialism by jean paul sartre
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“Existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief is 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” (Clifton). Grendel’s
In the article “Jean-Paul Sartre on Bad Faith”, by Neel Burton, a British psychiatrist, philosopher, writer, and educator, claims that bad faith is “ the habit that people have of deceiving themselves into thinking that they do not have the freedom to make choices for fear of the potential consequences of making a choice.”. He supports this claim by first giving an example of someone with bad faith. Then, Burton analyses why this person has bad faith. One of the examples was a waiter that does everything that a waiter should do. This waiter would have bad faith because in order to act as a waiter, the waiter must be aware that he or she is not a waiter, but “a conscious human being who is deceiving himself that he is a waiter.
Additional to this point, I will now examine Sartre's suggestion that we have facticity; which is our existence. Humans all have a past and future which is a projection of ourselves. For example, the stereotype of a student would be partying, but you can change this view by doing studying hard and initially doing the opposite of what a typical student will do. This is indicating that we have the freedom to do what we want and build on ourselves because we have the capability to make different choices which will affect our future and what makes who we are (Mirvish, A. and Van den Hoven, A, 2010, p425). Humans have responsibilities of deciding their future therefore, we do not have to commit to who we are in the present moment because our choices may alter in the future.
Sartre virulently separates his personal flavor of existentialism from any and all things Christian. But it is remarkable how close the Book of Genesis and Existentialism are tied together. The Epic of Gilgamesh may be considered the oldest great work of literature, but is not the first existentialist text. It contains quasi-existentialist themes, but not to an extent that they become compatible with Sartre’s existentialism. In his essay on the Epic, Micah Sadigh argues that the relationships between characters are what make the writing existentialist in nature.
Sartre says first that anti-Semitism can be very dangerous as it does not discriminate anyone and even the friendliest and most talented people can become anti-Semites. Moreover, Sartre uses an example of the free importation of wine from Algeria to argue that different than an object without live, people should not use the idea of free speech to support for their wrongdoings against their own kind, who should be seen as humans instead of the Jews. In fact, Sartre believes that people should not be given the right to hurt or even kill people simply based on the fact that they are Jews and especially when the Jews haven’t done anything wrong to others. By using the word “opinion”, people give their action a harmless appearance and thus remove
Sartre argues the idea of human nature without God and a “heaven of ideas”, because there is no God to create us according to his plan. Human beings just appear on the scene for no reason and cannot appeal to anything above them to give their lives meaning or direction. This concept is forlornness. In Sartre’s eyes, man must come to grips with the fact that he is alone in his decision making. He states by saying that humans occupy the ontological category of “the for-itself.”
The objective of Sartre’s “Patterns of Bad Faith” is to demonstrate the structure of bad faith, the ways in which it manifests, and the reasons for its being. Bad faith, as Sartre describes it, proclaims “human reality as a being which is what it is not and which is not what it is” (p. 100). What is meant by this is that bad faith seeks to prescribe an essence to an individual based on ontic properties. The best example given by Sartre in the text would be that of the waiter. The waiter chooses to believe that the job he is performing is a part of his being.
From the start of the play, No Exit, there has been a certain amount of mystery surrounding the dark hallway from which everyone emerged. As the audience, we are left guessing as to the look and application of the hall as the entirety of the play takes place in a single room. Although there is no physical description or speculation as to its appearance or purpose, the hall seems to represent some sort of gateway, maybe to redemption. At one point, Garcin is given the chance to leave, or exit, through this corridor when he tries to break free from the room. This may have saved him, or any of them, assuming their salvation was at all possible.
All humans strive for a common goal of achieving something great in life. But upon achieving the particular goal, humans as individuals strive for that common aim in numerous ways. Likewise to humans having different DNA coding, or different fingerprints; humans have different “theories” upon how to live. For example, some may want to live the rebellious ways, while others look up to religion as a means of creating their path; but regardless of how one perceives to live, every individual seeks a different meaning in life. Nearing the late 19th century and early 20th century, the theory of existentialism became a concept which was developed in Europe.
Our past will always be part of our present. Jean-Paul Sartre, a 1940’s French existentialist poet, wrote the play No Exit and he made it clear through Joseph Garcin humans are always stuck in their past. In the play, Sartre provided many literary devices to enrich the reader's experience of the play. The first main character introduced, Joseph Garcin, asks the Valet questions about his post death location. The Valet enlightens Garcin with the harsh truth that nothing will happen to them, because their bodies have become incapable of doing much else other than think.
In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, there are scenes that trick the audience into thinking that it will give them the movie’s view on the meaning of life. The film, however, never actually gives the audience a real, serious answer to the questions that relate to life’s meaning; by doing this, the people who created the film probably wanted the audience to make up their own views and answers to life’s meanings and purposes (a loosely defined meaning of existentialism). In existentialism, existentialists reject proposed systems that have a definitive answer to the questions involving the meaning and purpose of life; they freely choose standards of values on the human condition, which asks questions, like “Why am I here,” “What does it mean to be human,” or “How should I live my life?” According to Mitchell’s Roots of Wisdom, the idea of existentialism “emphasizes the uniqueness and freedom of the human person as an individual (what makes each life a unique, personal experience) as opposed to the essence of a human being (what makes all of us alive).”
“Thus, the first effect of existentialism is that it puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own shoulders” (Sartre 1). Unclaimed responsibility becomes hell. The
Sartre states, “Existence comes before essence - or, if you will, that we must begin from the subjective.” Later in the text he says, “Man will only attain existence when he is what he purposes to be. Not, however, what he may wish to be.” (Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism) Here Sartre claims that you must find your true self through experiences in life; you cannot do so by wishing to be something that is not you.
Man first exists without a purpose or definition, finds himself in the world and only then, as a reaction to the experience, defines the meaning of life.”. It means at first, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and only afterward define himself. We can only define ourselves after we faced a series of challenges. At first, we are nothing but as life goes on, we become something. It is easy to be alive indeed, but living a life is not as easy as that.
The argument Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, presents on existentialism helps to prove the foundation which is “existence precedes essence”. Existentialism is normally understood as an ideology that involves evaluating existence itself and the way humans find themselves existing currently in the world. For the phrase existence precedes essence, existence’s etymology is exsistere or to stand out while the term Essence means “being” or “to be” therefore the fundamental of existentialism, literally means to stand out comes before being. This can be taken into many different ideas such as individuals having to take responsibility for their own actions and that in Sartre’s case the individual is the sole judge of his or her own actions. According to him, “men is condemned to be free,” therefore “the destiny of man is placed within himself.”
