ESSAY
On the subject: «Existentialism. The problem of human essence and existence».
On the discipline: Philosophy
Completed by: _______________________
A well-known trend in modern Western philosophy is the philosophy of human existence, or existentialism (from Latin - existence).
The most important representatives of existentialism are Russian philosophers
Nikolai Berdyaev and Lev Shestov, German philosophers Martin Heidegger (18891976) and Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), French philosophers Jean Paul Sartre (19051980) and Albert Camus (1913 1960), and Spanish philosopher José Ortega y
Gasquet (1883-1955).
Emergence of this philosophical current was caused by deep crisis of European society in XX century - replacement of democratic regimes in a number of
countries by totalitarian, fascist or communist regimes (Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia), which doomed many millions of people to suffering and death.
Existentialism was a philosophical reflection of the profound social upheavals
of the twentieth century, and the process of increasing human misery and suffering,
and his isolation, isolation from society, which has become insane and absurd, and
from other people - members of this mad society.
The main features of existentialist philosophy that distinguished it from classical philosophical style were as follows. Creation of a new ontology in this philosophy, with existence as its central category. The main object of philosophy was not
the natural world, which the natural sciences studied, but the subjective world of the
human being. According to Sartre, "there is no other world but the human world, the
world of human subjectivity. For Heidegger, existentialism is a doctrine of human
'being in the world'. The real, true world is the world of human existence, existentialism.
2
And human existence is characterized as unique, inimitable, singular in the
vast world around us. According to existentialists, human existence is fundamentally
different from the existence of other objects and living beings, thus justifying the
need for a complete change of the entire categorical apparatus in existential philosophy.
Hence one more specific feature of existentialist philosophy - transition to a
new conceptual apparatus, replacement of prevailing in traditional philosophy of
very broad, general notions such as "being", "matter", "consciousness", "time",
"space", "movement" with a complex of notions closely related to everyday human
life and the tragedy of human existence. In other words, a refocusing of attention
from problems of mega space to problems of micro space, and above all, to the experience of a single person, his psychology.
Of course, this philosophy can be interpreted in different ways. Thus, it is
often rebuked for pessimism. And for that, as we have seen, there are certain
grounds. Existentialism can also be interpreted differently - as a kind of humanist
philosophy, a philosophy that calls upon people to control their own destiny, to be
masters of their own lives, no matter how harsh they may be.
But if you look deeper, you will find that, of course, as a philosophy of hard
and harshness, existentialism is nonetheless optimistic; it calls on everyone to be
active, to self-create, to work creatively to multiply material and spiritual values.
Undoubtedly existentialism is rightly blamed for exaggerating moments of individual psychology, inner feelings, attitudes, etc. in human life. That may be true.
But to be fair, its focus on the specificity of human existence and its coherent critique
of traditional philosophy is an undeniable merit of existentialism.