Intro to Existentialism
You are free to choose….
What if…..
 What
if there is no meaning or
rational order or purpose to life
itself? What if the universe is
irrational, random, without unity or
“higher” plan?
 What
would that mean for you, as an
individual?
What if…..

What if there is no human nature, no
essence, and no pattern or formula to
let you know what or who you are
supposed to be?
 Would
that cause you anxiety? To sink
into despair? To feel less or more
free?
What if…..

What if at the end of all of your thinking
and praying you discover that reason
and God and truth are but illusions?
 What
would you feel abandoned?
Powerless? Liberated?
What if…..

What if at the base of it all your
meaning and purpose and even your
creation are in your hands alone? Who
are you with no heaven or hell, no god,
no nature, no essence, no objective
truth??? Who is in charge? Could it
possibly be.........................................

YOU?
Radical Subjectivity
Human experience is inherently
subjective – no one can truly know
what is in your mind, no one can
truly know what you experience on
the inside.
Therefore, in the truest sense of the
word, we are absolute individuals.
Alienation


If I am a radically subjective,
absolute individual (if my
experiences and feelings are mine
and mine alone), I am essentially
cut off from others through my
subjectivity – I exist on an “island”
of subjectivity.
Therefore we are, in a sense,
“alone” in the world; we are
alienated from others (and likely
ourselves); we are “strangers”.
Existence Precedes Essence – I
determine who and what I am.

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Nothing outside of myself can
determine what I am and what I am
good for, what my value is; I must
make these determinations myself,
from the inside.
Because we are radical individuals,
our nature and value comes from
ourselves, not from some external
source. Thus, we are free to
define ourselves.
Freedom


Mankind has free will – therefore, man is
free to choose.
Everything I do, every conclusion I
make, every action I take, is a result of
my choices. Even choosing to do nothing
is a choice.
Freedom

Do not confuse this concept of freedom
with the ridiculous notion that having
choices would mean that there must be a
“positive” or even “reasonable” option
among your choices. You may be faced
with choices that are all distasteful, but
they are nonetheless choices! (Abraham
and Isaac as ultimate example of
existential choice).
Despair & Dread

There is no way to know with absolute
certainly that when I make a choice, I
am making the “right” one. There is no
way to eliminate doubt and uncertainly
when making choices.
Despair & Dread

Life is a series of choices. However, there
is always doubt, because there is no
externally imposed, objective standard or
truth, no formula or set of ideals – no
“universal” guidelines - that can tell you
what the “right” choice may be. This,
combined with the fact that you are
responsible for your choices because they
are your own, creates stress (anxiety,
dread, etc.).
Responsibility: The Dark Side of
Freedom


I am free to choose – my choices
determine who and what I am, and no
one can choose for me – but because I
am free to choose, I am also responsible
for my choices.
you are responsible for your own choices
and their implications. When you make a
decision, you must follow through.
Obviously, this great responsibility
creates anxiety when making a choice.
Self-Deception


I am completely free and responsible for my
decisions, actions, and beliefs. Blaming
external forces or outside factors for my
choices is an act of self-deception, because I
am free to choose, always. (Again, I may not
like the choices, but they are mine to make).
Any attempt to ignore or deny your freedom
and responsibility amounts to ignoring or
denying your actual situation; thus, when you
blame others you succeed only in deceiving
yourself. Sartre also calls this “Bad Faith”.
Quotes
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“If god doesn’t exist, everything is permitted.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist,
and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find
anything to depend upon either within or outside
himself. He discovers forthwith, that he is without
excuse. Existentialism is not atheistic in the sense
that it would exhaust itself in demonstrations of the
non-existence of God. It declares, rather, that even if
God existed that it would make no difference from its
point of view.” Sartre
“We invent ourselves by virtue of the multitude of
our choices.” Sartre
Quotes
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“Life has no meaning the moment you loose the illusion of being
eternal.” Jean-Paul Sartre
"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.“ Sartre
“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he
is responsible for everything he does.” Sartre
“Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.” Sartre
“We are responsible for what we are - that is the fact.” Sartre
“… if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in
despairing of life, as in hoping for another life and in eluding the
implacable grandeur of this life.” Albert Camus
“To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.” Camus
"...the individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to
other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his
freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others. He
justifies his existence by a movement which, like freedom, springs from
his heart but which leads outside of himself.” Simone de Beauvoir
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” Camus
Further Questions
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If I am free to choose, what keeps me from
selfishly doing “whatever I want”? Ethics?
Sartre: In choosing myself, I choose mankind.
To insist otherwise is self-deception.
Camus: The inevitability and finality of death
makes life itself “absurd” (in the Existentialist
sense). We cannot defeat death, and in this
sense life is futile (but not worthless).
Nevertheless, we rebel against death by
choosing to live.
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by
scorn. ”
Sartre – In choosing ourselves, we
choose mankind
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a. Through our choices, we determine or create what we
will be. In those choices, we choose according to what
we believe we ought to be.
b. Consequently, we are creating ourselves according to
what we think a person ought to be. This image is, then,
what we think man ought to be. You are responsible for
what you are and, as well, you are responsible for
everyone since you choose for mankind.
c. You create an image of man as it ought to be, since
we are unable to choose the worse. In a sense, in
deciding, I'm putting a universal value to my act by
deciding in accordance with the belief that all persons in
this situation should act in this manner.
d. Our choices are a model for the way everyone should
choose. If we deny this fact, we are in self-deception. If
we say, "Everyone will not act as I have done," then we
are giving a universal value to the denial.