Existentialism is a Humanism Essay

In existentialist philosophy is a Hu cosmosism, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) presents an accessible description of existentialism. A key creative thinker of existentialismand of the gentle condition is that earth precedes essence. The essence of something is its meaning, its intend purpose. A paper cutter is cave in to cut paper that is its point. Hu hu reality beings, however, do non get make of an essence. Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, solely later onwards, bushels himself. We have no greater purpose, no pre-determined designing, no ultimate meaning. We have, in Sartres words, no hu creation nature, since there is slide fastener (e.g. idol) outside of us which would conceive of it for us. We be simply here, and it is up to us to throttle ourselves.Responsibility Man is energy else scarcely what he proposes of himself. We have cream, we have subjectivity, and we distinguish what we will make ourselves to be we ar exclusively responsible f or our existence Thus, existentialisms first move is to make every man aw be of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him. This sentiment is a lot non easily accepted. Subjectivity is a word that riles up many. If everything is subjective accordingly nothing is objective nothing is tyrannical Our determine atomic number 18 nothing more(prenominal)(prenominal) than our whims no.hing is right or price Rabble, rabble, rabble Sartre replies that, it is impossible for man to go past human subjectivity. He isnt axiom I prefer subjectivity over objectivity, hes asking, how eject we peradventure not be subjective? in time the religious individual who believes that moral philosophy is compulsory and comes from God must, at some point, lock on to believe that this is the case. Our responsibility is a benevolence and a curse. It leads us to olfactory modality things want anguish, forlornness, and despair.Anguish We experience anguish in the suggestcase of our subjectivity, because by choosing what we are to do, we train for everyone. When you make a decision you are saying this is how anyone ought to behave given these circumstances. legion(predicate) wad dont feel anguish, but this is because they are fleeing from it. If you dont feel a sense of anxiousness when you make decisions, its because you are forgetting nigh your total and deep responsibility toward yourself and all of humanity.Forlornness Forlornness is the idea that God does not exist and that we have to breast all the consequences of this. There is no morality a priori. There is no authoritative right or wrong. There is no ultimate judge. This is a very troubling idea. As Dostoievsky said, If God didnt exist, everything would be possible permissible. Without God we have nothing to cling to. There is no determinism, man is submit, man is freedom. We have no value or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct. In other words, we have no excuses, and we are entirely responsible for our decisions. What are our values? The solitary(prenominal) way to determine them is to make a decision. At the end of the day, your ideals arent what affaire what matters is what you actually did. discouragement Despair arises because we only have power to switch things that are deep down our power to qualifyingand there is a lot we cannot change. reality is impartial and out of your control, draw out for elfin aspects of it here and there. We despair because we can never have full control of the future.What depart Happen Will Happen Tomorrow, after my death, some men may make up ones mind to set up Fascism, and the others may be cowardly and muddled enough to permit them do it. Fascism will then be the human reality, so much the worse for us.Regardless of what is right or wrong, healthy or bad, and regardless of whether these are absolutes or not, things will be as man will have decided they are to be. What will come a bout will happen and humanity will be entirely responsible for what it does. Does this mean we ought to become passively accepting of what will happen? Sartre says the contract setback. Does that mean that I should abandon myself to quietism? No. Quietism is the attitude of people who say, Let others do what I cant do. The precept I am presenting is the very opposite of quietism, since it declares, There is no reality except in effect. Moreover, it goes further, since it adds, Man is nothing else than his plan he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life.No Excuses This is why existentialism horrifies some people. It puts such a centre of responsibility squarely on their shoulders. They cant stand to think they were at fault for not being a great or successful person, for having no great friendships or love. They think they are the victim of circumstances they havent had the proper education, leisure, or incentives they havent found the right person provided they havent had the opportunity to show their greatness. Sartre, however, says that The coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic. The artist is an artist because of the whole shebang of art he micturated, not because of what he could have created.The mathematician is famous for the math he did, not what he maybe could have done. We find that this is a harsh thought to someone whose life hasnt been a success. We are responsible for our successes and failures. But at the same time, this harshness forces us to face the incredibly important fact that public alone is what counts. Sartre sees these views not as a pessimism, but as an optimistic toughness. sanguine in that we are the rulers of our lives our destiny is within our hands we are encouraged to take work.Sartre summarizes his idea of optimism and action in the followers passage. Thus, I think we have answered a number of th e charges concerning existentialism. You see that it can not be taken for a philosophy of quietism, since it defines man in terms of action nor for a pessimistic description of manthere is no doctrine more optimistic, since mans destiny is within himself nor for an attempt to discourage man from acting, since it tells him that the only hope is in his acting and that action is the only thing that enables a man to live.Is plectrum Arbitrary? Sartre ends this piece with a further defence of subjectivism, in which I wish he had gone into a little more detail. He says people are still not cheerful with the idea of subjectivism, and objections usually come in one of the following forms 1. Well then, youre able to do anything, no matter what Youre promoting anarchy But this isnt the point. It is not possible to not choose.In not making a choice you are still choosing not to choose. Choice is inescapable we are condemned to be free because we are human, whether or not we are existentialis ts. 2. You cant pass vox populi on others, because theres no reason to prefer one idea to another We can still hold values, and values appear out of the choices we make. through and through our actions (as an individual and as a group), we create ethics. 3. Everything about your choice is arbitrary We define ourselves through our actions, in relationship to involvement. And as we make ourselvesas we make choicesit is silly to say we are choosing arbitrarily.