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Kafkaesque. Nightmarish situation Surreal distortion and a sense of impending danger. Surrealism. Artistic and literary style in which fantastic visual imagery from the subconscious mind is used with no intention of making the work logically comprehensible.
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Kafkaesque • Nightmarish situation • Surreal distortion and a sense of impending danger
Surrealism • Artistic and literary style in which fantastic visual imagery from the subconscious mind is used with no intention of making the work logically comprehensible. • Proponents sought to express the irrational and the unconscious, especially as manifested in dreams
Some ideas about Existentialism • Meaning is a social construction • Truth and moral standards are a human fabrication • No rational basis can be found for a moral situation • Our choices make who we are; there is no human nature • We define ourselves through living • Mankind has freewill
1. Life is a series of choices which creates stress. • 2. There are no universal guidelines for most decisions. Our choices are based on our experiences, beliefs, and biases • 3. Because we make our own choices we are free. This makes us completely responsible for our choices. • 4. This leads to anxiety • 5. People try to escape this anxiety by ignoring or denying their freedom and responsibility. • 6. Existentialists criticize this flight from freedom and responsibility. • 7. To live meaningfully one must become aware of the human situation and accept it.
Kierkegaard • “I must find a truth that is true for me…the idea for which I can live or die.” He believed we choose our own fulfillment. The human situation is ambiguous and absurd. The only meaningful response is to live a totally committed life, which can only be understood by the individual. He ultimately advocated Christianity which he believed the only commitment to the individual from despair.
Heidegger • He argued that humanity finds itself in a incomprehensible, indifferent world. Human beings can never hope to understand why they are here. Instead, each individual must choose a goal and follow it with passionate conviction, aware of the certainty of death and the ultimate meaninglessness of one’s life.