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An Introduction to Existentialism. Context for Existentialism. Aftermath of World War II Disillusionment, loss in faith “God is dead” No predetermined meaning in life I. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”. Basic ideas. No predetermined meaning or order in life
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Context for Existentialism • Aftermath of World War II • Disillusionment, loss in faith • “God is dead” • No predetermined meaning in life I
Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”
Basic ideas • No predetermined meaning or order in life • Individuals construct their own value systems • We create our own meaning • Individual responsibility to create meaning generates: Anxiety, despair, hopeless, nihilism
Christian (Kierkegaard) Individuals find true freedom from conflict and despair in God Atheistic (Sartre) Individuals “make themselves” through free will Requires “engagement” Political struggle Two Camps of Existentialists
Sartre’s Existentialism • Alienation of individuals • Loneliness, uncertainty • Meaninglessness of universe • Man’s struggle to create meaning • “Nothing can be good for us without being good for all.”-Sartre
Ennui • No point in doing anything • All things turn out the same • Extreme boredom
Ennui (A creative response to The Great Gatsby by Sylvia Plath) Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing futures where nothing will occur: cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she will still predict no perils left to conquer. Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard of, while blasé princesses indict tilts at terror as downright absurd. The beast in Jamesian grove will never jump, compelling hero’s dull career to crisis; and when insouciant angels play God’s trump, while bored arena crowds for once look eager, hoping toward havoc, neither pleas nor prizes shall coax from doom’s blank door lady or tiger.
The Abyss • On “edge” emotionally and psychologically • fathomlessness
Black Witch • German metaphor for meaninglessness • Haunted feeling • Dark, bleak, hopeless
The Absurd • efforts to find meaning in universe will ultimately fail • no meaning exists
Absurdist works depict individuals as isolate and alone in a bewildering universe…
“Human need for meaning” vs. “Unreasonable silence of the world” -- Camus, from “The Myth of Sisyphus” Ron Massey’s “Sentinels of the Absurd”
According to Neitzsche(who opposed the philosophy), nihilism… • Rejects the real world and physical existence • Results in apathy toward life and poisoning of the human soul • Validates "the will to nothingness.”
Angst • Emotional strife • Unfulfilled longing • Insecurity, despair • Kurt Kobain
Moving into Camus’s The Stranger • Vocabulary to characterize Mersualt’s behavior?