“Existentialism” : A philosophical theory or attack. that emphasizes the being of the single individual as a free & A ; responsible agent. finding their ain development through Acts of the Apostless of the will. Existentialism is a philosophical term which posits that persons create the significance and kernel of their lives. Existentialism asserts that “existence precedes kernel. ” which is in resistance to the classical philosophy that “essence precedes being. ” The claim “existence precedes essence” is a rejection of the thought that human nature has an terminal or end.
In this sense. worlds are free to take their ain fate. Is a philosophical term which asserts that there is a differentiation between indispensable and non-essential ( contingent or accidental ) features of an object. Essentialism assumes that objects have kernels and that an object’s individuality is its kernel. Aristotle distinguished between an object’s kernel and its being. Its kernel is “what a thing is. ” Its kernel is “that a thing is. ” An object’s kernel is the aggregation of all the universals that it possesses. which if it did non possess them. it would discontinue to be.
There are other kinds of belongingss that an object possesses but that do non do the object what it is. Furthermore. essentialism holds that natural things do hold kernels. * In the existential philosopher position. the job of being must take precedency over that cognition in philosophical probes. Bing can non be made a topic of nonsubjective question ; it is revealed to single by contemplation on his ain alone concrete being in clip and infinite. Being is basic: it is the fact of the individual’s presence and engagement in a changing and potentially unsafe universe.
Each self- cognizant single understands his ain being in footings of his experience of himself and his state of affairs. The ego of which he is cognizant is a thought being which has beliefs. hopes. frights. desires. the demand to happen a intent. and a will that can find his actions. Understanding existential philosophy is frequently hard. frequently because its thoughts conflict with other major tendencies in the idea of western and eastern doctrines likewise. Many people consider existential philosophy to be a dark and pessimistic doctrine. nothingness of hope. However. the sentiments of existential philosopher minds were frequently optimistic about the hereafter of human existences.
Existentialism can besides be hard to understand because it does non dwell of a specific tenet. or a set of metaphysical claims. Existentialism is non a unequivocal claim about the universe or the people in it. It is marked. alternatively. by a set of subjects about the human status and the battles and freedoms that worlds must digest. or possibly embracing. Despite the assorted and frequently conflicting positions held by many existentialist philosophers. there are several chief constructs of existential philosophy that are present in virtually all their plants:
- Sentient existences.
- particularly worlds.
- have free will.
- Worlds are responsible for the effects of their determinations.
- Highly few.
- if any.
determinations are null of negative effect. Even when portion of a group. each individual Acts of the Apostless and decides as an person. and is accountable as such. The universe is apathetic towards humanity. The definition of existential philosophy is frequently difficult to trap down. as there are conflicting positions within existentialist idea. fluctuations upon the thoughts. and a figure of alleged existential philosophers who rejected the rubric. Possibly the cardinal characteristic of existential philosophy that can be seen in these points is the focal point on the person.
Existentialists reject the thought that there is a basically true human nature. Alternatively. they point out that those who seek to understand human nature undervalue the person. The person is free. as Sartre says. “radically free” . The person can determine its ain life and withstand its alleged nature. The single makes determinations and bears the duty for its actions entirely. Existentialism is a doctrine of the person and its battle through life — a focal point on the subjective life that we all really unrecorded. instead than a hunt for nonsubjective truths external to us. Subjects in Existentialism
The Absurd.
The thought of the absurd is a common subject in many existential philosopher plants. peculiarly in Camus. Absurdity is the impression of contrast between two things. As Camus explains it in The Myth of Sisyphus: The absurd is born out of this confrontation between the human demand and the unreasonable silence of the universe. This position. which is shared by Sartre. is that humanity must populate in a universe that is and will everlastingly be hostile or apathetic towards them.
The existence will ne’er genuinely attention for humanity the manner we seem to desire it to. The atheist position of this statement is that people create narratives. or Gods. which in their heads transcend world to make full this nothingness and effort to fulfill their demand. * The doctrine that encompasses the absurd is referred to as absurdism. While absurdism may be considered a subdivision of existential philosophy. it is a specific thought that is non necessary to an existential philosopher position. It’s easy to foreground the absurdness of the human pursuit for intent. It’s common to presume that everything must hold a intent. a higher ground for being.
However. if one thing has a higher intent. what is the ground for that intent? Each new tallness must so be validated by a higher. This evokes the common theological inquiry: if world was created by God. who or what created God? ( And. if God answers to a higher power. to what power does that reply? ) Soren Kierkegaard. although spiritual himself. declared religion in God to be absurd. since it is impossible to cognize God. or to understand His intent. In The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus described suicide as the most appropriate and rational reaction to the absurd — but admitted that this is non a really rewarding or worthwhile reaction.
* Critics of absurdism tend to concentrate on two countries of the doctrine. The first is the proposition. as Camus described. that life’s absence of intending seems to take any ground for life. Camus answers this with methods of life with the absurd: through header or through revolt — and by indicating out that this deficiency of purpose nowadayss humankind with true freedom. Others consider the theory itself to be chesty. saying that although the intent of life may non be evident. that does non corroborate that it does non be.
Existentialism and Religion
Although the subject of world life in an indifferent or even hostile universe is prevelant throughout existential philosophy. existential philosophy isn’t needfully atheist. Many people identify this doctrine as portion of a bend off from faith. but this is non ever the instance. Some existential philosophers. such as Kierkegaard were spiritual themselves. An existential philosopher may still hold spiritual beliefs. but does non trust on them. See this: Let’s compare the existential philosopher and the spiritual at the point when they are ready to go forth place. Both may love their parents and have nil but gratitude for the work they’ve done.
The “religious” . in this comparing are the 1s who visit their parents every weekend. and on occasion borrow money. The existential philosophers. nevertheless. are cognizant of the necessity of their independance. They may still see their parents. but non with such modus operandi or demand. As British author Anita Brookner put it: Existentialism is about being a saint without God ; being your ain hero. without all the countenance and support of faith or society. * Existentialism can be within and outside of spiritual context because it focuses on the person within the constructs of human nature and the battle for life.
Aside. possibly. from the thought of an apathetic universe. existential philosophy is non ( by itself ) about doing metaphysical claims. The focal point of experiential doctrine is to analyze the person in the universe. instead than the universe itself. Hence. some philosophers. such as Gabriel Marcel developed their ain strain of existential philosophy within the confines of their faith. Marcel. specifically. focused on the human-universe relationship side of existential philosophy. but from the position of his Roman-Catholic religion.
Existentialism and Politics
Existentialism does non order a specific political point of view. but the emphasis on individualism and pick that this doctrine represents do hold a political side. Many of the well-known existential philosophers of the universe fought actively for single freedom. The definition of freedom varies among people who employ existentialist constructs. which is responsible partially for the political diverseness of this group. Many of the more anarchist existential philosophers sought freedom from authorities. emphasizing that doing errors and larning from one’s determinations is merely natural for humanity.
Others. such as Sartre. saw communism as a truer freedom. as they were no longer burdened with the necessities of life. such as nutrient and shelter. and were able to more actively prosecute self-reformation. Despite this diverseness in definition. the chief construct remains: that freedom is the kernel of being ; To curtail a individual of freedom is to rob him of that which makes him alive.
Existentialism & A Phenomenology
The relationship between phenomenology and existential philosophy is a close one.
Phenomenology portions several of the same thoughts as its sibling. and the line between the two is frequently ill-defined. Founded by Edmund Husserl. phenomenology is a philosophical theoretical account that was made to be free of presupposition. The thought is to analyze and depict objects and events from the place of perceivers. instead than to do claims about some nonsubjective world.
Anything that is non instantly concious is to be excluded. Rather than deductive or empircal methods. Husserl’s method was to trust on the information gathered by the senses and to throw away all scientific or metaphysical cognition or beliefs in order to analyze phenomenon more accurately. Phenomenology is sometimes compared to idealism. the metaphysical claim that all that genuinely exist are heads. Phenomenology does non do this claim.
Alternatively. phenomenology simply focuses on the epistemic claim that all we know is our subjective world. coupled with the normative claim that we ought to avoid the meaningless effort to seek out some nonsubjective world. The importance is placed on the subjective.
This importance on human knowledge instead than belief or premise is mirrored in existential philosophy. Albert Camus takes a phenomenological position to the universe with his descriptions of cognition: This bosom within me I can experience. and I judge that it exists. This universe around me I can experience. and I likewise justice that it exists. There ends all my cognition. and the remainder is building. While the remainder of doctrine is frequently focuses on how things are and how we are able or unable to comprehend the truth in the universe. phenomenology counts that our perceptual experiences and internal experience are what affairs.
Existentialism mirrors this thought in its description of human nature. Psychologists. sociologists and philosophers likewise have searched for alleged “truths” of human nature. Existentialism holds that there are no ( or at least few ) cosmopolitan truths about human nature — the person is what is of import. and the person is free to do his or her life in any manner conceivable. Together. existential philosophy and phenomenology move the focal point off from facts about the universe towards facts about the single ego. For phenomenology. that means altering the manner we view metaphysics and epistemic claims.
For existential philosophy. it generates a normative moral principle on how to populate a worthwhile life. ( Note: This is non the full range of the phenomenological motion. but was meant merely to explicate its relevancy to existentialism. )
Existentialist Philosophers
The Minds of Existentialism
Soren Kierkegaard Often considered to be the first of the existential philosophers. Kierkegaard was a spiritual philosopher who stressed the demand for single pick.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Sartre potrayed worlds as alone animals. and viewed the freedom of pick that many existential philosophers valued as a burdern. due mostly to the duty that follows any pick. Sartre is one of the most outstanding heads in existential philosophy. and can be credited for conveying this doctrine to the attending of a much larger audience. Albert Camus Moving beyond Sartre’s existential philosophy. Camus explored the nonsense and absurd nature of the human status. Many Others Other experiential philosophers include Simone de Beauvoir. Martin Heidegger. Karl Jaspers. Gabriel Marcel and Franz Kafka.
Existentialist doctrine was besides influenced by many other plants. including those of Friedrich Nietzsche. G. W. F. Hegel. Fyodor Dostoevsky and Edmund Husserl. Soren Kierkegaard ( 1813–1855 ) was a Danish philosopher who contributed greatly to existential philosophy. Kierkegaard seemed to believe in the thought of “subjective truth”—that is. the relationship one has with what he believes supercedes than the concept of the belief system itself. ( For illustration. it is more of import to populate by the instructions of one’s faith than to merely believe in them. )
Kierkegaard wrote under assorted anonym. including Johannes de silentio for Fear and Trembling. every bit good as A. B and Judge William in assorted parts of Either/Or. His usage of psudonyms wasn’t to hide his writing. nevertheless. but to stand for different points of position and seperate his ain philosophical positions from other geographic expeditions. He writes: In the pseudonymous plants. there is non a individual word which is mine. Kierkegaard used different names to stand for different point of views. Jean-Paul Sartre ( 1905–1980 ) was a Gallic author and philosopher who is one of the taking figures in 20th-centuryexistentialism.
He imagines work forces as alone animals in a nonmeaningful universe. He emphasizes the importance of pick and duty. Sartre’s influences include many of the German philosophers. particularly Heidegger. of whom he was a pupil. He besides had a close relationship with femenist author Simone de Beauvoir. Sartre was offered assorted awards. including the Legion d’honneur and a Nobel Prize. both of which he declined. Albert Camus A Gallic author from Algeria. Albert Camus was celebrated for his deep. yet concise. literary pieces.
In add-on to his novels. essays and dramas. Camus was a journalist. and during World War II. a member of the Gallic opposition against German business. His doctrine. which is described in his essay. The Myth of Sisyphus. centres around the absurdness of the human status. Camus was labeled as an existential philosopher but rejected the rubric. Camus brings a certain humanitarianism to the bing existential philosophy of his clip. While all of his characters are cognizant ( or rapidly go cognizant ) of the absurd. they all rebel against their fortunes. Camus illustrates his positions with his narratives of characters who live by that doctrine.
Biography Albert Camus was born in Mondovi. Algeria on November 7. 1913. A twelvemonth subsequently. his male parent was killed contending in France. Camus lived a hapless childhood. but he was non unhappy. He studied doctrine at the University of Algiera and became a journalist. He besides opened the Theatre de l’equipe. a little acting humanistic disciplines group. Camus went to Paris and worked for Paris Soir. a metropolis newspaper. He so went place and so returned to Paris a 2nd clip. where he published L’Etranger ( The Stranger ) and La Mythe de Sisyphe ( The Myth of Sisyphus ) .
They had thought with some ground that there is no more awful penalty than futile and hopeless labour. If one believes Homer. Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of persons. Harmonizing to another tradition. nevertheless. he was disposed to pattern the profession of highjacker. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the grounds why he became the ineffectual labourer of the underworld. To get down with. he is accused of a certain levity in respect to the Gods. He stole their secrets. Egina. the girl of Esopus. was carried off byJupiter.
The male parent was shocked by that disappearing and complained to Sisyphus. He. who knew of the abduction. offered to state about it on status that Esopus would give H2O to the bastion of Corinth. To the heavenly bolt of lightnings he preferred the blessing of H2O. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us besides that Sisyphus had put Death in ironss. Pluto could non digest the sight of his deserted. soundless imperium. He dispatched the God of war. who liberated Death from the custodies of her vanquisher. It is said that Sisyphus. being near to decease. headlong wanted to prove his wife’s love.
He ordered her to project his unburied organic structure into the center of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And at that place. annoyed by an obeisance so contrary to human love. he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to castigate his married woman. But when he had seen once more the face of this universe. enjoyed H2O and Sun. warm rocks and the sea. he no longer wanted to travel back to the infernal darkness. Recalls. marks of choler. warnings were of no help. Many old ages more he lived confronting the curve of the gulf. the scintillating sea. and the smilings of Earth. A edict of the Gods was necessary.
Mercury came and seized the impudent adult male by the neckband and. snaping him from his joys. take him forcibly back to the underworld. where his stone was ready for him. You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is. as much through his passions as through his anguish. His contempt of the Gods. his hate of decease. and his passion for life won him that indefinable punishment in which the whole being is exerted toward carry throughing nil. This is the monetary value that must be paid for the passions of this Earth. Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for the imaginativeness to take a breath life into them.
As for this myth. one sees simply the whole attempt of a organic structure striving to raise the immense rock. to turn over it. and push it up a incline a 100 times over ; one sees the face screwed up. the cheek tight against the rock. the shoulder poising the clay-covered mass. the pes lodging it. the fresh start with weaponries outstretched. the entirely human security of two earth-clotted custodies. At the very terminal of his long attempt measured by skyless infinite and clip without deepness. the intent is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the rock haste down in a few minutes toward tlower universe whence he will hold to force it up once more toward the acme.
He goes back down to the field. It is during that return. that intermission. that Sisyphus involvements me. A face that toils so close to rocks is already stone itself! I see that adult male traveling back down with a heavy yet measured measure toward the torture of which he will ne’er cognize the terminal. That hr like a breathing-space which returns every bit certainly as his agony. that is the hr of consciousness. At each of those minutes when he leaves the highs and bit by bit sinks toward the dens of the Gods. he is superior to his destiny. He is stronger than his stone. If this myth is tragic. that is because its hero is witting.
Where would his anguish be. so. if at every measure the hope of wining upheld him? The workingman of today plants everyday in his life at the same undertakings. and his destiny is no less absurd. But it is tragic merely at the rare minutes when it becomes witting. Sisyphus. worker of the Gods. powerless and rebellious. knows the whole extent of his deplorable status: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The clarity that was to represent his anguish at the same clip coronate his triumph. There is no destiny that can non be surmounted by contempt.
If the descent is therefore sometimes performed in sorrow. it can besides take topographic point in joy. This word is non excessively much. Again I fancy Sisyphus returning toward his stone. and the sorrow was in the beginning. When the images of Earth cleaving excessively tightly to memory. when the call of felicity becomes excessively repetitive. it happens that melancholy arises in man’s bosom: this is the rock’s triumph. this is the stone itself. The boundless heartache is excessively heavy to bear. These are our darks of Gethsemane. But oppressing truths perish from being acknowledged. Therefore. Oedipus at the beginning obeys destiny without cognizing it.
But from the minute he knows. his calamity begins. Yet at the same minute. blind a nd desperate. he realizes that the lone bond associating him to the universe is the cool manus of a miss. Then a enormous comment rings out: “Despite so many ordeals. my advanced age and the aristocracy of my psyche make me reason that all is good. ” Sophocles’ Oedipus. like Dostoevsky’s Kirilov. therefore gives the formula for the absurd triumph. Ancient wisdom confirms modern gallantry. One does non detect the absurd without being tempted to compose a manual of felicity. “What! by such narrow ways … ?
” There is but one universe. nevertheless. Happiness and the absurd are two boies of the same Earth. They are inseparable. It would be a error to state that happiness needfully springs from the absurd. Discovery. It happens every bit good that the felling of the absurd springs from felicity. “I conclude that all is good. ” says Oedipus. and that comment is sacred. It echoes in the natural state and limited existence of adult male. It teaches that all is non. has non been. exhausted. It drives out of this universe a God who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a penchant for ineffectual agony.
It makes of destiny a human affair. which must be settled among work forces. All Sisyphus’ soundless joy is contained in this. His destiny belongs to him. His stone is a thing. Likewise. the absurd adult male. when he contemplates his torture. silences all the graven images. In the existence all of a sudden restored to its silence. the countless wondering small voices of the Earth lift up. Unconscious. secret calls. invitations from all the faces. they are the necessary contrary and monetary value of triumph. There is no Sun without shadow. and it is indispensable to cognize the dark. The absurd adult male says yes and his attempts will henceforth be ageless.
If there is a personal destiny. there is no higher fate. or at least there is. but one which he concludes is inevitable and ugly. For the remainder. he knows himself to be the maestro of his yearss. At that elusive minute when adult male glances rearward over his life. Sisyphus returning toward his stone. in that little pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which become his destiny. created by him. combined under his memory’s oculus and shortly sealed by his decease. Therefore. convinced of the entirely human beginning of all that is human. a unsighted adult male tidal bore to see who knows that the dark has no terminal. he is still on the spell.
The stone is still turn overing. I leave Sisyphus at the pes of the mountain! One ever finds one’s load once more. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the Gods and raises stones. He excessively concludes that all is good. This universe henceforth without a maestro seems to him neither unfertile nor ineffectual. Each atom of that rock. each mineral flake of that dark filled mountain. in itself forms a universe. The battle itself toward the highs is adequate to make full a man’s bosom. One must conceive of Sisyphus happy.
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir ( 1908-1986 ) was a Gallic writer and philosopher. Simone de Beauvoir was besides close friend and lover to Jean-Paul Sartre and was a frequent editor of his plants. In add-on to Sartre. de Beauvoir had a great involvement in the plants of many other philosophical minds of her clip. including Albert Camus. On her ain. she is most accepted for her work The Second Sex which most clearly establishes de Beauvoir’s feminist positions.
Heidegger made parts tophenomenonology and existential philosophy. Being and Time Heidegger spent most of his calling covering with the construct ofbeing. and his most celebrated work. Being and Time. is an geographic expedition of the nature of being. Bing. Heidegger idea. has been neglected since the birth of Western doctrine. The ancient Grecian philosophers began a tradition. harmonizing to Heidegger. by depicting being merely by objects that are existences. instead than trying to understand the nature of being — that is. what it means to be.
Heidegger explains that being. unlike other verbs which are. in linguistic communication. treated every bit. is something wholly different. He describes being as a phenomenological concept. extremely dependent on human apprehension. stating famously. “Only as phenomenology. is ontology possible. ” Whereas more traditional histories of being. and of being. describe objects with belongingss as independant from conciousness. Heidegger argues that our apprehension of being is cardinal to it. A major portion of Heidegger’s history of being is Dasein.
The German word Dasein means “existence” . but in Heidegger’s use it more specifically refers to the apprehension of existences that understand being. Heidegger rejects the objects and topics of old philosophers. such as Kant and Descartes. and describes Dasein as being-in-the-world. ( In-der-Welt-sein ) . Heidegger explains that old philosophers have erroneously viewed the concious mind as a topic on its ain. Alternatively. he says. people ( or minds. or Dasein ) are ever in the universe. interacting with it. influenced by their temper and by and large concerned about being. whether actively or “dimly” .
Heidegger and the Nazi Party
Heidegger’s parts were mostly disregarded in the old ages during and after World War II due to his activity in the German Nazi party from 1933 to 1945. While his political actions may non be honest or respected today. many of his philiophical plants are valuable parts when seperated from the adult male himeself. ( Heidegger’s support of the Nazi party even seems to belie some of his existentialist positions ) .
Heidegger objected to being labeled as an existential philosopher because the rubric put him in the same class as Albert Camus and Heidegger’s former pupil Jean-Paul Sartre. whom he did non desire to be associated with due to their Gallic political standings. AlthoughBeing and Time is dedicated to him. Heidegger finally rejected the phenomenology developed by Husserl. largely due to his Judaic line of descent. Heidegger gave a series of talks onFriedrich Nietzsche. although many saw this as a perversion of Nietzsche’s work used to back up Nazi philosophy.
Still. many of the constructs were shared between all of these authors. Heidegger peculiarly believed in freedom of pick. and the duty for one’s actions that of course followed. Even under force per unit area. adult male is still capable of pick. he explains. and outside influence can non be blamed for the actions of an person. Heidegger can be credited for conveying attending to the plants ofSoren Kierkegaard. He was besides a friend of Karl Jaspers.
Works
- The Basic Problems of Phenomenology
- Being and Time
- An Introduction to Metaphysics
Karl Jaspers ( 1883–1969 ) was a German head-shrinker and philosopher.
He earned an MD at the University of Heidelberg in Germany where he subsequently taught psychological science and so doctrine ( but was relieved of this place during Nazi power because his thoughts opposed theirs ) . Jaspers’ doctrine centered around what he called the “encompassing” . This surpassing world. as he described. transcended that which we could percieve of course. and contained within it human being. Jaspers. like Kierkegaard. recognized the losing logic of his spiritual decision. but explained that his “leap of faith” was a choice—which is. of class. an look of his right.
Jaspers besides valued the scientific procedure. and felt that it was a necessary phase in coming to understand the encompassing. He saw understading the freedom of the person in the concrete world—and the obvious bounds to that freedom—as the most of import portion of being. which led him to be classified as an existential philosopher ( a classifcation he rejected due to its evident restrictions ) . Jasper’s bounds included mortality. scruples. struggle and opportunity. Jaspers was besides friends with Martin Heidegger. although they became distant due to differences of doctrine. every bit good as Heidegger’s engagement with the Nazi party. 8.
Gabriel Marcel ( 1889–1973 ) was a French philosopher and Christian existential philosopher. He dubbed himself as a “concrete philosopher” . emphasizing going more involved in one’s being instead than organizing abstract thoughts. Marcel viewed doctrine as an interior contemplation instead than the formation of a philosophy.
Franz Kafka
Novelist Franz Kafka ( 1883–1924 ) came from a middle-class Judaic household in Prague. He lived with his parents for most of his life. despite his hyper-sensitivity to resound. Kafka’s plants are known for his blunt manner and absurd state of affairss. peculiarly in The Metamorphosis.
Works A figure of Franz Kafka’s early plants were lost or destroyed. Others. still. went unfinished by Kafka.
- The Castle
- A Country Doctor
- A Hunger Artist
- In the Penal Colony
- The Judgement
- The Metamorphosis ( Read Online )
- The Stroker ( or The Man who Disappeared )
The Trial
Edmund Husserl ( 1859–1938 ) was a German philosopher and professor who founded the school of phenomenonology. Husserl was born in what is now the Czech Republic. He earned a Ph. D. in mathematics before go toing talks by Franz Brentano. which lured him into doctrine. Husserl was a instructor of Martin Heidegger. who besides served as Husserl’s helper.
Heidegger’s chief work. Being and Time was originally dedicated to Husserl. although this dedication was removed in 1941 out of fright that the Nazi party would censor it. The relationship between the two worsened after Heidegger began to back up the Nazi party. Husserl besides had important influence on the work of Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialism: A Philosophy English 11 ( Honors ) April 29. 2008 Mr. K. Smith So. what is Existentialism? Existentialism is a philosophical motion that posits that persons create the significance and kernel of their lives. as opposed to divinities or governments making it for them.
So. what is Existentialism? It emerged as a motion in twentieth-century literature and doctrine. though it had precursors in earlier centuries. Existentialism by and large postulates that the absence of a surpassing force ( such as God ) means that the person is wholly free. and. hence. finally responsible. It is up to worlds to make an ethos of personal duty outside any branded belief system. In existentialist positions. personal articulation of being is the lone manner to lift above humanity’s absurd degree Celsius.
