What is Existentialism?

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What: a philosophical movement begun in the 19th century that denies that the universe has any intrinsic meaning or purpose. It requires people to take responsibility for their own actions and shape their own destinies. Existentialists basically agree that human life is in no way com-plete and fully satisfying because of suffering and losses that occur when considering the lack of perfection, power, and control one has over their life. Even though they do agree that life is not optimally satisfying, it nonetheless has meaning. Existentialism is the search and journey for true self and true personal meaning in life. It is the arbitrary act that existentialism finds most objectionable-that is, when someone or society tries to impose or demand that their be-liefs, values, or rules be faithfully accepted and obeyed. Existentialists believe this destroys in-dividualism and makes a person become whatever the people in power desire thus they are dehumanized and reduced to being an object. Existentialism then stresses that a person’s judgment is the determining factor for what is to be believed rather than by arbitrary religious or secular world values.

Who: forerunners in Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger. Came to influence Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and Marcel.

Why: false progress of technology, disillusionment with society. Existentialistic ideas came out of a time in society when there was a deep sense of despair following the Great Depression and World War II. There was a spirit of optimism in society that was destroyed by World War I and its mid-century calamities.

When: Term coined by Marcel around 1943, first discussed by Sartre in 1945. Became wide-spread in the 1970s, continues to be important to today.