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Existentialism

Muzna AL Hooti

Sultan Qaboos University

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"'Know Thyself.' If I know myself, I know what I am; if I know what I am, then I will

know my place and purpose in the world . . . Any action I take as a result of my being

is correct [and] moral." This is how I understand myself as a being (Jimenez, 2003, p.

4-5). The term "existentialism" is derived from the word "existence" which means that

being is how individuals express it (Jimenez, 2003, p. 1).

Existentialism is a philosophy that takes "individuals' existence" as a priority.

All that he believes, "about that world . . . [his] feelings, thoughts, knowledge, [and]

ethics," are significant. Merleau-Ponty states, "I am the absolute source;" that is, the

self is understood through "personal insights" (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 1).

Existentialism appeared when the "idealistic optimism" was in conflict with

"human reason" or science. After World War I, the optimistic west was "shaken,"

"[the] disparate voices of doubt became lumped under a label that proclaimed them

representative of a new philosophy, existentialism" (Collins, 1996, p. 206). In this

period, France was a "shattered and defeated nation." After 1940, it was controlled by

the Nazi, so it is reasonable that the French would enfold a philosophy that reflects

their experience. (Faison, 2008, online book).

In this paper, I will reveal different dimensions of the existential philosophy.

First, I will talk about the philosophers who contributed in the development of

existentialism. Second, I will examine the areas that give existentialism life

nowadays. Third, I will show how some works of literature are influenced by the

existential philosophy. Finally, I will show how religions look at existentialism,

focusing on Christianity and Islam.

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The development of the existential philosophy

The first philosopher who established the basis of existentialism is Kierkegaard. He

was against Hegel's optimism that suggests that God has previously planned

everything for a human being. Kierkegaard separated God from human existence, so

that humans are not supposed to have a fixed knowledge in order to choose what they

will believe in (Collins, 1996, p. 206). He focused on individuals as subjects and he

dealt with the mind as conscious and with the self as dynamic (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31;

p. 47). His life was actually a model for his philosophy "albeit within strictly religious

context," and he made heroes of Jesus, for being an "outcast," and Socrates, for being

a skeptic (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31; Collins, 1996, p. 206-207). Kierkegaard divided life

into three hierarchical stages: "the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious." The person

tries to pass "the aesthetic" level, where life is seducing, to reach "the ethical" or

"serious commitment." Finally, when a person "chooses itself," he reaches the highest

level of being religious (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 31). "[Kierkegaard] granted that his faith

was a personal choice rather than a logical conclusion, and he never lost touch with an

inner struggle between faith and doubt" (What you should think about existentialism,

2007).

"A second existential voice . . . is Friedrich Nietzsche." He argued against the

traditional "Western philosophy" that was presented by Plato and later was adopted by

Christianity (Collins, 1996, p. 207). He took a different path and he said, "I am not

narrow-minded enough for a system, not even for my own system" (Lavrin, 1997,

cited by Earnshaw, 2006, p. 46). Nietzsche argues that every man should conquer

himself to be a "higher man" or an "overman" that is "beyond good and evil" ; he

creates his own values. This is the foundation of the concept of a "superman"

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(Earnshaw, 2006, p.47; p. 51; Hill, 1999, p. 78). He supports experiencing everything,

even if it is risky, and breaking the habitual thoughts; that is, thinking outside of

conventional thoughts (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 49). Nietzsche supports his argument by

calling for "an art that is not consciously moral"; that is, a type of art that reveals the

"human animal," "and expresses the instincts, the life force, the will to power"

(Collins, 1996, p. 207).

Heidegger followed Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in which a conscious mind

comes from a solid human existence that is based on choice and feelings. He sees the

will of a person evident in his "desire for transcendence, to go beyond the given, [and]

to achieve what is not yet." After all, all man's actions are risky, but "would you rather

die fearful of taking risk with your life, or choosing to act with awareness of the

unavoidability of risk?" (Collins, 1996, p. 207-208). According to Heidegger, humans

have the character of "Dasein;" ("literally translated as [being-there]) that is, human

beings are aware that they exist and they question the meaning of existence and this

discriminates them from other creatures (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 60).

In the period of World War II, existentialism became famous because of Jean-

Paul Sartre's works. However, Sartre's existentialism tends to be pessimistic because

he knows the burden of taking a choice without having a reason for that choice

(Collins, 1996, p. 208). He states that "existence precedes essence;" that is, "a man

first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterwards

defines himself" (Saeverot, Reindal & Wivestad, 2013, p. 446). Sartre goes against

the idea that man is defined by a "pre-given nature" and he says that if a person

cannot be defined then it is because he starts as nothing and will not be anything until

"what he makes himself" (Sartre, 1973, cited by, Earnshaw, 2006, p. 74). According

to Sartre, things are "based on nothing" or they have no "material existence." This

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belief will lead to freedom (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 79; p. 87). For Sartre, freedom is to

deny that any power has the control over a person's life, "whether that power [is] God,

individual reason, science, political authority, or ethical obligation." As long as the

future is unknown, human beings are free (Collins, 1996, p. 208). Hill claims that

Sartre was trying to make changes in "political, social, and intellectual conditions"

and when he died, "existentialism . . . can no longer be considered a vital force"

(1999, p. 80).

Existentialism and literature

Existentialism influenced literature in France especially after World War II (Hill,

1999, p. 78). To start with, the novel The Trial by Kafka represents existentialism

metaphysically (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 10). The character K is arrested for unknown

reasons. He gets alienated in a world without rules. He seeks to know by whom he

was charged and who are the authorities and how he can ignore the accusation though

he is not in prison. After many events when K is closer to find the truth of his

situation, someone tells him a story about a man who tries to enter the "Law." The

doorkeeper of the front door will not let him and he is told that after the first door

there are other doors with tougher doorkeepers. The man does everything, but he fails.

When the man gets old and asks the doorkeeper what will happen to the door when he

dies, "the doorkeeper tells him the door will be closed- it exists for him only." This

explains the existential point of view about being as an individual; in other words,

"the fact that the door only exists for the man . . . suggests that meaning and truth are

individual matters, that whatever a man discovers is valid for him alone" (Earnshaw,

2006, p. 5-6).

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Second, Camus, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, tries to assert that the

universe should not be understood by "science and reason." He also notes that life is

worth living as long as we are living and people who commit suicide are convinced

that life is "no longer worth the struggle." He gives the sense that our being is not

necessary and we are "strangers to us" because we do not understand ourselves

(Earnshaw, 2006, p. 95; p. 96). Camus (2000) has written:

This very heart which is mine will for ever remain indefinable to me. Between

the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that

assurance, the gap will never be filled. For ever I shall be a stranger to myself

(as cited in Earnshaw, 2006, p. 97).

To Camus, freedom becomes a lie when a man understands that he is not free

to live and he does not have the power to control evil, yet by knowing this, he will

experience a "liberated feeling" (Earnshaw, 2006, p. 99). Also, in his novel The

Outsider, Camus shows that there's no internal meaning to the world. Doing

something is like doing any other thing; "to stay indoors or to murder are equivalent"

(Earnshaw, 2006, p. 102).

Another existential writer is Fyodor Dostevsky whose fictional characters

struggle between their evil and weak selves, and "the miracle and mystery of

recovery. "His exploration of the irrational and the depths of human despair has been

a major influence on . . . existentialism" (Hill, 1999, p. 79).

In addition, Sartre produced two plays, The Flies and No Exit, in which he

presented the themes of "solitude, freedom, alienation. And commitment" for the

people who were trying to do something against the authority of the occupying forces.

In his novel Nausea, the main character gets conscious about his being and his

freedom and that causes him "the anguish of nausea" (Hill, 1999, p. 79).

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Ernest Hemingway also has written some stories that reflect his existential

thoughts. "Obsession with war, trauma, social alienation, fear of death, [and]

insomnia," are abstract themes that Hemingway concretizes in his stories "Now I lay

me," "Soldier's home," "In another country," and "A clean well-lighted place." He

also refers indirectly in these stories that people are lonely and Godless (Gomez,

2013, p. 2; p. 4).

Regarding poetry, existentialist tendencies were found in "Blake , . . .

Holderlin, and Musset" and even more in Baudelaire and Rimbaud. In fact,

Kierkegaard himself was a poet as well as a philosopher (Hill, 1999, p. 78).

Existentialism today

First of all, many philosophers embraced existentialism to reform the educational

process (Collins, 1996, p. 208). Existential thoughts are combined within education to

create an educational approach called "existential education." This approach cares

about gaining subjective truth rather than objective truth (Saeverot, Reindal &

Wivestad, 2013, p. 443). Saeverot, Reindal and Wivestad (2013) point out that

developing a student's "own interest and utilities" will lead to developing his

educational skills as well. Nowadays, schools are focusing on "self-realization and

individualization" to give individuals the opportunity to define themselves (p. 445).

They argue that an education which is "one-sidedly directed" to what is thought to be

useful "[lacks] the [necessary] depth . . . [for preventing] possible misuse of skills,

knowledge and competencies" (Saeverot, Reindal, and Wivestad, 2013, p. 448).

Second, psychiatrists and psychologists found that there are gaps in the ways

human beings are interpreted. Many question about the reality of a patient alerted and

motivated psychiatrists and psychologists to "[comprise] the . . . existential-analytic

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movement" (May, 1983, p. 37-38). Binswanger (1956) mentions that "the

understanding of man . . . has its basis in the new conception that man is no longer

understood in terms of some theory" (as cited in May, 1983, p. 38). What's more,

"existentialism stands squarely within the scientific tradition in its widest sense," but

it is more than that. It accepts that people show their realities in art, literature, and

philosophy, and it profits from the "cultural movements which express the anxiety and

conflicts of contemporary man" (May, 1983, p. 40). Existentialism and today's

psychology are close (May, 1983, p. 53). To prove that, the techniques that were

developed by Freud to investigate "the fragmentation of the [individuals]" are

connected with how Kierkegaard and Nietzsche understood a human being and his

"crisis." This connection offered the "existential psychotherapy" its deep foundation

(May, 1983. P. 61). Existential psychotherapy helps a person to make a bond with his

condition, and face his meaningless existence (Schneider, 2010).

Third, "American film noir and the hard-boiled fiction" (a style or genre of

cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace) are one

other area that represents existentialism. These films were made in the period 1944–

54. American noir examines existential concepts of "absurdity, contingency,

meaninglessness, and despair." Many Hollywood crime fiction films are inspired by

these stories that were written by the working class in America. However, it is argued

that the American film noir was developed separately from the European existential

philosophy (Faison, 2008, online book).

Existentialism and Religions

In Christianity, a person is a Christian if he has faith in the truths surrounding God

and this faith should be "professed to God in a prayer." That tells that the "essence of

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Christianity" is positioned in these "abstract" concepts that determine if a person is

Christian or not (Neal, 2009, p. 1).

The existentialism we see today is rooted most prominently in the writings of

Søren Kierkegaard, and as a consequence, it might be argued that modern

existentialism started out as being fundamentally Christian in nature, only later

diverging into other forms (Cline, n.d.).

Kierkegaard questioned The Book of Genesis in his book, “Fear and

Trembling” in which he examines the relationship between God and Abraham. He

asks how Abraham knows that it was God's voice telling him to sacrifice his son. This

concept of disbelieving is there in Islam too where some people don't agree with the

"Imam" or their prophets (Sarkis, 2013).

Such ideas created the concept of "Existential Christianity". Its "fundamental

assertion is that Christianity is not a system of beliefs, but rather a lifestyle expressed

existentially." It is claimed that the Christianity we see today is more of an

"Existential Christianity" because it adopted a lot existential concepts under religious

basis (Neal, 2009, p. 1).

As for Islam, It has to be clear that the idea of man in Islam is that he has

"three faculties; intellectual, emotion and desire." These three will lead him to God.

The difference in existentialism is that the main thing is human senses, which is the

"intellectual faculty" that can be tested. "All three faculties must be functioning in

Islam if we want to deconstruct the image of existentialism through Islam." Also, the

concept of nothingness in existentialism can be opposed in another Islamic concept of man,

the "caliph." We carry "amanah" from God to complete our duty on earth before going

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back to Him. Thus, the concept of nothingness is not acceptable in Islam as long as

we have a purpose to live (Hamaru, Aliasa & Rahman, 2011).

Conclusion

To sum up, Existentialism is a philosophy that takes the existence of a human being as

priority. It emerged due to the lack of faith after World War I in the work of

Kierkegaard who was a Christian philosopher. Later, existentialism was developed by

many other philosophers and writers like Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The latter

was considered as an existentialist who wanted to change the conventional systems of

beliefs. Furthermore, existentialism affected literature. This is proved by the works of

Kafka, Camus, and Hemingway that express the existential themes of freedom,

loneliness, and choice. Interestingly, existentialism is active today through education;

existential education focuses on students as individuals rather than groups. It is also

active in psychotherapy, as it fills a gap in understanding human psychology. Also,

American film noir and hard-boiled fiction were influenced by existentialism.

Finally, religions' view on existentialism is quite significant. Kierkegaard

himself was a religious existentialist, but he was against restricted religion.

Christianity of today is more of an "existential Christianity" because it combines

aspects of Christianity and existential philosophy. In Islam, the root of existentialism,

existence precedes essence, contradicts the Islamic concept of essence precedes

existence. Islam states clearly that people are on earth for a purpose and that is again

in conflict with what existentialism said about being and nothingness. In fact, all this

says that existentialism is a philosophy that appeared for reasonable purposes even

though it is not perfect. Clearly, the philosophers who developed existentialism are

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not coming from the same school because their ideas contradict one another

sometimes, despite how close they are. It is also interesting that people nowadays are

taking advantage of the positive aspects of existentialism in Education and

psychotherapy. Of course, religions don’t agree with everything in existentialism

because it breaks the sacred rules that religions hold until now.

References List

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Collins, C. (1996). Existentialism. In J. J. Cambliss (Ed.), Philosophy of education:

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Earnshaw, S. (2006). Existentialism: A guide for the perplexed. London: Continuum.

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islam.html

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USA.

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May, R. (1993). The discovery of being: Writing in existential psychology. New York:

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Neal, T. (2009). Christianity is an existential communication. Retrieved from http://www.existentialchristianity.net/ECexistentialcommunication.pdf

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