Existentialism
Major Themes

The Individual

Passion
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Human Freedom and Responsibility

Idea of Existence
The Individual

There is a strong emphasis on the individual

How the individual experiences life
Passion

Passion plays the central role, as opposed to
the usual philosophical emphasis on reason
and rationality

The emphasis instead is on a passionate
commitment

For the existentialist, to live is to live
passionately
Human Freedom and
Responsibility

Existentialists are concerned with personal
freedom and responsibility

Two sides of the same coin

Political Freedom
Personal Freedom and Free Will

Existence
The key component of existentialism’s idea of
existence is the realization of one’s own
“contingency”
Will not always exist
We will die
Time is most important
Jean-Paul Sartre’s
Moral Theory
Jean-Paul Sartre
(1905-1980)
French
Atheist
Existentialist
Essence?

That which a thing truly is


The idea of a thing
The Essential Nature of a Thing
Existence?
To be
To exist

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In all things except human beings

Essence precedes existence
Essence Precedes Existence
1.
You have the idea of something in your
mind before you create it
2.
Then you actually create the thing
But what about Human Beings?
Existence Precedes Essence
1. Since God does not exist (atheist)
2. God cannot give us our essence before we
exist
3. Therefore, we must create our own essence
There is no God to give us our essence
We must create our own essence
We are completely responsible for our actions

We will be whatever we choose to be

We will be the sum of all of our actions

We have complete freedom to be whatever
we want to be
“Man is condemned to be free”
“Man is a Plan that is aware of Itself”

While we cannot always choose our
circumstances

We can always choose how we react to them

We cannot blame anyone else for how our
lives turn out

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Born poor
Born rich
Born with handicaps
Born in the wrong country
Born on the wrong side of the tracks
Bad mother and father
Abused as child
Anguish
The pressure of knowing that we are choosing
for all humanity by the way we live our lives
The Alien Example
God
Forlornness
God does not exist and we have to face all the
consequences of this fact
What happens to us when we die?
Worm food!
Despair
We must reckon with all the possibilities when
we make a decision

Did I make the right decision?

I wish I could change my course

I wonder what would have happened if I
took the other road?
st
1
Principle of Existentialism
Man is nothing else but what he makes of
himself
Definition of Subjectivity
It is impossible for a man to transcend the
human condition
We can only experience life as a particular
human being
SUBJECT RATHER THAN
OBJECT

Humans are not objects to be used by God or a
government or corporation or society.

Nor are we to be "adjusted" or molded into
roles --to be only a waiter or a conductor or a
mother or worker. We must look deeper than
our roles and find ourselves.
BAD FAITH

To be guilty of regarding oneself not as a free
person but as an object.

In bad faith I am hiding the truth from myself.
CHOICE

I am my choices. I cannot not choose.

If I do not choose, that is still a choice.

If faced with inevitable circumstances, we still
choose how we are in those circumstances.
OUR ACTS DEFINE US

"In life, a man commits himself, draws his own
portrait, and there is nothing but that portrait.“

Our illusions and imaginings about ourselves,
about what we could have been, are nothing but
self-deception.
PASSION IS NO EXCUSE

"I was overwhelmed by strong feelings;
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I couldn't help myself" is a falsehood.

Despite my feelings, I choose how to express
them in action.
The boy who had to make a decision