Existentialism as One of the Most Significant Philosophies - Essay Example

Two of the great existentialist thinkers, Sartre and Camus, clearly illustrate this in their writings. Their work shows a world with no hope. It is also a world they have created through their imagination and it bears little to no resemblance to the world we live in. In essence, existentialism is more of a thought experiment than a living, breathing philosophy.
Two of the most famous existentialist philosophers were Sartre and Camus. In the beginning, they were friends, but soon they became enemies. Sartre was more theoretical and Camus more allegorical, but both promoted the same ideals of existentialism.
The truth is that Sartre essentially made up his philosophy in his mind. He didn’t look to evidence from the outside world to make his ideas less abstract. In Being and Nothingness, he even said: “Life has no meaning a priori … It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.” Again, this is made clear when Sartre says elsewhere, “Nothingness haunts being.”
One of the most famous quotations from Being and Nothingness is “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” The notion that an individual’s freedom is a negative quality—something which an individual is condemned to is unusual. It is certainly not an idea that would have popularity in North Korea, where no one has any real freedom. Sartre’s idea is overly abstract. He is saying that freedom is frightening and that it doesn’t mean what we think it does. But this is just a random opinion and not one that is true in any real political sense. On occasions such as this, Sartre appears to be more of a charlatan than an actual philosopher.
Lack of control over one’s own life can breed desperation. One element that is common in the work of existentialist philosophers is the glamourization of suicide. It is sometimes portrayed as an act of rebellion or freedom. It is suggested that this is one free choice a person could make. What a truly poisonous idea. Not even the snake in the garden of Eden would suggest such a vile concept. As the critic Lev Braun has said of Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus:
The subject of the Myth is suicide—especially philosophical suicide . . . Having rejected all belief in God or any superior principle, Camus casts a desperate glance at the inexplicable universe around us, at the meaningless routine of social life, at our mortal fate. Then, reflecting on the impotence of our reason, entangled in its contradictions, Camus wonders why the most lucid among us do not simply finish it all by suicide. Yet, the wish for happiness and meaning is so strong as to sustain a proud and vital man against his fate . . .
This is a strand that runs through both men's work. The world is an empty place with nothing of value. Our day-to-day lives involve nothing more than pushing a giant boulder up a hill. There is nothing more to it than that. There is no way for individuals to reach out to other individuals in any human way. This is a sad and untrue version of reality. What both men appear to be describing is the world as it appears to autists, not people with a full range of emotions.
Camus’ novel The Stranger continues this theme. It is the most famous and popular illustration of existentialism. Meursault, the main character, drifts through life without connections, unable to understand what he is doing and why. He kills a man on a beach. In the final words of this book, the character does not kill himself. But it is the blueprint or rationale which is so dangerous and empty. In any event, Merseault essentially commits “suicide by cop”. Only in the works of the existentialist are murder and suicide acts of freedom and responsibility. The book ends thus:
As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators on the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
What a strange and sterile idea. The embrace and worship of death in existentialism are most unpleasant. Read More