The Description of Existentialism and Human Existence as a Free Being - Essay Example

 Existentialism and the concepts related to being and nothingness gained reputation after Jean Paul Sartre’s works on the theory of existentialism and other concepts. Existentialism is a modern school of philosophy which has influenced to a great extent on the European imaginative literature after Second World War1. It basic concern is the freedom of the individual in his dependence on his own choice within a given environmental context. Investigation of this freedom involves investigation of the nature of being and this has caused Existentialism to form into two main streams, the first atheistic, which interprets the free individual existence as self-created and the second religious, which interprets individual existence as dependent on transcendent being2. Existentialism is considered as an imaginative force according to the French mindset. Sartre defines existentialism as a philosophy according to which, there is no God and a person is free in this world due to which, his existence is based on freedom and he has dependence on his own self and no one else3. According to Sartre, the free individual existence of human on earth is self-created4. This statement indicates that according to Sartre, there is no existence of God because if God is there, how can a human be self-created? Human being is considered as the centre of existence which relates the existentialist thought to the thought of humanism according to which, man should be considered the centre of earth. Existence precedes essence5. Existence is what appears before us and what does not appear is not present, it is absent6. A person knows about his essence himself and no one else can define his essence. Every act that a person performs is in his own hands and there is no one who instructs man to do what he wishes. Man is free to act and perform according to his own free will7. Man is responsible for his own acts. Whatever he does whether it is wrong or right, it is in the hands of the man himself and he is governed by no other body. According to Sartre, people should be able to take the responsibilities of their actions and should not put it on God because there is no God who takes the responsibilities of someone’s doing8. Sartre informs that after being aware that man himself is responsible for all his acts and deeds and after being answerable to himself feels despaired and anguished. Due to the awareness related to being responsible himself, the feelings of despair and anguish can be there with the man. These feelings can be an outcome of forlornness and solitude which a man feels because he cannot share the burden of his responsibilities with God. Sartre informs that if a person acknowledges that he is responsible for his own acts, he can control his deeds due to which, the views of existentialism can be seen as wholly optimistic9. Man is not chained by some authority, he is free. He is answerable to no one but himself. The existence of man comes first as compared to any other thing. The existentialist theory of Sartre claims that there is no human nature because there is no God to construct a human nature10. Human beings can act and perform the way they like and they are responsible for all their acts and deeds. They have to answer themselves only and no one else. Man is not only responsible for his individual self but for the whole humanity because a person represents the whole humanity11. Whatever a person performs influences the whole humanity. Due to this grand burden of responsibility for the whole human kind, the person who considers himself responsible goes into despair and anguish12. Whatever one person chooses for himself defines his responsibility for the whole humanity. Man is free to make his own decisions but he is not only deciding for himself but for the whole humanity13. Man appears to be what he wants to be and not what others want him to be14. Man leads a subjective life unlike other living beings on earth. Existence precedes essence means that first of all man exists and afterwards he is aware of his essence. According to Christian ideology, essence of man comes before his existence. This notion is rejected by existentialist philosophy15. Man is able to realize of his existence when he knows what he wants. Due to the philosophy of existentialism, man gains awareness about his possession in his own hands and his being free but along with the knowledge about his self-possessed, he also gains knowledge about his responsibility on himself. This responsibility is not only his single responsibility but the responsibility of the whole human kind. Subjectivism is a terminology employed in the description of existentialism and human existence as a free being16. Subjectivism can be defined as autonomy of the individual self and it is also defined as human beings have a certain subjectivity which cannot be surpassed by them. When a person has given a number of choices and he selects according to his own want, he selects not only for himself but for the whole human kind. With the selection procedure, man also creates an image of himself in commonality. By making selections according to one’s own wants, one creates the general image of human kind by the help of his choices. “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself”17. By the choices, man sets values and principles for himself and other human kind. By this concept, it is quite clear that by being free and autonomous, man has a greater responsibility which not only covers himself but all the others. He not only sets values for himself but for all others. Every action done by one individual affects the whole humanity. The philosophy of Existentialism circulates around the idea of freedom of man. By being free, man can comprehend his status as free and his responsibilities associated with the concept of freedom18. Being free, man chooses his own essence. Man has to opt from the given choices and he has to choose in order to act. Due to the allowance to make choices according to one’s own will, man has organized his situation in this world. Man’s situation is structured and planned because he not only makes choices for his own being but for the entire human kind. Being is the physical self of an individual while nothingness deals with unconsciousness19. In this world, we make conscious choices because of being and all the choices that are unconscious are because of nothingness. Because of making conscious choices, man is in anguish because his freedom becomes limited because of subjectivity. To escape from this anguish, man tries to deceive himself by means of excuses and escaping ideas such as God who can be involved in sharing the burden of making choices20. Man exists on this earth with being and nothingness both because not every time, he makes conscious decisions, some actions are also unconscious21. Nothingness is where there is no being. Being is the physical world while nothingness can be considered as imaginative world. However, being and nothingness are interconnected as consciousness and unconsciousness are interconnected. Man chooses according to his own morality. He makes himself by selecting from a set of choices. There are no predefined set of choices but his own free will. As far as morality is concerned, he chooses his own morality. Self-deception is there when a person takes refuge of his passions and presents excuses for his performed deeds22. Man has his own self to decide, to act and to take help and no one else23. Self-deception can also be considered as bad faith. Man when accepts that he has all the responsibility of his made choices, he has good faith and when he does otherwise, which means that he makes excuses and takes refuge of fate or God for his doing and deciding, he has bad faith24. Men with good faith reveal the freedom that they have while making choices. When a man has freedom, he does not rely on others for making choices and decides what appears suitable to him. Man is free but he cannot take over the freedom of others25. His existence comes before his essence due to which, he is free in all situations and can decide the way he likes. In Nausea by Sartre, the protagonist of the work says after gaining awareness of his existence and essence, “Now, I know: I exist – the world exists – and I know the world exists”26. The protagonist of the work, Nausea gains awareness about his reality and existence when it is clear before him that existence comes before essence and existence is more significant. Man exists first and then realizes about his existence after which, he is aware of his essence27. Before acknowledging his existence, man is nothing and after gaining awareness of his existence, he realizes that he is a free being carrying the load of a higher accountability for all the human kind in terms of making choices in all the circumstances28. Man’s freedom is a condemnation for him because he has to acknowledge his responsibility for all the humanity for doing his actions29. He is not only accountable for himself but for the whole human kind. According to the existentialist philosophy, man is in anguish30. Man is in anguish because when he wants to take any action related to making a choice, he is not only making a choice for himself but for the whole humanity due to which, his choice is not for himself only but is going to affect the whole human kind31. In such case of affairs, man understands the burden of responsibility that he has to carry while taking a decision. This situation leads a man towards anguish. It is not necessary that people show their anguish but they necessarily feel the anguish. All of the people do not acknowledge the fact that their done acts and deeds are going to be performed by others as well but this happens only in case of self-deception32. Man suffers through the feeling of anguish when he realizes that he is accountable for his choices and his accountability involves the whole humanity. Man is born with accountability and he has to make choices by considering that his made choices will affect the image of whole humanity33. This consideration and realization become a cause of anguish. The concept of forlornness, loneliness and abandonment are interrelated. The existence of God is considered to be ignorable and God is abandoned by atheistic existentialists because they feel that without the concept of God, the moral values of world will continue to be such as honesty, truth, humanity, kindness and many more34. According to the atheistic existentialists, the world and human kind can proceed with its existence without the concept of God therefore, if the concept of God is abandoned, it will make no difference for human kind to exist in this world35. When there is no existence of God, there will be problems with adjustment of values related to human existence and these moral are required to be defined by man himself because man does not perform according to the values and principles of God but takes his own decisions on his own will. When there is no God to take over the charge of moral values, therefore, there is no consciousness of a set priori to follow. Man is free and can do whatever he likes. There are no set of values according to which, man should set his behaviour and temperament. Man is free and can act with freedom. Because we have no predefined values and excuses as there is no God, man is in solitude36. He has nobody to put his burden on. He is himself accountable and alone for his acts. He will make his decisions alone. It is said that man is condemned to be free37. The word condemned is employed because man is born with responsibilities of the whole humanity. He is answerable for all his acts to himself concerning whole humanity. He is left alone and feels forlornness because he has no one to transfer his burden of accountability38. Man is not fated to do an act. He does everything with his own free will and is unable to find an excuse for his acts in the absence of the concept of God. Due to the feeling of forlornness and loneliness felt by the man be considering the absence of God, there can be despair which is as a result of considering oneself alone and accountable for all the performed acts39. Man is considered free according to an existentialist and the existentialists regard that man is free but he has to carry the burden of his responsibility of being free40. According to the existentialists, man has freedom to choose and act but his freedom makes him responsible too as he has to carry the burden of the whole humanity. When he makes a choice, he is affecting the entire human kind with his decision and this choice makes him to be responsible for his act41. Because of this freedom, the man also feels many other problems as stated by Sartre. There are many terms employed by Sartre to describe the philosophy of existentialism which are subjectivism, despair, forlornness, abandonment, bad faith, anguish and being and nothingness. According to subjectivism, man is free to act but he cannot surpass human subjectivity42. The choice that a man makes can be considered in bigger terms because by the choice of one person, the whole human kind is affected. By making one choice, the person sets an image for human kind and by this action, takes the responsibility of the entire humanity. Because of the burden of entire humanity, man also feels despaired. Man is in despair because for him, the burden of his own acts with his free will where he has no helper and no refuge and excuse, is too much. He has the burden of responsibility because his choice is not going to affect only his individual self but the entire humanity due to which, he goes in despair43. When he has no refuge and has no one to support, he also feel a state of forlornness. According to the existentialist point of view, the concept of God is negligible and can be negated in daily lives. It is said that people can exist without accepting that God exists44. For existentialists, the presence and absence of God makes no difference for human kind. When God is not with man, he is alone and forlorn. He has no one that can be considered accountable for his deeds. He has to suffer the impact of his acts himself. He is answerable to his own self. When the existence of God is negated, the moral values that are attached with the concept of God are also negated. According to the existentialists, the moral values can be redeveloped by experience and free will of human kind. With the absence of moral values and existence of God, man has no authority and values to follow45. He has his own values and freedom. He can do what he likes but his freedom is somehow restricted because he has to select from the choices given to him and moreover, his made choices affect the whole humanity, therefore, he has to make conscious and moral choices for an act. With existentialism, the concept of God is abandoned and with this abandonment, man is free to act46. This abandon also creates problems for a man because by abandoning the existence of God, man considers himself as a magnificent being that is in charge of his own destiny. He can do what he wishes. He has his own morality and there are no predefined values and principles to follow. According to Sartre, some people try to deceive themselves or have bad faith as they try to put their done acts on God and fate and try to find ways of escape. With existentialist philosophy, one is made to consider himself responsible for his own acts along with the whole humanity. There is no one to whom the burden of responsibilities can be shifted. According to Sartre, human is responsible from his birth. Sartre also informs that man first gains existence and then moves towards his essence47. Existence has more significance than essence. According to Christian ideology, essence comes first and is more crucial than existence but this thought is negated by existentialists. Man is in anguish and this is accepted by the existentialists48. Because of the restriction of the freedom that is allowed to mankind, man is in anguish and because man is responsible himself for all his choices, man is in anguish. Man is not only accountable for his own self but for the whole human kind when he makes choices. He is free to make choices but then, he has a responsibility to tolerate the consequences of his choices. He chooses not only for himself but for the whole human kind. Man has full responsibility for all his acts and God cannot be held responsible for the actions of human kind. Man is free and makes his own choices49. While making choices, man should not forget that he is responsible not for himself but for the whole humanity. The choices made should be moral and should set an image that is worthy and convincing. Everything that appears exists and man is his own master. Man is free according to the existentialist viewpoint and has freedom to make choices of his own will but he is somehow restricted to make choices because he is not only deciding for himself but for others as well50. The freedom that is given to man does evoke pessimism but this pessimism is for those who are weak, coward and bad characters. This pessimism can be removed if the existentialist makes the right decisions. When man is free and can do what is right and wrong and is himself accountable for his made decisions, he can come up with positive results51. Man is responsible for what his essence complies of. The fact cannot be negated that hope is always possible with existentialism. Pessimism is only for those people who do wrong and erroneous acts and make wrong choices. Existentialism is optimistic as it gives hope to the human kind52. The people who have good faith and are not self-deceptive view hope in the philosophy of existentialism. Man is free and has freedom of choice and this theory invigorates existentialism as optimistic. References Being And Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology (Jean Paul Sartre # Publisher: Citadel (September 1, 2001) # ISBN-10: 0806522763 # ISBN-13: 978-0806522760 Existentialism and Humanism (Jean Paul Sartre # Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (April 25, 1974) # ISBN-10: 041331300X # ISBN-13: 978-0413313003 Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings (Stephen Priest # Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 2001) # ISBN-10: 0415213681 # ISBN-13: 978-0415213684 Nausea (Jean Paul Sartre # Publisher: New Directions (May 23, 2007) # ISBN-10: 0811217000 # ISBN-13: 978-0811217002 Sartre A beginners Guide (George myserson # Publisher: Hodder and Stouton (2001) ISBN 0340789611 Read More