existentialism quotes

"The message of existentialism, unlike that of

many more obscure and academic philosophical
movements, is about as simple as can be. It is
that every one of us, as an individual, is
responsibleresponsible for what we do,
responsible for who we are, responsible for the
way we face and deal with the world, responsible,
ultimately, for the way the world is."
"we are responsible. We cannot shift that burden
onto God, or nature, or the ways of the world."
the art of persuasive personal writing rather than
dry philosophical analysis is one of the earmarks
of existentialism
Existentialism is, first of all, a philosophy of life, a
philosophy about who we are.
the very idea of a free will, of a subject who is
detached from the causal nature of the universe,
is really just a kind of illusion.
Sartre pursued the idea that we make
ourselves.
Three themes pervade existentialism:
A strong emphasis on the individual (although
this is variously defined and understood). A lot of
these writers were truly eccentric. Each of them

takes individuality in a different direction.

The central role of the passions, 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.
The importance of human freedom.
Existentialists are concerned with personal
freedom, both political freedom and free will. This
is central to Kierkegaard and Sartre, but not so
obviously to Nietzsche and Heidegger. The
relationship between freedom and reason is
particularly at issue. Traditionally, acting
rationally is said to be free, while acting out of
emotion is considered being a slave to ones
passions. The existentialists suggest that we live
best and are most ourselves in terms of passion.
Kierkegaards notion of passionate
commitment is central.
The special meaning of the central term,
existence, is first defined by Kierkegaard to
refer to a life that is filled with passion, selfunderstanding, and commitment. For Nietzsche,
to really exist is to manifest your talents and
virtuesbecoming the person you really are.
The key component of existentialisms general
sensibility is the striking realization of ones
own contingency. One might have never been
born, or been born in a different place, at a
different time, as a different person, or possibly

not as a person at all. Heideggers image of

thrownness suggests how much of our lives is
given, not chosen. Kafkas Metamorphosis, in
which a very ordinary middle-class man wakes up
to find himself changed into a giant cockroach, is
a spectacularly unusual example of the
contingency of our particular existence.
Descartess I think, therefore I am is a problem,
not a solution to the question of existence.
"responsibility"
"being free" do u choose life or does life choose
you? both!
"life as an individual" the fact that others exist is
somewhat irrelevant - you live and die alone
"rational vs passions" (emotions are not random,
ungrounded things which just happen)
"living for the now or in the now" (either we find
the meaning of life in the life or not at all)
"the absurd"
"thrownness"
"becoming who you are" actualising, authenticity
"knowledge vs meaning" existence can't be
rationally understood. personal meaning is the
only way.
"reflection/rationality vs experience" universal
Geist or the fear and trembling of a personal
confrontation
What does it mean to be rational? Rationality
requires the ability to reflect on ones life. In this
sense, Meursault isnt rational. Rationality
requires the ability to anticipate consequences.

Rationality requires the ability to adhere to

standards and values. Rationality, thus, has a
social dimension.
Do experience and reflection oppose one
another?
The notion of reflection turns on two different but
related metaphors: Reflection as in ones
reflection in a mirror and reflection as in
introspection, a turning in on oneself. The first
sense may be aptly compared with seeing
yourself as others see you. The second sense
may be illusory, or utterly dependent on the first
sense. In what sense can your consciousness be
your consciousness? Since Hegel, it is generally
agreed that self-comprehension depends on the
recognition of others. Meursault becomes selfaware only with the scrutiny of the judicial
process. With self-awareness comes self- identity
and reflectionalong with Meursaults new
feelings of guilt.
When the prison chaplain queries Meursault
about his vision of the afterlife, he flies into a
rage and insists, this life is the only one that
means anything! This is the first true emotion
he has felt in the course of the book. Asked to
imagine an afterlife, he can think only of living
this life again. He realizes that life is so rich that
after only one day of it, one could spend an
eternity dwelling on the details. He thinks about
how he has lived and decides that it doesnt

matter how one has lived. It only matters that

one has lived.
Camus: quantity of life, the benign indifference of
the universe and a happy death.
Even mistakes are steps on the way to
somewhere. It is the fact of a journey that is all
that matters and the individual steps recede in
importance.
The Sisyphus scenario. Life is struggle but the
key, rebellion, is not to deny the scenario (by
refusing to move the rock) but to refuse to be
consumed by it. This is described as "refusing to
accept the absurdity".
Nothing could be more absurd than a life of
futility. Yet that is what we all got! An old thought.
Galileos retractions before the threats of the
Church were more comic than tragic, Camus
suggests, because it is life, not truth, that really
counts. The absurd is born, Camus suggests, of
the impersonal, abstract, scientific view of the
world and what one contemporary philosopher
has called the view from nowhere. Ultimately,
only personal experience is meaningful.
(compare Nietzsche: the highest values devalue
themselves)
In terms of understanding as well as satisfaction,
life is essentially absurd. Understanding does not

give us satisfaction. The absurd is a confrontation

between our rational minds and an indifferent
universe.