Existentialism

BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus
Dr. Anupam Yadav
Existentialism vs.
Essentialism
A philosophy against extreme rationalism because it gives
prominence to man’s passionate nature, to his anguish, guilt,
sense of freedom.
A form of ‘faith philosophy’, asserts the freedom of humans, a
form of individualism recognizing the importance of the decisions
of man in relation to others and not committed to a theory of free
will.
Existence precedes essence. There is no essential nature of
humans. Refusal to identify being with consciousness, spirit,
mind or thought etc. Rejection of Idealism.
Individual as a whole is the subject of concern. Choice,
decision, anxiety, dread, freedom, nothingness are the central
issues.
Views human life as a series of critical situations and
resolutions.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

 Soren Kierkegaard
An early 19th C. Danish Philosopher and thinker who gave the term
(Existenz ) and influenced German and French existentialism.
Trained in theology, developed a philosophy on the Christian
conception of man as an individual who is aware of his choices and
commitments.
• Predominantly religious and theological, but equally concerned with
man’s ethical nature.
• His ethical philosophy is individualistic in that each individual is
confronted with ethical choices which he alone can make for which
he assumes sole responsibilities. Every decision an individual makes is
irrevocable and presents him with a necessity for subsequent
decision.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Soren Kierkegaard

Three principal conceptions of his philosophy are

Truth, Choice and God.
• His notion of truth is Socratic. “ truth is not introduced into the
individual from without but within him all the time”. Truth is not a
matter of abstract thinking but about the actual, concrete
individual. Existentialist truth is a passionate, inner commitment to
something which is not objectively certain; it is equivalent to faith.
Truth is subjectivity.
• The idea of choice he expounds in Either/Or. No psychological
description of choice is possible; it must be experienced in order to
be understood. Choice is a decision between two ways of life: (a)
the esthetic life, devoted to art, music, the drama and (b) the
ethical life which seeks happiness in marriage, business or a
profession.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Soren Kierkegaard

• The culmination of existentialist thinking is the third stage, the

knowledge of God. He believes in the possibility that an individual
establishes rapport with him, preserves his individuality, and God
remains an “Absolute Other”.
• Boredom, anxiety and despair.
• What is important is not what we must know but what we must do.
• No reasoning can help us; for, every premise presupposes another,
only thing that is left is choice. And the choices are irrevocable.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Contd.
His notion of truth is Socratic. “Truth is not introduced
into the individual from without, but was within him all
the time.”
Truth is subjectivity. He contrasts the abstract,
hypothetical domain of thinking and existentialist
thinking of truth about actual, concrete individual.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Martin Heidegger

• Being-there or being-in-the-world

• Overcoming the subject-object dichotomy

• Transcendence with reference to the world, the other

human beings and anxiety or care for the future.

• Finitude of human existence

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Jean-Paul Sartre

• Atheistic existentialism
• God is a contradictory idea
• Men is condemned to be free.
• Existence precedes essence
• Being-in-itself (en soi) & (being-for-itself)
• Bad faith
• Freedom – the nature of man is undetermined project
• The form of intentionality to be filled out with content.
• Intentionality – consciousness is consciousness of
something. And in being conscious of something, I am
aware of my own consciousness.
• Ethical responsibility

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

 THANK YOU
BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus