Existentialism: The Philosophy about the Absurdity and Meaning of Life

Chapter 1: The Main Six Standard Themes of Existentialism

First off, there is the standard existentialist viewpoint, that existence precedes essence, has primacy over essence. Man is a mindful topic, instead of a thing to be anticipated or manipulated; he exists as a conscious being, and not in accordance with any definition, essence, generalization, or system. Existentialism says I'm nothing else but my own mindful existence.

A 2nd existentialist theme is that of anxiety, or the sense of distress, a generalized uneasiness, a fear or fear which isn't directed to any particular thing. Suffering is the fear of the nothingness of human existence. This theme is as old as Kierkegaard within existentialism; it is the claim that anguish is the underlying, all-pervasive, universal condition of human existence. Existentialism concurs with certain streams of thought in Judaism and Christianity which see human existence as fallen, and human life as resided in suffering and sin, guilt and anxiety. That dark and forboding picture of human life leads existentialists to decline ideas like happiness, knowledge optimism, a sense of wellness, the tranquility of Stoicism, since these can only reflect a superficial understanding of life, or an ignorant and foolish way of denying the despairing, terrible aspect of human existence.

One 3rd existentialist theme is that of absurdity. Granted, says the existentialist, I'm my own existence, but this existence is ridiculous. To exist as a person is mysterious, and completely unreasonable. Each of us is simply here, tossed into this time and place-- but why now? Why here? Kierkegaard asked. For no reason, without needed connection, only contingently, and so my life is an unreasonable contingent fact. Expressive of irrationality are these words by Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and thinker of Descarte's time, who was also an early forerunner of existentialism. Pascal says:

When I consider the short period of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, and the little space I fill, and even can see, swallowed up in the unlimited enormity of space of which I am ignorant, and which knows me not, I'm scared, and am astonished at being here instead of there, why now instead of then.

The 4th theme which pervades existentialism is that of nothingness or the void. If no essences specify me, and if, then, as an existentialist, I turn down all of the viewpoints, sciences, political theories, and faiths which struggle to reflect my existence as conscious being and effort to enforce a particular essentialist structure on me and my world, then there is absolutely nothing that structures my world. I have followed Kierkegaard's lead. I have removed myself of all unacceptable structure, the structures of knowledge, ethical value, and human relationship, and I stand in suffering at the edge of the abyss. I'm my own existence, but my existence is a nothingness. I live then without anything to structure my being and my world, and I am looking into emptiness and deep space, hovering over the abyss in fear and shivering and living the life of dread.

The 4th theme which pervades existentialism is that of nothingness or deep space. If no essences define me, and if, then, as an existentialist, I turn down all of the philosophies, sciences, political theories, and faiths which fail to reflect my existence as conscious being and effort to impose a specific essentialist structure on me and my world, then there's absolutely nothing that structures my world. I have followed Kierkegaard's lead. I have stripped myself of all unacceptable structure, the structures of knowledge, ethical value, and human relationship, and I stand in anguish at the edge of the abyss. I'm my own existence, but my existence is a nothingness. I live then without anything to structure my being and my world, and I'm looking into emptiness and deep space, hovering over the abyss in fear and shivering and living the life of fear.

Associated with the theme of nothingness is the existentialist theme of death. Nothingness, in the form of death, which is my last nothingness, hangs over me like a sword of Damocles at each moment of my life. I am filled with anxiety at times when I allow myself to be familiar with this. At those moment, says Martin Heidegger, the most prominent of the German existentialist thinkers, the whole of my being seems to wander away into absolutely nothing. The unaware individual tries to live as if death isn't real, he tries to escape its reality. Having said that, Heidegger says that my death is my most authentic, significant moment, my personal potentiality, which I alone should suffer. And if I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will release myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life-- and only then will I be