The philosophy of existence has a special place in the fundamental development of the 20th century. It arose as an attempt to create something new, different from the developing views of modern man. It must be admitted that practically none of the thinkers was a 100% existentialist. The closest to this concept was Sartre, who tried to combine all knowledge together in his work en titled "Existentialism is humanism." How do philosophers-existentialists interpret the concept of "freedom"? Read below.
The affirmation of existentialism as a separate philosophy
At the end of the sixties, people were going through a special period. Man was seen as the main object of philosophy, but a new direction was needed to reflect the modern historical path, which could reflect the situation that Europe experienced after the wars, finding itself in conditions of emotional crisis. This need arose in view of the consequences of military, economic, political and moral decline. An existentialist is a person who reflects the consequences of historical catastrophes and seeks his place in their destruction. In Europeexistentialism firmly established itself as a philosophy and was a kind of fashionable cultural trend. This position of people was among the fans of irrationalism.
History of the term
The historical significance of the term as such dates back to 1931, when Karl Jaspers introduced the concept of existential philosophy. He mentioned it in his work en titled "The Spiritual Situation of Time". The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard was called by Jaspers the founder of the current and designated it as a way of being of a certain person. The well-known existential psychologist and psychotherapist R. May considered this trend as a cultural movement that captures a deep emotional and spiritual impulse in the soul of a developing personality. It depicts such a psychological moment in which a person is momentarily, expresses the unique difficulties that he has to face.
Teaching content
Existentialist philosophers trace the origins of their teaching to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. The theory reflects the problems of the crisis of liberals, who rely on the heights of technological progress, but are not able to reveal in words the incomprehensibility and disorder of human life. It involves the constant overcoming of emotional feelings: a feeling of being in hopelessness and despair. The essence of the philosophy of existentialism is such an attitude towards rationalism, which manifests itself in the opposite reaction. The founders and followers of the direction argued aboutdivision of the world into objective and subjective sides. All manifestations of life are considered as an object. An existentialist is a person who views all things from the unification of objective and subjective thought. The main idea: a person is what he himself decides to be in this world.
How to realize yourself
Existentialists propose to recognize a person as an object in a critical situation. For example, with a high probability of experiencing a mortal horror. It is during this period that world awareness becomes unrealistically close to a person. They consider it the true way of knowing. The main way to pass into another world is intuition.
How existentialist philosophers interpret the concept of "freedom"
The philosophy of existentialism assigns a special place to the formulation and solution of the problem of freedom. They see it as a certain choice of the individual out of a million possibilities. Objective things and animals do not have freedom, since they initially have an essence. A person is given a whole life to study it and understand the meaning of his existence. Therefore, a reasonable individual is responsible for every perfect act and cannot just make mistakes, referring to certain circumstances. Existentialist philosophers consider a person to be a constantly evolving project, for which freedom is a sense of separation of the individual and society. The concept is interpreted from the point of view of "freedom of choice", but not "freedom of the spirit". This is the untouchable right of every livingperson. But people who have chosen at least once are exposed to a new feeling - anxiety for the correctness of their decision. This vicious circle pursues a person to the very last point of arrival - the achievement of his essence.
Who is a person in the understanding of the founders of the movement
Mei proposed to perceive a person as a process of constant development, but experiencing a periodic crisis. Western culture perceives these moments especially acutely, as it has experienced a lot of anxiety, despair and conflict warfare. An existentialist is a person responsible for himself, his thoughts, his actions, being. He must be like that if he wants to remain an independent person. Also, he must have the intelligence and confidence to make the right decisions, otherwise his future essence will be of the appropriate quality.
Characteristic features of all representatives of existentialism
Despite the fact that various teachings leave certain imprints on the philosophy of existence, there are a number of signs that are inherent in each representative of the current under discussion:
- The starting point of knowledge is a constant process of analyzing the actions of an individual. Only being can tell everything about the human personality. The basis of the doctrine is not a general concept, but an analysis of a concretized human personality. Only humans can analyze their conscious existence and must do so continuously. Heidegger especially insisted on this.
- Man luckylive in a unique reality, Sartre emphasized in his writings. He said that no other beings have a similar world. Based on his reasoning, we can conclude that the existence of each person is worthy of attention, awareness and understanding. Its uniqueness needs constant analysis.
- Existentialist writers in their work have always described the process of ordinary life preceding the essence. Camus, for example, argued that the opportunity to live is the most important value. The human body comprehends the meaning of its presence on Earth during growth and development, and only at the end is able to comprehend the real essence. And for each person this path is individual. The goals and means of achieving the highest good also differ.
- According to Sartre, there is no reason for the existence of a living human organism. "He himself is the cause of himself, his choice and his life," - the existentialist philosophers broadcast. The difference between the statement and the ideas of other areas of philosophy is that how each life stage of human development will pass depends on it. The quality of the essence will also depend on his actions that he performs on the way to achieving the main goal.
- The existence of the human body endowed with intelligence lies in simplicity. There is no mystery, since natural resources cannot determine how a person's life will go, what laws and regulations he will comply with and which he will not.
- A person must fill his life with meaning on his own. He can choose his visionthe world around, filling it with their ideas and turning them into reality. He can do whatever he wants. What essence he will acquire depends on personal choice. Also, the disposal of one's existence is completely in the hands of a reasonable person.
- The Existentialist is the Ego. Viewed in terms of incredible opportunities for everyone.
Different from representatives of other movements
Existentialist philosophers, in contrast to the enlighteners, supporters of other trends (especially Marxism), spoke in favor of abandoning the search for a reasonable meaning of historical events. They saw no point in looking for progress in these activities.
Influence on the minds of the people of the 20th century
Since the existentialist philosophers, unlike the enlighteners, did not seek to see the pattern of history, they did not aim to win a large number of associates. However, the ideas of this direction of philosophy had a great influence on the consciousness of people. The principles of the existence of a person as a traveler, going to his true essence, draw their line in parallel with people who categorically do not share this point of view.
