Existentialism

Man has always been in search of answers that would lessen the burden of suffering. One such question is, the purpose of human beings in this universe. One philosophical term has been dominating in this sphere, known as "Existentialism".

Existentialism is not easy to define, as various thinkers have different views on it. What we know is, that it is not a philosophical system, but could be said as a philosophical movement.

Soren kierkegard and Friedrich Nietzsche, philosophers of the 19th century can be said to be the founding fathers of this movement. One another name, which is prominent to this movement is Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 

This movement came into prominence in 20th century after World war 2. Other famous people of the 20th century associated to this are Franz Kafka, Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sarte. 

All these thinkers have one thing in common, which they consider as monumental problem, which is "the problem of life as a human being", I.e. the human condition. 

Human beings since long back have encountered with various questions, such as :

•Why am I here

•What does it mean to be human ?

•How should one live it's life.

All thinkers have different concept of the condition, so it becomes difficult to define it. However what is common amongst all existentialist is that in addressing the human condition they tend to have rejected the common systems or theories whatever may be like religion, scientific or philosophical, which have claimed that they have answered the questions of human life in all encompassing or absolute manner. In other words, systems which profess to have answers to such questions which are not only seen as definitive and timeless but also seen as applying to all human beings whether one is willing to accept such answers or not.

It becomes extremely difficult for a individual to have its own system rather than already made systems like religion. As human beings are weak in such questions, they generally accept the so called systems which are followed by vast population.

The reasons which existentialist rely in favour of individuals to find their own answers is, that they believe that in adherence to systems which espouse absolute and all embracing answers to the existential problems of life is actually detrimental to once development into an authentic and free human being .

Existentialist criticize the systems for not taking into account what it is like to be humans. These systems see meaning and purpose of life as somehow emanting from an alternative objective reality. Such emanting reality may be heaven, or Plato's world of forms. But in doing so they loose the perspective of what life is like for an individual living on this earth and experiencing all the fears, anxieties,  hope, disappointment that are a part of human condition.

Problems with Religious system is that, they answer to these questions from the perspective of all powerful God(divine). A specific problem with the divine perspective is it does not consider fundamental aspects of human conditions that is our mortality. They emphasise on immortality.

Many existentialist want us to accept the only existence we can be certain of is temporal one. The shock of such a realization can help give us the strength to stop living in conformity with the masses and instead take control of our own lives and live by the standards and value of our choosing.

This idea of being able to freely choose standards of value and create meaning and purpose in ones own life is closely related to another famous Existentialist idea that for humans - existence precedes essence. This idea was put forward by Jean Paul Sarte. 

To understand Sarte we need to examine the meaning of the term "essence"

Aristotle defines essence as that every substance or independent thing (example a rock) has an essence of its own. Also referred as to it's nature, necessary properties and characteristics essential for a thing to be what it is.

Aristotle believed that all substances in nature tend towards the actualization of their essence(example a seed has a tendency  to turn into a full grown tree).

For Aristotle, the nature(essence) of humans was acting in full accordance with reason. This lead to the popularly known definition of man as a rational animal.

Aristotle believed that humans unlike inanimate matter and other animals were free to choose whether or not to act with accordance with their essence. However that being said he did not believe humans could create their own unique essence during their course of their lives.

Likewise for those who believe in an omnipotent God who created this world the essence of humans is not something determined in the course of ones life but rather determined by god prior to the existence of the individual. Thus for those who adhere to such beliefs the essence of human beings can be said to precede their existence.

Sarte on the other hand saw the situation of humans in opposite. Thus the statement that our existence precedes our essence. In Sarte's mind, humans are fundamentally different from things such as mobile phone, Tv etc. For things of these types it is obviously appropriate to say that their essence precedes their existence as they are designed and built with a predetermined function in mind.

But for Sarte who was an atheist, humans are not designed by a supernatural being with a specific function in mind, rather we come in to this world lacking a predetermined essence. However, our ability to make free choices gives us the chance to sculpt a unique essence of ourselves during our lifetime.