Exploring the Controversial Philosophical Movement of Existentialism

Abstract

Instructor’s Name A philosophical movement is a phenomenon in which a group of philosophers shares the same thoughts and ideas on a particular subject, increasing the popularity of a specific issue. The historical period encompassed many philosophical movements from the ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary periods with many philosophical movements gaining accolades in periods. Various groups promulgate philosophical movements, such as scientists, historians, and politicking; there are vast philosophical movements, including dualism, existentialism, nihilism, Confucianism, and stoicism. This paper will narrow down to the modern movement of existentialism and the controversial contributions of the movement. Existentialism is a revolt against traditional philosophy that advocates for human freedom. This philosophical thought tries to understand the world around us and the nature of human freedom. Existentialists tend to lean on values and identity, considering a self-making situation. Freedom is the origin of values. Existentialism explores the concept of human thinking and human existence. They reject that life has an inherent meaning, that an individual is supposed to posit their values, and that existence precedes essence (Hatab, 2012). Humans create and define their meaning of life and make rational choices in an irrational world. The theory asserts that no supreme being or a God controls human existence and that the only way to counter the world is through human existence. Existentialists do not belong to any school of thought, repudiating beliefs or systems, and people decide what is meaningful for them. In the 17th century, philosophers such as Baise Pascal argued that life would be meaningless without God, and Jock Locke advocated for Individualism and Liberalism. Socrates and Gautama’s teachings hit differently in Western philosophy in their confessions which were not existential, thus stirring concern from existentialists. The various existentialists with controversial opinions include; Sartre, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Camus, Fanon, Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, and Simone de Beauvoir (Akhter,2014). The first philosophers who formulated the existential philosophical movement in the 19th century to deter the works of other philosophers in the 17th century were Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. The two did not use the term ‘existentialist’ but asserted that human values and identity depend on a person's beliefs. Nietzsche believed that human willpower propels one to ascend to their dreams. However, the philosophes died before the dawn of the 20th century. They could not intensify their propositions on existentialism. Their work was a platform for new existentialists to express their views. Martin Heidegger was a prolific existentialist who gained accolades for his work “Being and Time." He was an outspoken fascist in the German Regime, and his pursuit of existentialism philosophy was courtesy of philosopher Edmund Husserl. He rejected the work of Descartes, who tried to prove the existence of an external world. Heidegger argues that humans constantly strive for the future and dispute Aristotelian claims of a fixed human existence, alluding that human beings are becoming what they desire to be. He alludes that human beings accept the nature of things in the world despite their limitations and focus on conquering them through self-consciousness. Jean-Paul Satre was the central figure of existentialism. His writings were the most anthologized; he believed that existence comes before essence in his book “Existentialism and Humanism (Sartre, 2021). Man exists, encounters the world, and ultimately defines their existence. He rejected the deterministic attributes of people making excuses about their lives, suggesting that each human being is responsible for their lives and defining their human existence. Kierkegaard and Heidegger supported Satre’s argument that existence precedes essence. Sartre believes that human beings are free, and it is, and it is the conviction of absolute freedom that drives the atheists’ rejection of God. The existential philosophical movement touches all spectrums of life. The various philosophers state the concreteness of human nature in determining their choices. The leaders of existentialism purport that human beings face diverse possibilities and must make a concrete choice to commit to defining their existence. The concept of existentialism changed the perception of human beings as ideal beings that follow some particular form of reality for them to be known or validated. The philosophy of existentialism established that we are self-made and can exploit our intuitions through commitment b since we are responsible for everything in our lives. It cuts off the reality of external factors that human beings are a manifestation of something absolute and whole, and they owe somebody the luxury of existence. Existentialists advocate for self-independence, a notion that limiting situations such...