Existentialism reflects on the anguish of death.
Existentialism is a philosophical current that pursues knowledge of reality through the immediate experience of one's own existence. In any case, no precise or exact theory has been developed that clearly defines this concept.
What is clear is that this movement in philosophy highlights the individual human being as the creator of the meaning of his life. The temporality of the subject, its concrete existence in the world , is what constitutes the being and not a supposed more abstract essence.
Characteristics of existentialism
Existentialists do not believe that the individual is a part of a whole, but rather that each human being is a free integrity in and of itself. A person's own existence is what defines their essence and not a general human condition.
In other words, the human being exists since he is capable of generating any type of thought. Thought makes a person free: without freedom, there is no existence.
This same freedom that grants the power of choice makes the individual a being responsible for his or her actions. There is, therefore, an ethic of individual responsibility . The person must take responsibility for the acts they carry out in the exercise of their freedom.
For Sartrean existentialism, consciousness (being-for-itself) determines being.
Its origin
This term was the result of intense philosophical work developed between the 19th and 20th centuries, in a clear search for the reason for existence based on the individuality, emotions, actions and responsibility of each individual.
The philosopher Søren Ierkegaard ( 1813-1855 ) is considered the father of existentialism. This Danish thinker determined that each individual is the one who, with self-determination, must find meaning in the conditions of existence. And he added that the greatest responsibility of the human being lies in developing an authentic and transcendental life in a passionate and sincere way, despite the thousand obstacles that may arise. This authenticity supposes the need for coherence between behavior and desires in each person's existential project.
In any case, the term was not coined until the 1940s and those who did so were the French Jean-Paul Sartre ( 1905 – 1980 ) and Albert Camus ( 1913 – 1960 ), considered today as the greatest exponents of existentialism.
As Sartre himself explained, existentialism is a human way of understanding existence . Later, thinkers from previous times such as Martin Heidegger , Friedrich Nietzsche or Kierkegaard himself were included within this ideology.
Existentialism highlights the importance of freedom of will.
Types of existentialism
According to its characteristics, this current can be divided into various schools.
Among them we can highlight theistic existentialism (reflects on the existence of God and the spirit), atheistic existentialism (denies the divine) and agnostic existentialism (considers that the existence of God is irrelevant to human existence). In theistic existentialism, in turn, Christian existentialism and Jewish existentialism appear.
In theistic existentialism, which postulates that the individual must choose to link himself to God beyond morality and making use of his individual freedom, figures such as Karl Jaspers and Miguel de Unamuno appear, in addition to Kierkegaard.
Camus (with works such as "The Stranger" , "The Plague" and "The Myth of Sisyphus" ), Sartre ( "Nausea" , "Being and Nothingness" ) and Simone de Beauvoir ( "The Second Sex" ), Meanwhile, they are among the references of atheistic existentialism. For them, the search for meaning dispenses with the hope of divine or metaphysical salvation. The human being, according to this vision, first exists (before being nothing) and then must define himself.
Its importance in literature
Existentialism and literature maintain a close link thanks to the work of various authors. Among the greatest allies of this line of thought are figures such as the Russian Fyodor Dostoyevski and the Czech Franz Kafka .
Among Dostoyevsky 's works we could mention "Memories from Underground" as a clear existentialist treatise. It presents the life of a man who feels outside his group, unable to fit into society and find meaning in his existence . Another work by this author that could be nominated as existentialist is "Crime and Punishment" .
In Kafka 's career there are also several characters who allow us to locate this author's ideology close to that of Dostoyevsky . Most of them are surreal and desperate beings who do not find meaning in their daily breathing and who live condemned to alienation in an absurd system that represses them and does not allow them to be happy, suffering isolation with anguish and despair. His fundamental novels "The Metamorphosis" and "The Process" are considered two magnum opuses within existentialist literature .
It is worth mentioning that Sartre himself also wrote a novel , titled "Nausea" , which captures the fundamental ideas of this current. It is recommended as material to approach complicated philosophical reasoning . It is also a reference work that has served as inspiration for many post-French authors, such as Philip K. Dick or Chuck Palahniuk .