Jean-Paul Sartre ( )  Sartre was atheistic.  Man is abandoned; God does not exist.  Implications of abandonment:  There is no common human nature or essence;  Existence precedes essence;  You are what you make of yourself.  There is no ultimate reason why things are the way they are and not some other way.  Because there is no divine plan there is no determinism:  Human beings are free.  There is no objective standard of values.

Jean-Paul Sartre ( )  We are responsible for what we are and must choose our own values. And in doing so we choose for all.  We experience our responsibility in anguish or hide from it in bad faith.  Only through acceptance of our responsibility and in choosing a fundamental life project may we live in authenticity.

Jean-Paul Sartre ( )  Sartre and Kant on Ethics.  Sartre believed that, when a person determines something to be right for himself or herself, that person is also determining it to be good for all.  This is reminiscent of Immanuel Kant’s famous categorical imperative  But, unlike Kant, Sartre maintained there was no a priori moral law.

Albert Camus ( )  Camus was agnostic.  We mask despair in an absurd world with false optimism and self-deception.  We are strangers to ourselves.— alienated from self.  The world defeats our most fundamental needs. Is there any reason not to commit suicide? Yet suicide is an unacceptable acquiescence.

Albert Camus ( )  Only by struggling against the absurdity of life is it possible to give life meaning and value. The fate of Sisyphus illustrates life.  Camus increasingly focused his concern on the inhumanity and cruelty of the world.  The individual must spend life fighting the plague of injustice and violence through measured and nonfanatical revolt.

Viktor Frankl – Existential Psychology  Holocaust survivor  Observations of those who survived and those who did not survive led to theories of existential psychology  Even people in unthinkable circumstances still have free will and responsibility of choices  Ones who survived had a purpose in their minds that gave life meaning.  Basic tenet of existential psychology— instead of seeking happiness, people should seek a meaningful purpose for their lives.

Other Existential Philosophers  Kierkegaard, Sartre and Camus are three of the most important existential philosophers, but there were many others.  A few of the best known of the others include the following  Gabriel Marcel, Jose Ortega y Gassett, Walker Percy, Franz Kafka, Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Martin Buber

Existentialism in Art and Literature  Most of the existential philosophers expressed their philosophy through literature and through nonfiction writing.  Existentialism has become a popular theme in twentieth century literature.  It is also expressed in a great deal of twentieth century art.

Representative Literature  Soren Kierkegaard  Published much of his work under pseudonyms.  Most of his work was published as philosophical treatises or essays, but he illustrated many of his points with fictional stories.  Philosophical Treatises or Essays  On the Concept of Irony, “The Moment,” The Concept of Dread, Either/Or, Stages on Life’s Way, Fear and Trembling  Many more than presented here

Representative Literature  Jean-Paul Sartre  Philosophical Treatises  Being and Nothingness, The Critique of Dialectical Reason  Novels  Nausea, Roads to Freedom (a trilogy)  Short Fiction  “The Wall” “The Childhood of a Leader”  Plays  No Exit, The Flies, The Victors, The Devil and the Good Lord, The Condemned of Altona  Many more than presented here