Existentialism Notes by S Schaffer

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EXISTENTIALISM - "pertaining to existence." S.Schaffer Existentialists believe that man's own individual experience or "existing" comes before anything such as a general purpose, goodness or “truth,” or any other Absolute that may be felt to exist. Man creates himself through his own thoughts and actions, since the only reality for an individual is that of his own personal existence and nothing else. This responsibility of creating something out of "nothingness" often brings with it a mood of "angst," anguish or dread. The following statements espouse Existentialism ─ a term applied to a group of attitudes current in philosophical, religious and artistic thought during and after World War II ─ which emphasises existence rather than essence, and recognises the inadequacy of human reason to explain the enigma of the universe as a basic philosophical question. Though the term is so broadly and loosely used that an exact definition is not possible, existentialists assume as a significant fact that people and things in general exist, but that things have no meaning for us except as individuals, through acting upon them, can create meaning. "Existence precedes essence." ─ Jean-Paul Sartre "Man is condemned to be free." ─ Jean-Paul Sartre "In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a stranger. His is an irremediable exile ... This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his stage, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity." ─ Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus "Cut off from his religious, metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless." ─ Ionesco "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful." ─ Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot 6 general

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