EXISTENTIAL THEORIES

Existential Theories

Existential Theories

Existential theory is rooted deeply in philosophy and history. All human experience is part of the larger human condition, particularly when it is vivid and intense enough to touch the experience of other human beings (Bankart, 1997; Heaton, 1997). This part/whole concept of one person's human experience touching that of humanity is often referred to as "figure/ground." Every figure, object, or phenomenon is experienced in relation to some less clearly defined ground (i.e., a total context; Pollio, 1997). The social context of the school experience is one example.

Early philosophical thought containing precepts of existentialism can be traced back to Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche (May & Yalom, 1995). Differences between these early existentialists lie fundamentally in their views of the individual being and the significance of an individual's "being-in-the world" (Wahl, 1949; Warnock, 1970). These existential thinkers do, however, share the fundamental view that because consciousness and the world can not be separated, our existence makes us who we are in relationship to our world (Cohn, 1997). Existentialism recognizes several themes of everyday life as a framework for understanding human existence. According to Pollio (1997), these eight themes include experience of the human body, time in human life, human experience of other people, aloneness, reparation, love and loving, falling apart, and death in the context of life.

Major components of theory

Children and adolescents do experience existential suffering in spite of common assumptions that children lack the advanced cognitive skills and spiritual maturity often associated with existential suffering. This is important when considering the existential perspective to explore the world of school violence. Adolescents may manifest existential anxiety in a variety of ways, including choosing isolation, becoming inward, and manifesting hostility (Brown, 1996; Firestone, 1997). Pre-adolescents and adolescents are more likely than children to express their existential anguish through acting out ...