EXISTENTIALISM AND SELF

All notions of responsibility in existentialism are founded upon being responsible solely to the self

All notions of responsibility in existentialism are founded upon being responsible solely to the self

Introduction

Existentialism refers to a branch of philosophy, which focuses on the individual and emphasizes process. It also places a great emphasis upon how people live their lives, and not the nature of their existence. Even though existentialism is arguably ancient in inception, it naturally comes face-to-face with timeless issues such as freedom, humanism and ethics. Existentialism offers the potential for an ethics of freedom without subsequent nihilism. Case analyses, which are rooted in an existential approach, are interested in the freedoms and choices of individuals, with a view toward understanding individuals' authenticity. The denial of destiny that is part of existentialism means that responsibility and an ethics of freedom will be at the heart of any case analysis that uses existentialism as a methodology (Heidegger, 1996, 44.

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

For decades, experts have asserted that 'existentialism' plays and important in the human aspect of 'self'. Existentialism is in some ways the forgotten philosophic child of the 19th and 20th centuries. Variously seen as morally bankrupt and nihilistic, a passing fad of the Left Bank of Paris, or superseded by the traditions of “The Post” (i.e., Postmodernism, poststructuralist, post colonialism), existentialism refers to philosophies that are grounded in the contextualized freedom of individual agents. Individuals are regarded as residing in the intersection of the past, present, and future with their own potential being the ambiguous site in which the intersection of self and freedom is played out, whether in good or bad faith (Flynn, 2006, 96).

Given all of the above, the label of being an existentialist can be contentious. Many associate the atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir with all existentialism, and the proto-existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche's famous pronouncement of the death of God seems to place him in like company. However, Soren Kierkegaard's early existentialism is somewhat compatible with a more theological perspective.

Existentialism is generally not regarded as the exclusive realm of the philosophers. Indeed, many of those who are seen as existentialists have contributed to the area of understanding largely through literature, with examples such as Sartre's novel Nausea, the works of Franz Kafka, and Camus' The Stranger being notable (Sartre, 1956, 85).

To move our discussion of an existentialist case methodology along, we need to come briefly to some broad and general sense of what existentialism is. This is no simple task, for existential philosophy is diffuse. We may, however, identify some common themes that run through existentialist thought:

Individuals in Process

Existentialism is concentrated upon the one-by-one, and is routinely glimpsed as being a humanist pursuit. Furthermore, the philosophy is involved in how persons live, not what their reality is comprised of. The existentialist contends that, through our environment as beings of alternative, reality precedes essence. In other phrases, we conceive us through our choices. This might lead one to sur-mise that existentialism is mainly philosophical; far from ...