Assignment on Existentialism

Introduction of Existentialism

Existence of God and the reality of human being in this world are the topic of interest for philosophers from the very beginning. Many philosophers studied these questions to answer the reality of human being and God. One of these philosophes is existentialism philosophy. Existentialism is considered as humanism. Existentialism followers claim that the human being is an independent creature who even doesn't need any limitation related to religion and social norms. According to them, the human being is entirely independent who can take his own decision based on his will rather than accepting what is desired by the society or what is instructed to him by God. Existentialism theory was elaborated by Jean- Paul Sartre. Jean-Paul Sartre presented this theory of Existentialism also known as humanism and freedom theory in the 1900s as a thought of philosophy. His construction of philosophy is quite old now however still is considered as one of most influencing philosophy regarding human being and his freedom. In this easy, existentialism is discussed in the light of statement of Jean- Paul Sartre. 

Existentialism by Sartre

The main idea behind this Existentialism philosophy is blurred now however still many themes are in the application in modern societies. Key themes related to Atheism and religion, social criticism, the importance of own choices, authenticity, the importance of individual opinion, and anxiety. In the anxiety theme, he studied the behaviour of human being toward thoughts of contingencies, extreme situations, uncertainties, and death. Following Existentialism philosophy, boundaries drawn by the social norms and idea regarding life and death are causes for enhancing anxiety in the human being. Following his perception about the human being, the human is born with independent behaviour therefore when something is imposed on them regarding their life or end of life they become anxious and upset.

Existentialism followers claim that human being creates his own meaning for life while thinking independently. Human being tries to make rational choices and decisions regarding the facts of this world including life and death rather than following irrational claims and decisions of the community. According to Jean Paul Sartre, the word freedom (that he used to represent behaviour and philosophy human being) is philosophical and technical. However, following his belief, this word is not quite popular and empirical. Jean Paul Sartre claims that freedom is the existence of a human being in this world that permeates every aspect of the human condition.

While supporting Existentialism philosophy Sartre claim that “Existentialism is nothing other than an attempt to draw all of the consequences of a coherent atheistic position”. In this statement, the word atheistic represents that Jean Paul Sartre was the supporter of the atheistic school of thought about Existentialism. Historical literature represents that Existentialism supporter is divided into two main groups. One of these group is known as Christians which includes two Catholic: Gabriel Marcel and Jaspers. While on the other hand atheistic existentialist includes Jean Paul Sartre, French existentialists, and Heidegger (Baird, 2016).

In the statement, Sartre limited the philosophy of Existentialism to the consequences of a coherent atheistic position which means that Existentialism philosophy only represents the position of disbelief by its followers and supporter regarding the facts of this world. Existentialism of atheistic school of thought disbelief the existence of God and his control over the universe. Prior to the 18^th century, they were used to accept the limited control and concept of God in the life of human being however after that they start disbelieving about the existence of God in this universe. The statement of Sartre is projecting their poor belief about God (D.R.Bhandari, 1998).

According to the Jean Paul Sartre statement about Existentialism, we can say that Sartre limits the ideas and philosophy of aesthetic existentialist just to an argument against the existence of God. Following, his claim the philosophy of Existentialism has nothing more than disbelieving as it does not cover other important areas and aspects of this universe and human being which are mainly discussed by many other philosophers in past. In actual, atheistic condition show that Existentialism is against the existence of God while other groups of Existentialism such as Catholic believe the existence of God and his control over the life of human being. Thus, elaborating on the statement of Sartre regarding atheistic coherent position it can be said that when human being started thinking that they are the human nature and they have control over their life with their decisions and personal opinions then they started refusing the existence of any external entity or power (Baird, 2016). They started believing that they are independent and they can do what they want.

While regarding life and death they consider such fact as part of human nature. Thus, by refusing such external power and control concept they started claiming that human being is independent of everything. Atheistic existentialist started considering themselves as the ruler of this world with enough power and capabilities to make the whole world according to their choices and rational decisions. Advancing these ideas and thoughts they, later on, started refusing the existence of God and presented the philosophy of human freedom because of which Sartre claimed that Existentialism is nothing other than an attempt to draw all of the consequences of a coherent atheistic position. Thus Jean Paul Sartre claimed that all attempts made by existentialists are just presenting their state of disbelieving about their realities of this universe.

Following his statement, these atheistic existentialists are just accepting the existence of human being in this world while the rest of all is not in their belief. As he further explained that if there is no God then there should be at least one being in whom existence precedes essence (Baird, 2016; Alexvermeer.com, 2011). Then it requires the existence of someone before the concept of human being was defined. For instance, we can say that each object created in the world was once an idea or a concept in the mind of the creator. To explain this he presented an example of a paper cutter which was a concept or idea in the mind of its creator before it was created and presented in the society. According to him, if we accept the philosophy of atheistic existentialist then there comes a question in our mind. If there is no God in this world then who had the concept of the human being before human being was created. Then what is the reality of human being? What is meant by existence precedes essence? Explaining these questions in the light of philosophies and ideas presented by Sartre it is said that human being appeared on this earth before he was defined. Firstly, the existence of human being was completed then he himself defined his reality. In such a situation, if a man is indefinable then his existence is nothing in this world.

Considering this there is no God and man is created by himself. Human being existence is even not a concept of human nature. Human being created himself and then defined himself that is the concept that seems rational and logical to the atheistic existentialists and based on this the attempt to disbelieve the existence of God (Baird, 2016). Moreover, they claim that as there is no God so there is no one in the world who can convince them about something. In general, atheistic existentialist claimed that when man created himself he thought about his future and thus made himself the part of the future. For them, the man was already aware of his existence and reality when he started his life therefore man has superiority over all other objects of this world including garbage and stones.

Considering the statement of Sartre it is clear that atheistic existentialist’s philosophy is entirely focused on the consequences that help them claim that there is no God in this universe. However, they searched for evidence and created philosophes to deny the existence of God rather than searching for the truth. The term atheistic, it-self present that it is about refusing something that is fact and reality. Thus, to Sartre, existentialists are just disbelievers about the reality of God rather than the philosopher of human reality and the existence of human being in this world.                                       

Conclusion of Existentialism

The whole discussion concludes that existentialism is based on the freedom and self-made existence of human being in this world. Existentialist presented views about the originality and existence of man and the meaning of his life in this world. Jean Paul Sartre studied this philosophy and presented another image of this philosophy. Jean Paul Sartre limited this philosophy to an argument about the existence of God. Summarizing discussion on this philosophy, existentialist is focused on disbelieving rather than searching for truth and reality of human being. Existentialist disbelieve the existence of God as according to them, the man was created first by himself and then he defined himself. Before, this there was no concept and idea of man in the mind of anyone else. Thus, man is independent and free to control his life and the whole universe.