Existentialism Summarized:

1. Well, existentialism and the meaning of life certainly drew a big crowd. People were sitting in the aisles to hear Dr. Duane Davis make his presentation and to participate in the discussion which followed. Essentially everyone agreed that ‘life’ seemed meaningful. I suppose that, ultimately, this is an intuitive and subjective judgment. Yet, we yearn for intellectual understanding as to what makes it seem so. This is philosophy: the attempt to make experience intelligible and to understand what we know!

We heard many people express their own ideas and opinions based on lives of considerable experience. Some of the things that generated the sense of meaning were: relationships with other people, helping other people, and the roles we played in life as they affected other people. Love and family were significant ingredients. Some expressed the idea that a variety of experiences, different types of work at different periods of life, and involvement in artistic expression all enhanced meaning. For others, intellectual understanding of nature and even the universe through study of science and astronomy were significant. These also offered a better perspective about our significance relative to the universe. I, for one, have always had the sense that ‘life’ is inherently meaningful; we are necessary beings and something wants us here. Not much was said about God or a relationship with (a) God. Perhaps this demonstrates our secular humanistic society in which man working for the sake of man is enough to generate the sense of a meaningful life. God-talk may seem out of place at a philosophy meeting where we are looking for answers based on empiricism, reason and logic as alternatives to religious explanations which are difficult to support.

Soren Kierkegaard (1818-1855) is credited with being the father of existentialism although he was a theist. He raised questions about the nature of existence. Other writers often said to be existentialists included Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), and Albert Camus (1913-1960).

Existentialism is not a particular conceptual viewpoint or fixed philosophy. Existentialist literature is characterized by a certain style of expression and several recurrent themes that address the nature of existence and being. There is emphasis on the non-rational. There is also emphasis on the individual and on individual freedom and responsibility. Other existentialist themes are: man is the measure of all things; man is utterly alone and free in a chaotic universe, which has no inherent meaning or purpose. We are ‘condemned to be free’ and are forced to make choices. We are totally responsible for our choices and their outcomes. When we choose for ourselves, in a moral sense, we condone this choice for all others. This freedom is dreadful and causes anxiety and despair. To live an authentic life is to realize and accept our situation and to have the ‘courage to be’, to go on in the face of it. Life has no inherent meaning so we must give our lives meaning by making genuine and intense commitments and staying with them. ‘Existence precedes essence’ so we become what we are through our choices, unfolding our ‘initial project’ started early in life. The universe is contingent, anything can happen by chance. This makes life seem absurd. Religious dogma is rejected leaving us utterly alone, with no God to call upon. We must create our own values and make our own lives significant and meaningful. We certainly have work cut out for us!