Existentialism refers to the works of 19th and 20th century philosophers which broadly seeks to emphasize on the individual and how he/she seeks to understand his/her existence is this world. Thus individuals throughout their lives make choices and decisions and thus define who they are. The core of human existence is to find meaning in their lives and identify themselves in this world. Thus „Existentialism „seeks to analyze and understand human existence.
According to Walter Kaufmann, Existentialism is a body cover that writers put for philosophy against traditional philosophy. Existentialism as theory defines the freedom available to mark dissatisfaction against traditional philosophy as superficial, academic, and remote from life. It supports the idea of not being associated with any particular school of thought, beliefs and systems. It is a timeless sensibility that can be discerned and can be sustained protest and preoccupation.
One of the grounding principles in existential thought is that reason cannot be the only basis for human identity. It‟s only our work and we ourselves define what we are as human beings. Existentialism is referred to as a reaction to a secularised world; where role of religion, morals, purpose, virtues and universal truth are minimal. Existentialism made an effort to describe the implications and possibilities of the foundation less world.
According to existentialism what is "good" for us cannot be determined and so we must be the founder of our own values and projects. Radical sovereignty comes with radical failure and we must be prepared to deal with both.
This cannot be done solely on the basis of Sciences like biology, physics, psychology et al. Nor can existence be understood by adding the concept of morality to science or taking recourse in the concepts of God, nation, authority , tradition, work et al. Existence is something more, something that might change from individual to individual. Man thus exists first and then he seeks to define himself in this world. Rather than Man being predefined or Man being a fully described model of a „Human‟. This responsibility of his own existence leads to „Angst‟.
Existentialism also stands for the free will, ability to make choices and responsibility of his choices/actions of Man. Thus Man is free to choose and decide how he interprets the world and what choices he makes. But at the same time he is wholly responsible for his choices. He is the one who bears the burden of his actions and cannot blame society, laws, ethics, culture et al for making him do things and their future consequences. Personal responsibility and accountability is stressed upon.
Another important thought is the „Absurdity‟ of this world. Existentialism begins with the realization that the world is not totally rational and is ambiguous. Thus, it is not an easy job to find the meaning of one‟s existence in such a distorted world. The concept of Facticity also is an important concept. Basically it means that Man is free with respect to his present and future but he does carry the burden of his past. Thus he can do whatever he wishes to do keeping his past existence and its consequences in mind. Freedom is always there but only within the range of what is allowed by the results of his actions in the past for which he is totally accountable.
„Authenticity and Inauthenticity‟ are related to the actions performed by Man. Thus man should be authentic in his behavior which essentially means that he should act and make choices so as to be what he is. He has to act keeping in mind that he is free. Inauthentic behavior on the other hand means when a person behaves so as to meet or confer to certain rules or standards or tries to ape somebody or concept and thus forgoes his freedom. When he acts believing that he is constrained due to lack of choices and thus can blame reasons external to his self for his behavior.
Existentialists as a rule were against „Rationalism and Positivism‟. The basis of this treatment is that the world is irrational and the concept that human beings are rational creatures. Adhering to rationalism leads to suppression of individual freedom and thus leads to anxiety. If one seeks to give a meaning to his world, he can do only when he let goes of reason. This is the only way to exist and find meaning in life is through deciding and assigning meaning to one‟s life. This cannot be achieved through pure rationalism and the person who tries to do so will forever be lost, in despair and will not be able to succeed.
The existentialist thought was shaped by a number of philosophers but among them Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre stand out. The thoughts of various existentialist thinkers vary vastly. Thus it is difficult to come up with one exact definition of existentialism. Still, the concept of individual human existence and absurdity of the world (to an extent) seems common in all their thoughts.
The existentialist movement was hugely popular during the post war era primarily due to its focus on freedom of the individual and partly because of the strong views and literary works of various existentialist thinkers.
