In existentialism, there is for human existence. Existential philosophy about the meaning of human existence. You can easily be deceived

If we need to reflect the mood of the 20th century, then existentialism will be the best mirror. This direction in philosophy has left a clear mark on history and literature, and by carefully studying it, we can determine how close it is to each of us. This is not necessarily a gloomy feeling of life, there are many nuances here, so do not rush to be upset by the realization of the meaninglessness of existence (which is what the existentialists tell us). Maybe what you live for already surrounds you, all that remains is to give life a greater meaning.

In order to delve into the essence of the philosophy of existence, you can appreciate the contrast of eras, for example, the 16th and 20th centuries. Remembering such movements in art as Baroque, classicism, sentimentalism and so on, we will be even more impressed by the fact that after the darkened Middle Ages people smiled at life, and in the 1920s that same Renaissance greatness of man almost completely depreciated. Of course, history prepared people for this, and one should not be so categorical, because there were plenty of reasons for the emergence of existentialism over four centuries: wars and revolutions, economic instability, incurable diseases, human powerlessness in the face of natural disasters. All this explains our disappointment in the monumentality of an individual and pushes us to search for our place in the world.

Existentialists were the first to declare the absence of meaning in life. Previously, a person found the truth in faith, in love, in wealth, in enlightenment and self-development, but the cruel truth comes out: no one can avoid a death sentence. Thus, people began to lose themselves as individuals and slowly but surely came to the conclusion that there was no point. Existentialism is a philosophy that argues that it is becoming difficult not to lose yourself in the world. The essence of the philosophy of life lies in finding your purpose, your “I”. Everyone must find themselves.

Philosophy of existentialism

The philosophy of existentialism is full of basic concepts, for example, existence (existence) and essence (essence). Let us dwell in a little more detail on the main definitions of existentialism, explain their essence, and then it will be easier to let this unique philosophy pass through us.

Borderline state is a situation in which a person almost looks death in the face. Why is it relevant for philosophy? After all, it is at such moments that the personality breaks through, and after acute, hard-to-bear moments, it turns out to be quite difficult to hide behind everyday life. Now, reading the article, we can think about what we would do if we were experiencing difficulties, and if we find ourselves in a situation where there is only time for action, then we will prove ourselves. It would be good not to find ourselves in such borderline situations, because war or a hungry faint, which can sever a person’s existence from being, are excellent examples of such. However, life presents people with unpleasant surprises under the guise of accidents or terrorist attacks, and then most people show themselves - some fear for their lives and run away, while others may turn out to be heroes. No one knows for sure, but it is precisely thanks to such an unpleasant state that a person can find his very essence.
Essence– this, in other words, is the essence of man. Any creation has meaning, although the same existentialists claim that truth is not given to man from the beginning. This is true; not each of us is born with the same purpose. One representative may have a mission - to prove himself in a certain moment, when for another the true achievement will be completely the opposite. A person can search for himself and his role in the world all his life, and reveal his essence at a completely unexpected time. The philosophy of existence emphasizes the need for a person to quickly recognize his essence, because objects already have their own essence. The pen was created to write with, the telephone - to call, and a person - why? There is no answer, man seeks it himself and will find it when his essence manifests itself. We'll talk about this in a little more detail, first understanding the rest of the important philosophical definitions.
Existence- This is the direct existence of a person. A person has a primary existence, that is, he already exists, and why - he is looking for an answer for himself. The whole philosophy is built on the substantiation of the existence of people, because since a person is in this world, it means it is necessary for something. Actually, for the essence that a person manifests during life, his existence, his existence.
Absurd is an equally important term in the philosophy of existentialism. This word no longer sounds negative; on the contrary, it acquires a bright color. The absurd in art leads to an abundance of meanings, but in existentialism, on the contrary, it emphasizes the nonsense in life. In the same “myth of Sisyphus” the absurdity of existence comes to the fore, but we will return to this later. It is thanks to absurdity that the discord between human existence and the surrounding reality occurs.
As a separate term, it is quite possible to mention existential « nausea». Sartre's novel of the same name intrigues with such a strange name. After reading it, we already understand that the most incomprehensible feeling experienced by the main character is an intensification of sensations with the awareness of existence. we wrote in a separate article.

So, the central idea of the philosophy of existentialism becomes clear using the example of an ordinary object, say, a cup. It was created specifically to drink from, that is, its existence is justified and filled with meaning. This can be said about any object, which is why the main character of Sartre’s novel Nausea, Antoine, nervously reacts to material things, in this we are given a hint that each product around us already contains its own essence. Pick up any craft and see the meaning of its existence; it works with everything except God’s creation - man. A person was not born with his mission right away; he seeks his essence throughout his life. The whole point of existentialism lies in the search for truth. A characteristic feature of philosophy is the belief that there is no original meaning put into existence by someone, but at the same time it can be found in every little thing. This is not necessarily faith, love, and what else did previous eras proclaim? A person’s purpose can appear in the choice of type of activity, creativity, or in a seemingly insignificant moment. Each of us is capable of finding our own meaning of existence, what difference does it make if the end is the same?

The idea of existentialism is that a person is unique, and his position in the world is important and valuable in itself, even when faced with the obviousness of death. The teachings of the philosophy of existence puts human life with its problems and worries in the first position.

Directions

Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, divided existentialism into religious and atheistic. If with religious existentialism the solution seems more obvious: God is behind all existing phenomena, then atheistic drives a person into a framework. It’s clearly not a matter of faith, but what then?

The categories of direction in philosophy can be recognized in the choice of further human actions after a collision with the absurdity of existence. Philosophers of the 20th century argued that there is no meaning, and this pressure is so pressing that many decide to end existence - in other words, they prefer to find a way out in suicide. This desperate step is presented as a recognition of the meaninglessness of existence, but the philosophy is not so gloomy that it cannot provide another solution.

Deviation from the truth is one of the likely ways. The inability to live with the awareness of meaninglessness can develop the ability to find meaning, for example, in creativity or in a single moment. Why can't the meaning of life be in enjoying a summer day or reading a decent book? Maybe. Everything can become meaningful, it’s all individual, you just need to be imbued with every moment of priceless life.

The characteristic of existentialism allows for one more way: acceptance. Yes, it’s difficult to live and at the same time understand that everyone is going towards the same thing, but despite this, you can come to terms with it and, moreover, become happy.

Problems

The problem of the meaning of life. Existentialism swept across Western Europe and pushed people to think about a new meaning in life. The problems of philosophy are quite acute, because coming to terms with the situation in society, when one is surrounded only by hopelessness, is quite difficult. The best example of an explanation of the philosophy of existence is the “myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus, where at the center of the work there is a hero who is doomed to eternally carry stones onto a cliff over and over again. The author raises the topic of the absurdity of life, and so we ask ourselves about its meaninglessness in general. Returning to ways out of a predicament, the reader realizes that one can come to terms with and enjoy the existence of a monotonous reality in spite of itself. After the next ascent, Sisyphus again lifts the stone up the mountain, but at the same time he can look around and see something new for himself - even in this cyclicality there is a meaning, is there really no happiness for us? The meaning of life is in the process itself, in the very existence of a person. Camus's hero, for example, is happy that he retained his pride, for which the gods punished him. Although he suffers punishment for his insolence towards them, he realizes that he remained true to his convictions.
Problem of choice. The most important feature of existentialism is that a person is responsible for his choice. In a borderline situation, he can reveal his essence. As a rule, such situations are a moment before possible death, for example, a battle in a war. In ordinary life, a person can only imagine what he would do in the event of some kind of disaster, but all these mirages are shattered by cruel reality. When in trouble, the subject will not find time to think, but will immediately begin to act. How - already depends on the person’s responsibility for everything that happens. The main problem of existentialism is the individual’s exit from a borderline situation; this is how people show their heroism or, on the contrary, fear and cowardice. This is the moment of truth, the moment of phenomenal insight, when a person goes beyond himself and his routine experience, opening up new facets of reality.
Problems of the philosophy of existentialism clearly reflected in literature, but to understand it is not necessary to take on a philosophical essay. A work of art such as Sartre’s “” demonstrates the stupor of the individual in the face of the feeling of being useless in the world. Now, of course, psychology is at a high level, and the first piece of advice that persistently comes to mind is to turn to a specialist so that he can suggest a solution to the yearning character, but the reader will also be faced with a contradictory craving for loneliness, separating the hero from society. Antoine suffers from the meaninglessness of life and does not want to come to terms with it, so for himself he sees a way out in creativity.
Existentialism also puts forward the problem of human loneliness and the problem of internal choice. In addition, in the direction of philosophy, freedom occupies a significant place as a way of self-realization. By embodying one's potential one can cope with existence, and in doing so each person must truly find himself. Namely, to become the master of your own destiny, to be free, first of all, from the surrounding society.

Main representatives

Ideological origins – Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Schelling
Religious existentialism – Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Nikolai Berdyaev, Martin Buber, Lev Shestov
Atheistic existentialism – Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus

The founder of existential philosophy is the Danish writer Søren Kierkegaard. Friedrich Nietzsche is also credited with the status of the father of the philosophy of existence, but neither the Danish philosopher nor the author of the theory of the superman used the term “existentialism” itself, unlike the representative of the religious movement Karl Jaspers. It was he who first introduced a special scientific term for philosophy in his works.

Representatives of atheistic existentialism, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger, assumed, or rather insisted, that the meaning of human life does not lie in faith. This idea is emphasized in the work of Albert Camus, when the main character of the story, Meursault, violently pushes out the door of the priest, who urged him to trust in divine providence. By the way, the character’s position coincides with the worldview of his creator, the French writer. Camus believes that the meaning of life lies precisely in the acceptance of that very nonsense, therefore his hero Meursault accepts and resigns himself to circumstances that cannot be changed. Of course, in life we are unlikely to meet such a truthful and at the same time indifferent person as Meursault, but this only confirms Camus’s idea that he is not a hero, but a philosophical idea.

Simone de Beauvoir, the wife of Sartre, who divided philosophy into religious and atheistic existentialism, would be correctly classified as a representative of the atheistic philosophy of existence. Among religious existentialist writers, domestic representatives can be distinguished, for example, Berdyaev and Dostoevsky.

Existentialism in literature

The classics of existential literature are the works of French writers who most clearly reflected themselves in the atheistic direction: and . However, in Russia there are also books filled with philosophical reasoning. You can find an example in our article ““.

Existentialism spread from Western Europe to Russian culture. The so-called “philosopher of freedom” Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev explored the direction in philosophy and analyzed the state of the individual during existential insight. Just like a person, the whole of Russia can find itself in a borderline situation and be reborn thanks to the same social catastrophes. Berdyaev also speaks about the relevance of creativity and man’s hope for salvation in faith in God. Help through religion is also glorified in the works of Dostoevsky, because if we remember the same “birds of a feather” - Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov, then the conclusion suggests itself: having lost faith in the Almighty, a person can lose himself. .

Existential characters are not only the contradictory Meursault Camus and the yearning Antoine Sartre, because even delving into the Russian classics, we will hit the mark, turning our attention to the same Eugene Onegin. The hero of the novel of the same name can also be called an existentialist: he is bored, he is tired of everything, he is looking for his place in life, but does not find it. You can find examples of existential literature on our website in the articles:,.

Modern existentialism

Despite its relatively long-standing appearance, existentialism is still relevant today. People have thought and will continue to think about the meaning of existence, which is why they are looking for options, sometimes relying on new versions. If we remember the reasons for the emergence of existentialism, we can understand why the development of this trend in philosophy is quite understandable. Man has become powerless in the face of technological progress. Living in an “advanced”, constantly changing world, willy-nilly you will wonder what your purpose is, because new gadgets are step by step ahead of you in development. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that each of us will be free from conflicting psychological situations. It would be great if the circumstances that awaken metaphysical “nausea” led us immediately to the answer to the eternal question, however, perhaps each person must go through his own path of personality development. That is why existentialism can be called a modern philosophy that arose at the beginning of the 20th century.

Representatives of modern existentialism:

A. Glucksman,
L.Althusser,
M. Guerin,
J. Derrida,
M. Foucault
R. Bart,
J. Deleuze,
J.-F. Llotard
U. Eco

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The term " existentialism" comes from the Latin word "existence". The forerunner of 20th-century existentialism is considered to be the 19th-century Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard, who placed the unique and inimitable human existence at the center of his philosophy. After a long period of oblivion, the German thinker M. Heidegger turned to the philosophical work of S. Kierkegaard, who again introduced the problem of existence into philosophy, but not as a superficial existence as opposed to the deep essence, but as an open one and the unique possibility of the human. The focus of existentialism is on the themes of discovering the finitude (mortality) of human existence, analysis of everyday human life, problems of alienation and inauthentic human existence, the search for FREEDOM and MEANING of human existence.

In development existentialism It is customary to distinguish two stages:
1. First quarter of the 20th century. Emerges in Germany and Russia after the First World War as a philosophy of the crisis worldview of Western Europe. The First World War showed that the value of human life had been reduced to zero. The goal of existentialism is to find the lost meaning of human existence. Representatives of this stage are: Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger in Germany, Nikolai Berdyaev, Lev Shestov in Russia.
2. In the 40-60s of the 20th century, existentialism was revived after the Second World War in France and Spain. Representatives: Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Gabriel Marcel, "Pmona de Bouvoir, Hosse Ortega y Gasset.

Sometimes in the development of existentialism, religious existentialism is distinguished (K. Jaspers, G. Marcel) and atheistic (M. Heidegger, J.P. Sartre, A. Camus).

The main provision philosophy of existentialism is a critique of inauthentic human existence in the modern world. In everyday life, a person does not show his true essence in any way; a person appears here as the sum of certain social roles. Criticism of the existing situation of man as impersonal and alienated. An increase in spiritual crisis, when a person develops an acute sense of wrongness, meaninglessness, and unworthiness of his existence. The world in which a person’s life takes place is the world of “Das Map” (M. Heidegger) - the world of anonymity, inauthenticity, averageness. This world is ruled by crowds, curiosity, ambiguity and chatter. According to A. Camus, this is a world of absurdity, in which man also has no place.

But even at the bottom of his fall, a person still vaguely feels his involvement in the highest, no matter how humiliated he may be in life. M. Heidegger sees a way out of the world of inauthentic absurd existence in the liberation of man from the power of subjectivism and anthropologism of Western European thinking and the discovery of his original unity with the fundamental essence of existence. The meaning of being is discovered through the discovery of the meaning of human existence and, in turn, human existence receives true meaning only near being.

For K. Jaspers, this solution is the unity of existence and transcendence (God), which is realized in the phenomenon of philosophical and existential communication.

The way out of the absurd world that Camus offers man lies in metaphysical rebellion, which completely explodes alienated being and frees man. Sartre believes that the true essence of man is FREEDOM. Man is doomed to be free. A person does not exist as a thing, an object, a person is someone who constantly overcomes himself, creates, creates himself. “A person is his own PROJECT”, “A person has no alibi!”, notes J. P. Sartre.

Existentialism(from the Latin existentia - existence) is considered one of the largest movements in the world of the 20th century. It reflects the reaction of the intelligentsia to the instability and tragedy of life, human vulnerability from social storms and upheavals, to the increasing alienation between people. Supporters of existentialism sought to find new ways to realize human freedom, ways to overcome fear and loneliness, and called for the responsibility of every person living in society, demanding respect for the rights and dignity of the individual. The formation of existential philosophy is rooted in the mentality of the 19th century.

Existentialism: briefly about the most important things

Existentialism- a direction of philosophy, the main subject of study of which was man, his problems, difficulties, existence in the world around him.

Existentialism began to emerge in the middle of the 19th century, and in the 20s - 70s of the 20th century it gained relevance and became one of the popular philosophical movements in Western Europe.

Problems of existentialism

The actualization and flowering of existentialism in the 20s - 70s. XX century The following reasons contributed:

moral, economic and political crises that gripped humanity before the First World War, during the First and Second World Wars and between them;
the rapid growth of science and technology and the use of technical achievements to the detriment of people (improvement of military equipment, machine guns, machine guns, mines, bombs, the use of toxic substances during combat operations, etc.);
the danger of the destruction of humanity (the invention and use of nuclear weapons, an approaching environmental disaster);
increased cruelty, inhumane treatment of people (70 million dead in two world wars, concentration camps, labor camps);
the spread of fascist and other totalitarian regimes that completely suppress the human personality;
the powerlessness of man before nature and before man-made society.

Existentialist philosophy spread in response to these phenomena.

The following can be distinguished problems paid attention to by existentialist philosophers:

the uniqueness of the human personality, the depth of his feelings, experiences, anxieties, hopes, life in general;
a striking contradiction between the human inner world and the surrounding life;
the problem of human alienation (society, the state have become completely alien to a person, a reality that completely neglects a person, suppresses his “I”);
the problem of the meaninglessness of life, loneliness, abandonment (a person is alone in the world around him, he does not have a “coordinate system” where he would feel needed);
the problem of internal choice and the problem of a person’s search for both his internal “I” and his external place in life.

Representatives of existentialism

Existentialism of Søren Kierkegaard

Danish philosopher is considered the founder of existentialism Søren Kierkegaard(1813 - 1855). He posed the question: why does philosophy deal with so many different issues - the essence of being, matter, God, spirit, limits and mechanisms of knowledge - and pays almost no attention to man, moreover, dissolves a specific person with his inner world, experiences in universal, abstract , as a rule, issues that do not interest him and do not concern his daily life? Kierkegaard believed that philosophy must turn to man, his little problems, help him find a truth that is understandable to him, for which he could live, help a person make an inner choice and realize his “I”. The philosopher highlighted the following concepts:

inauthentic existence- complete subordination of a person to society, “life with everyone”, “life like everyone else”, “going with the flow”, without awareness of one’s “I”, the uniqueness of one’s personality, without finding a true calling;
true existence- a way out of a state of suppression by society, a conscious choice, finding oneself, becoming the master of one’s destiny.

True existence is existence. In his ascent to true existence a person goes through three stages:

aesthetic when a person’s life is determined by the outside world. A person “goes with the flow” and strives only for pleasure;
ethical, when a person makes a conscious choice, consciously chooses himself, now he is driven by duty;
religious When a person is deeply aware of his calling, he fully acquires it to such an extent that the outside world does not have much meaning for him and cannot become an obstacle to a person’s path. From this moment until the end of his days, a person “carries his cross,” overcoming all suffering and external circumstances.

From Kierkegaard's point of view, man - it is a synthesis of the finite and the infinite, the temporary and the eternal, freedom and necessity. And this synthesis does not occur on its own and is not given to man by nature - it must be consciously created by building your life in a certain way. Consequently, the main task that is set before a person in life is to gain his own self. Kierkegaard believed that he had achieved the goal that, in his opinion, faces every person: it is no coincidence that long before his death he proposed such a text for his own tombstone - “This One.” “This One” is the self, the person who has achieved maximum separation from others.

The most significant representatives of existentialism of the 20th century were:

Karl Jaspers (1883 — 1969);
Martin Heidegger (1889 — 1976);
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980);
Albert Camus (1913 — 1960).

Existentialism of Karl Jaspers

German philosopher Karl Jaspers(1883 - 1969) was one of the first to raise existentialist issues in the 20th century. He did this in his work “Psychology of Worldviews,” published in 1919, i.e. after the end of the First World War. According to Jaspers, a person usually lives " abandoned"life that doesn't have much meaning - "as everybody". At the same time, he does not even suspect who he really is, does not know his hidden abilities, capabilities, true “I”.

However, in special cases, the true nature, these hidden qualities come out. According to Jaspers, this borderline situations- between life and death, especially important for a person, his future fate. From this moment a person realizes himself and becomes himself, he comes into contact with transcendence- the highest being. A person’s entire life, consciously or unconsciously, is directed towards transcendence- to the complete emancipation of energy and understanding of some higher absolute. A person approaches transcendence, the absolute, releases energy, realizes himself through the so-called "ciphers" of the transcendental: erotica, sex; unity of oneself with one’s own inner world (agreement with oneself); freedom and death.

Existentialism of Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger(1889 - 1976) was engaged in development the very basics existentialist understanding of the subject and tasks of philosophy. Existence, according to Heidegger, there is a being to which a person relates himself, the filling of a person’s being with specifics; his life is in what belongs to him and what exists for him.

Human existence occurs in the surrounding world (called a philosopher "being in the world"). In turn, “being in the world” consists of: “ being with others" And "the being of oneself."“Being with others” sucks a person in and is aimed at his complete assimilation, depersonalization, transformation into “like everyone else.” “Being oneself” simultaneously with “being with others” is possible only if “I” is distinguished from others. Consequently, a person, wanting to remain himself, must confront “others”, defend your identity. Only in this case will he be free. Defending one’s identity in the surrounding world that absorbs a person is the main problem and concern of a person.

Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre

The main problem of existential philosophy Jean-Paul Sartre(1905 - 1980) is problem of choice. The central concept of Sartre's philosophy is “being-for-itself.” " Being-for-itself“is the highest reality for a person, the priority for him, first of all, is his own inner world. However, a person can fully realize himself only through “ being-for-another", i.e. various relationships with other people. A person sees and perceives himself through the attitude of the “other” towards him.

According to Sartre, the most important condition of human life, its “core” and basis of activity is Liberty. Man finds his freedom and manifests it in choice, but not simple, secondary (for example, what clothes to wear today), but vitally important, fateful, when decisions cannot be avoided (issues of life and death, extreme situations, problems vital to a person). This type of solution is what Sartre calls existential choice. Having made an existential choice, a person determines his destiny for many years to come, moves from one existence to another. A person’s entire life is a chain of different “small lives”, segments of different beings, connected by special “knots” - existential decisions. For example: choice of profession, choice of spouse, choice of place of work, decision to change profession, decision to take part in the struggle, go to war, etc.

According to Sartre, human freedom is absolute(that is, irrelevant). A person is free insofar as he is capable of wanting. For example, a prisoner sitting in prison is free as long as he wants something: to escape from prison, to continue serving his life, to commit suicide. Human doomed to freedom(in any circumstances, except in the case of complete submission to external reality, but this is also a choice).

Along with the problem of freedom comes responsibility problem. A person is responsible for everything he does, for himself (“Everything that happens to me is mine”). The only thing a person cannot be responsible for is his own birth. However, in all other respects he is completely free and must responsibly manage his freedom, especially when making an existential (fateful) choice.

Existentialism of Albert Camus

Albert Camus(1913 - 1960) made the main problem of his existential philosophy the problem of the meaning of life, believing that human life is essentially meaningless. Most people live with their petty worries and joys, from Monday to Sunday, year after year, and do not give their lives purposeful meaning. Those who fill life with meaning, spend energy, rush forward, sooner or later realize that ahead (where they are going with all their might) is death, Nothing. Everyone is mortal - both those who fill life with meaning and those who do not.

Human life is absurd(translated as having no basis). Camus leads two main evidences absurdity, groundlessness of life:

brush with death: when coming into contact with death, especially close and sudden, many things that previously seemed important to a person - hobbies, career, wealth - lose their relevance and seem meaningless, not worth existence itself;
contact with the surrounding world, nature: man is helpless in front of the nature that has existed for millions of years (“I smell the grass and see the stars, but no knowledge on Earth can give me confidence that this world is mine”).

As a result, the meaning of life, according to Camus, is not in the external world (successes, failures, relationships), but in the very existence of man.

It is worth noting that the philosophy of existentialism is still very popular in modern Western Europe and is relevant for it. Currently, there is a tendency to shift the center of gravity of philosophical research to the problems of man, his life in the world around him, the search for himself, the preservation of the uniqueness and meaning of life.

Philosophical views of the founder of existentialism Soren Kierkegaard

Forefather existentialism is considered an outstanding Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813 — 1856).

His philosophical views were formed under the influence of German romanticism and reaction to. One of the significant sources of the direction of Kierkegaard's philosophy was his awareness of the troubles of the world. The beginning of philosophy, according to the Danish thinker, stems not from surprise, as was taught, but from despair. The latter is generated by the fact that the world is filled with intolerable evil.

The study of philosophical problems in Kierkegaard's writings is based on a reinterpretation of Hegelian dialectics. He reinterprets many of Hegel’s concepts and rejects his proposed placement of man in a historically specific system of realization of the objective spirit, seeing in this the subordination of man to history and the deprivation of his independence and responsibility for his actions. Kierkegaard was against the claims of philosophy not only to project social reality, but also to explain it. Reality for Kierkegaard is what our “I” discovers in itself.

The soul, according to Kierkegaard, is primary, and the body is secondary. He believed that man is a synthesis of soul and body, temporary and eternal, freedom and necessity.

The founder of existentialism opposed rationalistic philosophy and its doctrine of truth. For him, “truth is subjectivity.” Kierkegaard’s criterion of truth is passionate subjective confidence in one’s rightness. The subject of his interest is not universal, but personal truth. Later, the famous Russian philosopher L. Shestov, close to this understanding of truth, defended a similar position.

In the course of life, a person, according to the ideas of the Copenhagen philosopher, can acquire three alternating appearances and go through three alternating stages, which are opposite to one another. These stages or steps are the following: aesthetic, ethical and religious.

At the aesthetic level, a person is turned to the outside world, immersed in sensual life, and the goal of his life is pleasure. The symbol of this stage is Don Juan. The pursuit of pleasure leads to satiety, and the lot of aesthetic consciousness becomes doubt and disappointment, melancholy and despair. A person realizes the imperfection of such a life and moves to the next stage of life - the ethical one. At this stage of life, the desire for pleasure is replaced by a sense of duty, and a person voluntarily submits to the moral law. A person chooses himself as a moral being, consciously striving to follow the path of virtue. The symbol of this stage is Socrates.

Introducing the difference between people at one and the other stage, Kierkegaard writes: “The aesthetic worldview, whatever its kind or form, is essentially despair, due to the fact that a person bases his life on what may and may not be, i.e. on the unimportant. A person with an ethical worldview, on the contrary, bases his life on what is essential, on what should be.” And further: “The ethical principle imparts inner peace, stability and confidence to a person’s life.” At the ethical stage, a person becomes a person transformed into a single absolute. Kierkegaard seeks to derive morality from the inner disposition of the human spirit. However, the ethics of the isolated world are limited, and the moral law established by the individual based on his own experience may be erroneous and unacceptable to others.

But the human choice that determines the transition from the aesthetic to the ethical stage of life is not the last. A person still has a choice of unaccountable faith ahead. It is she and submission to God that lead a person to the religious stage. By choosing faith as the basis for organizing life in the act of subsequent choice, a person overcomes the shortcomings of the ethical stage. The latter, according to Kierkegaard, are associated with the fact that the driving force of human behavior here is the desire for happiness, while the person acting in the world is subject to the law as something universal that limits his freedom.

At the religious level, the individual serves God. And religious faith elevates man above morality; developed by him for himself. Having reached this stage, people plunge into suffering. A religious person is a suffering person. The cessation of suffering means the cessation of religious life.

Kierkegaard believed that people obsessed with optimism are in an impenetrable delusion. Life is not a joy, but a vale of sorrow. According to the philosopher, a person is thrown, not of his own free will, as if into an abyss, into an alien and gloomy world. While in the world, a person experiences freedom, suffering, sin and fear of God. At the same time, a life filled with suffering acquires justification and meaning through the desire for salvation through atonement. Suffering is God's payment for salvation.

The transition from one stage of life to another occurs as a result of an act of will, a choice made by a person. The personality is led through the stages of life by care and despair. A crisis of despair leads to the emergence of fear, which stimulates choice and turns human life upside down. This is how human freedom is realized, aimed at achieving eternal bliss. According to Kierkegaard, a person’s assistant in overcoming despair on the roads of life is faith. Having abandoned the mind, which causes suffering, fear, despair, a person finds peace in faith, which alone guarantees true existence.

It should be noted that the task of existence, or existence, according to Kierkegaard, is not amenable to scientific research, therefore his philosophical ideas are captured in the form of a stream of free reflections on issues that interest him. The philosopher seeks to focus attention on the disturbing symptoms of existence that manifest themselves in the spiritual life of people. He was not inclined to overestimate the importance of his capabilities in warning people about the impending danger from nihilism that threatens human existence.

The sharp increase in crisis phenomena in the life of European states aggravated the unfavorable spiritual situation of the time, which made problems related to the prospects for human existence in the world attractive for many writers, and revived interest in the philosophical questions posed in Kierkegaard’s philosophy. The most prominent representatives of existentialism are considered to be M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, J.-P. Sartre and A. Camus.

Results of consideration of the problem of human existence in the philosophy of existentialism

An analysis of the philosophical views of the main representatives of existentialism shows that, studying them, we are dealing with, although different, but similar in the most essential and important teachings about being and human existence in it.

S. Kierkegaard, solving the problems of human existence in an inhospitable and gloomy world, proceeds from the fact that a person enters life unprepared and perceives it initially as a place of celebration, passing through the stages of his improvement, he is able to move from the aesthetic attitude of life, in which the purpose of existence is pleasure, to an ethical one, in which the purpose of life becomes the reasonable service of duty, and to approach a religious attitude towards life, which turns into service to God.

M. Heidegger solves the problem of human existence differently. For him, the main task on the path to resolving issues of human existence in the world is laying the foundation for an understanding of the world. In this capacity is ontology, based on listening to existence and developing an attitude towards it in accordance with the signals that it gives us in our desire to settle comfortably in the world. The thinker strives to find a consensus between the world and man on the basis of the human mind, enriched with knowledge about the harmony of the world.

For K. Jaspers solving the problems of human existence in the world is possible on the basis of adaptation to the world. He strives to instill in the reader of his works a careful and responsible attitude towards the values found by European civilization. The thinker warns against thoughtless shaking of the foundations of Western society and wants to direct people's efforts to the responsible creation of a world community in which peoples will merge into a single family.

J.-P. Sartre and A. Camus, highlighting the troubles of the world and showing its absurdity, they suggest not to lose heart, but to courageously fulfill your human duty, without fear of loss, without bowing under the blows of fate, to calmly do your everyday work, when the oppression of reality becomes unbearable, to dare to revolt, eliminating and weakening this oppression.

Existentialism about the essence and existence of man

philosophy existentialism irrational fate

Existentialism - Philosophy of existence. Irrationalistic Philosophy in modern Western Philosophy, which is closer to art than to science. The largest representatives: M. Heidegter, K. Jaspers, G. Marcel, J.P. Sartre, A. Camus, N. Abbagnano. (20th century) Existentialists raised the question of the meaning of life, the fate of man, choice and personal responsibility. Phil's starting point. E. is an isolated, lonely individual, all of whose interests are focused on himself, on his own unreliable and frail existence. Existential problems are problems that arise from the very fact of human existence. For Existentialism, only its own existence and its movement towards non-existence matter.

Existentialism starts from the most typical forms of radical disillusionment in history, which lead to the interpretation of modern society as a period of crisis of civilization, crisis of reason and crisis of humanity. Under these conditions, a person begins to reflect, think about what is happening, and tries to understand the current reality. However, existentialism protests against man's capitulation to this crisis. Existentialist philosophy is focused on the problem of spiritual endurance of a person thrown into an irrational stream of events that is out of his control. In order to survive in this world, an individual must first of all understand his own inner world, evaluate his capabilities and abilities. For existentialists, man is not an object, but a subject, a free, independent, responsible being. Existentialists consider “present consciousness,” represented by a person’s experiences, moods, emotions, and anxieties, as the true meaning of “all things,” and try to understand any phenomenon based on it. It was the question of man that became the main point of demarcation from the philosophy of the past. Kierkegaard wrote that philosophy solves the question of man too abstractly; it moves away from the living individual with his thoughts, emotions, and suffering. It is necessary to look closely, to “feel” into human life, human suffering.

One of the dominant principles of existentialism is the opposition of social and individual existence, the radical separation of these two spheres of human existence. Existentialists argue that a person is not determined by any scale: neither by nature, nor by society, nor by a person’s own essence, because such an essence, in their opinion, does not exist. Existence precedes personality (i.e. essence). This means that a person first exists, appears in the world, acts in it, and only then is defined as a person. Sartre: a human child is born, already exists, but he still has to acquire human essence, become human. Man makes himself, finds his essence, already existing. Thus, there is no given human nature, no external force, no one other than a given individual can carry out his transformation into a person for him. And it is he who bears responsibility if his transformation into a person in the true sense never took place. Those. the idea of a person’s individual responsibility for everything that happens to himself and to other people. Being on the road, constantly worrying about finding your essence is a human lot, full of drama.

M. Heidegger emphasized that a person can be considered as a historical being, staying “here and now”, in this stopped moment of time. Consequently, the task of philosophy was defined as the analysis of the existing existence of a person, caught “here and now” in the involuntary immediacy of experiences. Philosophy must go from the existence of man to the existence of the world. The peculiarity and advantage of human existence is that it is the only being that can “question” about itself and existence in general, about the integrity of the Universe; only he tends to express concern about the world. The essence of human existence is being-in-the-world, i.e. it is connected with the existence of the world. People compare themselves with the world, see their existence as a part and continuation of the existence of the world.

Existentialists consider human life in “borderline situations”, i.e. extreme life circumstances in which the human person constantly finds himself. And the main “borderline situation” is the situation in the face of death. According to existentialism, man is a temporary, finite being destined for death. A borderline situation confronts a person with the need to choose. A person must constantly choose one form or another of his behavior, focus on some values and ideals. By choosing certain values and ideals, doing certain actions, an individual forms himself as a person. But by choosing himself, he chooses other people, all people. Our every action creates an image of a person, as we think he should be. Man is understood in existentialism primarily as a being who sacrifices life to his destiny. A person simply cannot exist without devoting his life to something; such is his fundamental predisposition, but not to infinite duration, but to the transtemporal significance of the unconditional principle. History is, for example, for Heidegger, the history of what man encounters in his striving for the unconditional. The unconditional, says Heidegger, is very close. It is in us, it is revealed to a person not in historical target indications, not in the symbols of religious myth, but in his own unconscious, but undeniable actions.

Existentialists deny the world any ability to influence a person, motivate him, or determine his actions. The secret of human behavior lies in its absolute unconditionality, spontaneity. Only by realizing this does a person gain the fortitude necessary to accept any, even the most bleak, historical forecast, without falling into despair and cynicism. A person can be held accountable for everything he has done, without making any allowances for the circumstances of his life or his innate inclinations, instincts, and predispositions. People are free to choose the means to achieve their goals. A person is in a situation of personal choice: either passively submit to the existing reality, or take responsibility for the progress of society. Only through the efforts of individuals, their awareness of personal responsibility for the state of affairs, is the progress of society possible. A person must seek support for his actions in his own essence, in his existence. But if a person acts freely, if there is freedom of will, choice and means of their implementation, then he is responsible for the consequences of his actions.

According to Sartre, the world is a “universal not-that,” a complete absence of anything that corresponds to human expectations, images, and concepts. To be real means to be alien to consciousness, completely “random,” and, in the extreme, absurd. Those. life is always incomprehensible to a person, he experiences a feeling of absurdity - this is a discord between a person and his life. A feeling of absurdity awaits a person at every corner. Another person always remains unknown to us; there is always something in him that is irreducible to our knowledge and eludes him. Living in a state of absurdity is the fate of modern man, according to Camus. His consciousness is on the brink when a person no longer has faith, but there is still no new point of support. It is very difficult for a person in such a state to come to terms with the idea of the pointlessness of searching for external support, with the fact that he must rely only on himself. This torn consciousness is the consciousness of the absurd. The collision with the meaninglessness of the world leads a person to the only way out, to the hope that lies within himself, in the creative openness of his existence.

Religious existentialists - Jaspers, Berdyaev, Shestov; atheistic existentialists - Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir; fundamental ontology - Heideger. Existentialism is a pessimistic worldview that contrasts science and philosophy. Existence is a way of being, the core of the human “I” (the thinking mind), a unique personality, an open possibility. Essence is something given and determined in advance. In ordinary life, a person rarely realizes himself as an existence - borderline situations are necessary, instead of cognition - experiences that are still impossible to explain. The way out of the absurd is rebellion (Camus), freedom (Sartre). “To be free is doomed, to be free is to be yourself.” Shestov: order is a limitation of possibilities, it is necessary to strive for chaos.

Existentialism is a direction in modern Western philosophy that arose in the twentieth century as an attempt to create a new, compared to the existing, worldview that meets the views of modern man.

Existentialism as a philosophy established itself in Europe between the two world wars and remained somewhat of a fashion until the end of the 60s. This movement grew out of irrationalism, from the “philosophy of life” of the 19th century and received its name from the concept of “existence”, that is, existence, which was first introduced by the Danish philosopher S. Kierkegaard, and meant the way of being of the human person.

Philosophy as a specific field of knowledge has always posed and solved existential problems at every stage of its development. It arises and is formed as a person’s reflection about himself, about his existence, about the essence of his being, about the meaning of life, about the place and role of man in the world in which he lives, about the values that determine his position in life.

Existentialism as a philosophical movement of the twentieth century continues this side of philosophical knowledge, when man is the main subject of philosophy. This trend is the product of a certain period of modern history, a reflection of the situation in which Europe found itself as a result of the First World War and after the Second World War, in conditions of a spiritual crisis, military, economic, political, and moral catastrophes. Therefore, we can say that in general it is a philosophy that reflects historical catastrophes and the place of a particular person in them and in their consequences.

As a current of philosophical thought, existentialism arose in Germany after World War I, and its founders were considered Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger; The second wave of existentialism appeared in France after World War II, and its representatives were Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The representative of Russian existentialism of the twentieth century is N.A. Berdyaev, although in the Western world there is a widespread point of view that the founder of existentialism is F.M. Dostoevsky. There are also existentialism religious(Marseille, Jaspers, Berdyaev) and atheistic(Sartre, Camus). Heidegger, with his teaching called “fundamental ontology,” never considered himself to be an existentialist, although he predetermined its development with his ideas.

Existentialism as a direction of modern thought is not a system of specific philosophical views, but is a way of philosophical thinking, often expressed in literary form. Although the various teachings of existentialism are influenced by the national, historical, and personal characteristics of the authors, it is nevertheless possible to identify some common features that are characteristic of all its representatives:

the starting point of all knowledge is the analysis of the concrete existence of the human person, which represents the only true reality;

Thus, Jaspers, like all existentialists, believes that philosophy should be based not on abstract existence, but on the existence of a concrete human personality. And Heidegger, for example, writes that in traditional philosophy being has too often been understood as the most abstract of all categories: as a supreme being, as a first cause, or simply as a set of qualities inherent in being in general. He notes that people are the only creatures who raise the question of being in general, only for them being is a personal, existential problem. Therefore, starting his study of the problem of being, Heidegger believes that such a beginning is the actual everyday life of a person, and people themselves are unique manifestations of being.

Sartre proceeds from the fact that human reality is completely unique in the world, incomparable with any other types of existence. He focuses attention on the subjective world of man, on the problems of individual existence. Real knowledge of man consists in considering him, first of all, as an individual being. This makes it possible to understand and realize the uniqueness and uniqueness of the human personality.

the statement that existence (existence) precedes essence, that is, first a person is born, exists, does something, thinks, and then defines himself, his essence, striving for his individual goal;

According to Sartre, for example, nothing in the world can become the cause of human existence, human reality determines itself entirely, man is the cause of himself. Therefore, he proclaims the thesis: existence precedes essence. First a person is born, and then he creates himself with every action and deed. What a person becomes is determined by his individual choice, and not by a series of external or even internal reasons. A person simply exists, since there is no nature that could determine the way of his life, there are no norms and regulations, not even “divine ideas” that determine what a person should do in his life. A person must constantly create himself, therefore, constantly question his existence, form his own personality, individuality and give meaning to his life. A person himself determines his essence, he is free in how he wants to see the world in which he lives, what he himself wants to become , and it is freedom that allows a person to manage his life as best as possible.

one of the main ones is the concept of “existence” - the way of being of the human personality, the central core of the human Self, thanks to which it acts as a unique human personality and is considered as a process and an “open possibility”;

Existence has two varieties:

inauthentic existence, where things, nature, material production, and social connections act as beings. This environment opposes man, and he, forgetting about his essential certainty, lives as a “living thing.”

Thus, Jaspers, criticizing the modern position of man in society, his faceless existence among the mass of people, believes that the individual has become a simple wheel in the huge machine of the modern state, has lost his independence, and has found himself at the mercy of alien, inauthentic forms of existence. Heidegger, for example, notes that a person immersed in the world cannot fully be himself; in this case, human existence is determined by the existence of things, the natural or social environment, and this, in his opinion, is inauthentic existence. With inauthentic existence, such an “objective view” of a person arises when it turns out to be completely replaceable by another person. Heidegger calls this the phenomenon of averageness. This reality neutralizes personality; everyone wants to be like others, does not want to stand out from the crowd, and therefore it is impossible to make anyone responsible for their actions.

According to Sartre, a person can and should rely only on himself, without relying on any external circumstances, without submitting to any authorities, without being guided by traditions and attitudes. But this has a downside: a person develops a feeling anxiety, so how "abandoned" into the world, he has to live with and for others, shaping his life according to his choices. A person also appears fear for choosing one’s own values, for making one’s own decisions, so a person tries to explain his actions by objective circumstances, supposedly reasons beyond his control, to hide behind some social role. This is an inauthentic existence that a person accepts as a result of free choice. One of the forms of inauthentic existence is the social life of a person, when society opposes the free development of the individual.

From Camus's point of view, the world is unreasonable, since it is a non-human reality that has nothing to do with our desires and our mind; it is also irrational in its essence, but at the same time it is completely knowable. An individual is very often at the mercy of this world, finds himself immersed in the routine of everyday life, and gradually becomes overwhelmed by boredom, melancholy, and blues. At some point, a person begins to realize the absurdity of his existence and asks the question: how to live without a higher meaning? This awareness of the boredom of everyday existence, the meaninglessness of life, its irrationality is what Camus calls the sense of the absurd. At the same time, the philosopher emphasizes that absurdity equally depends on both man and the world - this is the only connection between them, it manifests itself only in their joint presence, existence, and collision.

Therefore, a person who knows about the finitude of his existence needs to rise through free choice from an inauthentic existence to a genuine one. But this transition cannot occur automatically or through the natural maturation of a person; its inner core opens into borderline situations, which can be suffering, fear, guilt, struggle, illness or even death, but not your own, but those of loved ones.

true existence, or existence,- this is a special type of existence that opens up a transcendental opportunity to go beyond the limits of everyday life, a breakthrough to the “own possibility of being,” a transition from impersonal existence to self-existence, from inauthentic to genuine existence.

Heidegger believes that awareness of the finitude of human existence is very important for his life, understanding its meaning, and awareness of the phenomenon of death allows a person to move from an inauthentic existence to a genuine one. According to Jaspers, the acquisition of existence, true existence, is associated with “existential communication.” This is communication between people, which means an internal, freely chosen connection between people, where they open up to each other as valuable and unique individuals, and do not play roles prescribed to them by society. A person comes to existential communication only as a result of preliminary concentration in himself, awareness of his real aspirations and desires.

Sartre believes that the true existence of a person is connected with the implementation of a fundamental project, which is the person himself. A project is a plan, aspiration, a goal towards which a person orients his activities and which is always incomplete while a person is alive. He is always open to new possibilities, he must constantly make himself, create, invent and be responsible for the fundamental project of his life. No one can be to blame if a project fails to be implemented; the reason must be sought only in oneself, and not attributed to circumstances.

According to Camus, the only way to truly exist can be rebellion - a protest against everything that oppresses, suppresses a person, humiliates his dignity, against the injustice of human lot, against the absurdity of life.

the most developed concept of the philosophy of existentialism is the concept of freedom;

Finding himself as existence, a person for the first time gains his freedom, which consists in the fact that he does not act as a thing formed under the influence of natural and social necessity, but “chooses” himself, shapes himself with every action and deed.

This problem is most clearly reflected in the works of Sartre. Firstly, he believes that a person is initially free, “doomed” to freedom, “condemned” to be free, since from birth he is not limited by any guidelines, frameworks, or regulations. Secondly, a person makes a free moral choice, “chooses himself” in the process of development. And this choice, which every person is forced to make constantly, is determined by personal responsibility. Therefore, for Sartre, freedom means the responsibility that lies with the person himself for his existence, for who he will become, what content he will fill his existence with.

But a person is responsible not only for his individuality, he is responsible for all people. Each of us, creating an image of a person as he would like to be, at the same time creates an image of a person as he should be, that is, an image that is significant for the entire era as a whole. This means that human responsibility extends to all humanity. He writes: “by choosing myself, I choose a person in general.” Sartre believes that human existence is freedom, it does not depend on other people, but as soon as action begins, everyone should desire the freedom of others, moreover, a person discovers that freedom depends entirely on the freedom of other people, and the freedom of others depends on his freedom .

Thus, in real life it turns out that only responsibility determines a person’s free, conscious choice, and for Sartre it is quite obvious that freedom is, first of all, responsibility. A person is an active, active individual who can never avoid making a choice and taking full responsibility for this choice.

the problem of the meaning of life permeates the work of all existentialist philosophers. Camus, for example, argues that the absolute, highest value is human life itself and his dignity. Life is the only value that cannot be questioned, and it must be constantly imbued with meaning. And the source of meaning is the life of every person; it is valuable, inimitable and unique. This is the affirmation of humanism, which existentialists consider the essence of their teaching.

Thus, the philosophy of existentialism expresses an active, active position, which lies in the fact that every free person is considered as a unique, unique person who is responsible for all his actions, and does not justify himself by circumstances. A person is what he himself decided to be in this world.

The ideas of existentialism had a huge impact on the entire culture of the twentieth century and continue to do so today, since it reflects the fundamental principles of human existence in conditions where many people tend to lead an “inauthentic existence.” These ideas can be found not only in the works of philosophers, but also in existentially thinking writers all over the world.