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Existentialism criticism
Concept of existentialism
Existentialist essays
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Existentialism is a philosophical perspective that explains the idea behind human existence. This approach is based on the ideology that humans have the authorship over their destiny which is a reflection of one’s own experiences. Many writers and scholars have proposed a theory that each person has a life story filled with different experiences and personal growth. The connection between each individual is the fact that the knowledge of existence is always a part of the subconsciousness that can never be left alone despite the situation(s) a person may be facing in his or her own life. Though analytical examination of certain aspects of existence (such as life experiences, self examination, and acceptance of character), human existence can …show more content…
As a member of the concentration camps, Primo suffered from acting like desperate animals while not allowing himself to have the freedom to do what he desires as a person. Throughout the journey at camp, death has been always at the corner and those unlucky ones always ended up at the worst places anyone can imagine. During his days at the camp and being treated like animals, Primo couldn’t practice what it means to live life and understand what true existence really is like. Although his body was always working and his inner soul disappeared, the sub-consciousness side of his mind acts like a motivator to constantly remind him that he is a human being and nothing else. As a survivor, he got the chance to live life again and to re-discovered who he actually was as a person. The hardest challenge coming from such a devastating black and white experience was examining who one was before the event ever happened. The story itself captured the theme that no matter what kind of situations a person is facing, their sub-consciousness always reminds them to keep going and be a human despite how busy an individual body work. It is all about the motivation to gain experiences and learn how to examine oneself to know what true existence really
In Primo Levi’s Survival In Auschwitz, an autobiographical account of the author’s Holocaust experience, the concept of home takes on various forms and meanings. Levi writes about his experience as an Italian Jew during the Holocaust. We learn about his journey to Auschwitz, his captivity and his ultimate return home. This paper explores the idea of home throughout the work. As a concept, it symbolizes the past, the future and a part of Levi’s identity.
We first see a boy with a feeling of hope and ignorance as his hometown is occupied and he’s moved into the ghetto. Then, as he’s transferred to a concentration camp, he questions his faith and slowly loses a sense of who he once was. But all of this puts him in an important position, he knows that he must share with the world what he has experienced in order to prevent a repeat of what happened in the camps. Here he is no longer ignorant of the world around him, here he experienced one of the darkest times in man's history.
Primo Levi, in his novel Survival in Auschwitz (2008), illustrates the atrocities inflicted upon the prisoners of the concentration camp by the Schutzstaffel, through dehumanization. Levi describes “the denial of humanness” constantly forced upon the prisoners through similes, metaphors, and imagery of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization (“Dehumanization”). He makes his readers aware of the cruel reality in the concentration camp in order to help them examine the psychological effects dehumanization has not only on those dehumanized, but also on those who dehumanize. He establishes an earnest and reflective tone with his audience yearning to grasp the reality of genocide.
Existentialism discusses self-responsibility and the mind. Naturalism believes in the unpredictable power of nature, and idealism works both with perfecting the mind/soul and the body in a dualistic way. Over the course of this class, I have related mostly with pragmatism. Pragmatism is defined as learning the truth through different experiences.INSERT QUOTE FROM PRAGMATIST. Life is a journey of constant adjustment; it is something that changes more often than staying the same. As a child, your parents and other adults in your life are supposed to teach you what to do in particular situations and how to handle hardships or obstacles. However, every individual approaches each circumstance differently, even if they are taught to do it one way. Another relatable concept of pragmatism is how we must struggle to become better. High school was a place where I was very successful. I was top fifteen in my class, received all ‘A’s’, and received glowing recommendations from my teachers. In contrast, the college experience has not been a walk in the park. I failed two classes, struggled to maintain ‘B’ averages, and as a result, scrambled to receive teacher recommendations. To achieve my goal of attending a physical therapy graduate program, I needed better grades and teacher recommendations. Without those two important admission requirements, I needed to explore other post-undergraduate
Existentialism is a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining his or her own development through acts of the will. To Sartre, saying that som...
The Existential Approach stands for respect for the person, for exploring new aspects of human behavior, and for divergent methods of understanding people (Corey, 2013). Existentialists do not focus on instinctive drives or internalized others but on the person's unavoidable confrontation with the givens of the human condition. Yalom (1980) described those givens as death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. (Bauman, & Waldo, 1998).
Existentialism is a very broad topic with no exact definition, and it has been interpreted in many different ways by various philosophers. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, existentialism is defined as “a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad”. Existentialism has influenced many authors works and lives, such as the novelist Hermann Hesse. A particular work by Hesse that was heavily influenced by his existentialist beliefs was his book, Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf
Primo Levi, a survivor, gives account on his incarceration in the Monowitz- Buna concentration camp. Setting out with his arrest by the fascist militia in December of 1943, the text conforms to Primo Levi’s experience in the succeeding twelve months as an inmate in the National Socialists’ Monowitz- Buna concentration camp, seven kilometers east of Auschwitz. Upon arriving in the camp, the first-person narrator, Primo Levi, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, embarks a world that renders him astonished; simply by making literary notes to Dante’s Inferno can he manage to draw its contours. After the degrading intake procedures, he actualizes that the objective of the place to which they have been brought is the psychological and physical devastation of the inmates. The inmat...
Existentialism is the epitome of the unknown. There is no straightforward explanation of what exactly it is, there is only certain characteristics and behaviors that describe existentialist views. Throughout today’s world, there are examples of it everywhere, it’s found in movies, books, songs, and just people in general. Existentialists are known to think and do for themselves only. They believe that to understand what it means to be human requires understanding of themselves first. Some very well known pieces of entertainment existentialism is found in are: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. The Stranger is a book written about a young man whose mother dies, which soon leads him to becoming acquainted with the feeling of not caring about what his actions do to others or himself. The main character Meursault starts helping his friend Raymond, carry out ways to torment his mistress. Out of nowhere while at the beach, Meursault shoots Raymond’s mistress’s brother. He is thrown into jail and tried, but he seems to not be affected as much as he should about his actions. He first finds it hard to live without cigarettes, women, and nature, but he soon finds out he doesn’t need any of those. After being sentenced to death, he is suggested to turn away from his atheism but later realizes that human existence has no greater meaning. This realization and acceptance is what truly makes him happy (Camus). Next, The Breakfast Club is a very relatable movie about high school students suffering the consequences of their actions in detention. The kids are all of ...
Existentialism is a phiosophy which revolves around the central belief that we create ourselves. External factors are not important. It is the way that we let external factors affect us that determines who we are. As individuals we all have the freedom to choose our own path and that is what life is all about. Along with the freedom of choice comes the responsibilty of one's actions which can make some people anxious but give others meaning to their lives. To overcome this anxiousness and accept responsibilty is to meet the challenges of life and to truly live it. I can adopt the existentialist approach which states that to live life is to experience happiness and absurdness and to appreciate both as a part of life.
According to Laing’s existential principles, a person, no matter who it is, must be in touch with their true selves in
Since human kind gained the ability of reflection we have questioned our purpose of existence. What makes a human, human? Four philosophers, representing four areas of Philosophy, attempt to answer this question. First is the Dutchman Soren Kierkegaard and his book Sickness unto Death, who is considered the “Father of Existentialism”. Prevalent through all of Kierkegaard’s work was his constant goal to move people closer to God and thus closer to discovering their authentic self. Therefore, our relationship with God is what makes us human. Next is Jeremy Rifkin and his book The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in A World in Crisis who believes that humanity is defined by our ability to empathize with other humans whether
Primo Levi was an Italian Jewish Anti-fascist who was arrested in 1943, during the Second World War. The memoir, “If this is a Man”, written immediately after Levi’s release from the Auschwitz concentration camp, not only provides the readers with Levi’s personal testimony of his experience in Auschwitz, but also invites the readers to consider the implications of life in the concentration camp for our understanding of human identity. In Levi’s own words, the memoir was written to provide “documentation for a quiet study of certain aspects of the human mind”. The lack of emotive words and the use of distant tone in Levi’s first person narration enable the readers to visualize the cold, harsh reality in Auschwitz without taking away the historical credibility. Levi’s use of poetic and literary devices such as listing, repetition, and symbolism in the removal of one’s personal identification; the use of rhetorical questions and the inclusion of foreign languages in the denial of basic human rights; the use of bestial metaphors and choice of vocabulary which directly compares the prisoner of Auschwitz to animals; and the use of extended metaphor and symbolism in the character Null Achtzehn all reveal the concept of dehumanization that was acted upon Jews and other minorities.
In existentialism one’s mind and body are ultimately free, they have nothing controlling their actions; that freedom is in the way one communicates, one’s actions, one’s choices, one’s
The philosophical problem of personal identity pertains to questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being persons. There is no single question that will sum up the problem, but rather a multitude of questions that are loosely connected to each other. Within this essay, the four most prominent problems will be explained and addressed. One of the most familiar is the question of “Who am I?” This regards to what makes one a unique individual. Another familiar question is, “What is it to be a person?” This concerns the necessary criteria for something to count as a person as opposed to a non-person. There is also the problem of persistence, relating to personal identity over time. An example of this would be to glance upon an old photograph of a childhood class, point and say, “That's me.” The questions arises of, “What makes you that one instead of one of the others?” The last problem to be explained is the one of evidence. How do we find out who is who? There are two separate sources of evidence used often in philosophy: first-person memory, pertaining to one remembering an action or event and therefore being the person who did such, and physical continuity, where if the one who performed the action or witnessed the event looks like you, then it is you.