Jean-Paul Sartre's Extentialism & Taoism and the Movie Fight Club

1646 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Humanistic and existential theories paper

Man had to believe in something. That something was an ordering principle. And this was essential; it appeared, because the scientific temperament appeared not to assure man but to trigger him to drift even more aimlessly. Mankind needed a new book of lessons and a teacher as well. Humanity required it. What had occurred to produce such a yearning? Where was Reason? Where was God? With all the gods dead and buried, with nobody to believe in, the existentialists turned to humanity itself to unearth new values. While they acknowledged the nihilistic tendencies of bourgeois civilization, they were not themselves nihilists. They preserved a faith in humanity; a faith that guided them to the belief that only man could comprehend and resolve the tribulations of mankind. Existentialism sketched on a number of earlier ideas and one of its lasting strengths was that it survived to take in nearly two centuries of European thought into one composition. It was a perennial philosophy. It was the fundamental Nietzcsheanism. As Sartre once wrote, "existentialism is an attempt to draw all the consequences from a consistent atheist position."(Sartre, 1962) According to Sartre, it had been Dostoevsky who had created that if God did not exist, and then anything would be allowed. This, in a nutshell, is the starting point, not the consequence or objective, of existentialism. If one really comprehends the sense of modern godless man's plight, one is at first condensed to nausea and despair. All of the human kind must go through that awful sense of depression that escort’s ones’ insight into the human condition and ourselves. Man is alone because he cannot be in contact with others. He finds himself in a world in which he is completely alien to othe...

... middle of paper ...

...re consistent. And if person can be neither correct nor incorrect, how will he be able to be admired or held responsible, and how can he be accountable? References Bell, Ross Grayson: Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club novel. Edward Norton Yale Interview on Fight Club. May 14, 2003 www.chuckpalahniuk.net official website Jean-Paul Sartre. Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le néant, 1943) Translated and quoted by Maurice Natanson A Critique of Jean-Paul Sartre's Ontology (1951) Sartre Jean-Paul Existentialism is a Humanism (L’Existentialisme est un humanisme, Lecture given in 1946 Source: Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre, ed. Walter Kaufman, Meridian Publishing Company, 1989 http://members.aol.com/scissorside/jean.htm Boobbyer, Philip: Identity: Post Modernism Global Express UK. 1996-2003 http://globalexpress.initiativesofchange.org/issue6/inout.html

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Cordwainer Smith's Alpha Ralpha Street

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    The term existentialist, according to Sartre, means existence precedes essence. This means that an individual first exists, and then they exercise free will over themselves to do things that define themselves, thus their essence. For this ideology to work for Sartre, an atheistic stance needs to be taken. This is so because of how he defines God. God is compared to an artisan producing a knife, through a definition and a formula. Thus, “when God creates he knows precisely what he is creating.” Under this identification of God, that Sartre dictates is a common implication in philosophical writings, God creates with intent and seemingly, purpose. Hence, God

    Read More

  • Examples Of Philosophies In Grendel

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    Existentialism prescribes individuals to adopt their own values and life direction; although Gardner feels this will lead to nihilism. In a PBS television documentary in 1978, Gardner stated Sartre's philosophy as “paranoid and loveless and faithless and egoistic” (The Originals: The Writer in America). Gardner’s remark exemplifies a belief in organized society that benefits its citizens--he most likely wouldn’t be opposed to socialism. This is nothing Gardner fears more than passionless and sacrilegious human beings, per what Grendel

    Read More

  • Existentialism In 13 Going On Thirty By Jean-Paul Sartre

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his lecture, Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre discusses common misconceptions people, specifically Communists and Christians, have about existentialism and extentanitalists (18). He wants to explain why these misconceptions are wrong and defend existentialism for what he believes it is. Sartre argues people are free to create themselves through their decisions and actions. This idea is illustrated in the movie 13 Going on Thirty, where one characters’ decision at her thirteenth birthday party and her actions afterwards make her become awful person by the time she turns thirty. She was free to make these decisions but she was also alone. Often the idea of having complete free will at first sounds refreshing, but when people

    Read More

  • Exploring Existential Ethics: Beauvoir's Response to Sartre

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the end of Being and Nothingness,Jean-Paul Sartre concedes that he has not overcome one of the key objections to existentialism viz., an outline of ethics, and states that he will do so later. Although Sartre attempted the project of an existential ethics, it was never quite completed. Enter Simone De Beauvoir. In this book, De Beauvoir picks up where Sartre has left us, refusing to answer the question of ethics. For De Beauvoir, human nature involves and ontological ambiguity whose finitude is bound in a duality. This duality of body and consciousness is the ambiguity which remakes nature the way we want it to be as a facticity of transcendence. It is within this understanding that the project of ethics must begin in ambiguity. However,

    Read More

  • Sartre And Beauvoir Existentialism Analysis

    1885 Words  | 4 Pages

    Addressing the critics of Existentialism was a necessity for both Sartre and de Beauvoir, as it was initially dismissed by many critics, such as the Communists and the Christians, as nihilistic or overly pessimistic. While understandable at a superficial level, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged these critics to rethink their idea of existentialism and foster a deeper meaning of the philosophy of existentialism.

    Read More

  • Jean Paul Sartre : French Activist

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...existed somewhere in the universe, which is how he changed the world. Sartre took the broken and put it together into the philosophy of Existentialism.

    Read More

  • Jean-Paul Sartre’s Philosophy: Radical Freedom and Responsibility

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Existentialism: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines existentialism 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 (Merriam, 2011). In other words, an existentialist believes that our natures are the natures we make for ourselves, the meaning of our existence is that we just exist and there may or may not be a meaning for the existence, and we have to individually decide what is right or wrong and good or bad for ourselves. No one can answer any of those things for us. A good example of existentialism is Woody Allen’s movie, Deconstructing Harry. A man is haunted by his past and his past has followed him into the present. He is a wreck not because of the things that happened to him, but because of the choices he made. He is consumed by regret and insecurity and he tries to find blame in his situation with someone other than himself, however he cannot (Barnes, 2011). Throughout the rest of this paper I will be discussing two of the most prominent existentialists, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.

    Read More

  • Sartre: Authentic Existence in Living in Bad Faith

    311 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jean Paul Sartre's philosophy is one of the most popular systems of thought in the school called existentialism. Sartre valued human freedom and choice, and held it in the highest regard. To be able to live an authentic existence, one must take responsibility for all the actions that he freely chooses. This total freedom that man faces often throws him into a state of existential anguish, wherein he is burdened by the hardship of having to choose all the time. Thus, there ensues the temptation for man to live a life of inauthenticity, by leaning on preset rules or guidelines, and objective norms. This would consist the idea of bad faith.

    Read More

  • John Paul Sartre

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Paul Sartre is known as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He wrote many philosophical works novels and plays. Much of his work is tied into politics. The essay Existentialism is a Humanism is just one of his many works. Existentialism is a Humanism is a political essay that was written in 1945. Its purpose was to address a small public during World War II in Nazi occupied France. This essay stressed the public not to conform. Sartre introduced a great number of philosophical concepts in Existentialism. Two of these concepts are anguish and forlornness. They are simply defined, as anguish is feeling responsible for yourself as well as others and knowing that your actions affect others and forlornness is realizing that you are alone in your decisions. These two concepts are interwoven throughout the essay and throughout many of Sartre's other works. Sartre's view of anguish and forlornness in Existentialism is a Humanism addresses his view of life and man.

    Read More

  • Existentialism By Jean-Paul Sartre: The Common Man's Meaning

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Existentialism is a term that was coined specifically by Jean-Paul Sartre in regards to his own life. Sartre had adopted the Atheistic approach to life and its meaning, and while he was not the first or only one to do so, was the first and only one to come up with a way to describe it. Under Existentialism, man lives without higher power or guidance and must rely solely on himself and what he is aiming to do in order to lead a fulfilling life. This can be anything. Critics of Sartre propose that, because such a vast array of options exists within the meaningfulness of life, this philosophy is obsolete and trivial in nature. This is not true, as it is seen in everyday examples – celebrities, namely – that a thirst

    Read More

  • Sartre’s Existentialism in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

    1566 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is Humanism.” Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Ed. Walter Kaufman. Meridian Publishing

    Read More

  • Freedom to Choose in Waiting for Godot, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Iraq

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is Humanism.” Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Ed. Walter Kaufman. Meridian Publishing

    Read More

  • Nothingness in A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nothingness is a feeling that man, no matter what his beliefs, is faced with from time to time. However a man of religious faith can fall back on the belief that his life is in the hands of his creator. It is comforting to know that there is a higher power that has a master plan to life. An existentialist must rely upon himself for a reason for living. However, as Hemingway’s story suggests, it is hard to find a personal truth to believe in strongly. Existentialists are more prone to face and succumb to the nothingness that comes with the emptiness of a life without religious faith.

    Read More

  • Existentialism

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are two kinds of existentialist; first those who are Christian, and on the other hand the atheistic existentialists. Many unfamiliar with the subject people associate existentialism with atheism, but they are wrong. The truth is that the majority of existentialists are not atheists. Sartre, which we place among atheists, stress that central concern of philosophy is human existence. He says that human being is a special kind of consciousness (being-for- itself). Everything else is matter (being-in-itself). He believes that human being has no God-given essence and is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. According to him, anguish is the result of the absolute freedom and responsibility. He also says that human existence is absurd and unjustified. Therefore, the goal of human being is to justify his/her existence.(2)      Sartre believes that there are those in our history who have established a religion to reassure nothing more than what he calls a "fundamental project." That means that when we become anguished by the affairs of life we pursue a fundamental project in attempt to flee this anguish. He says that we try to make ourselves Gods in hopes that others would see us divine, and hold us in higher regard. To pursue a fundame...

    Read More

More about Jean-Paul Sartre's Extentialism & Taoism and the Movie Fight Club

Open Document