Existentialism and Phenomenology - Research Paper Example

?Top of Form Bottom of Form Existentialism and Phenomenology Existentialism and Phenomenology In his book Existentialism, Robert C Solomon talks about various philosophers point of view about human existence and also talks about various approaches given by philosophers regarding human existence. Robert C Solomon describes existentialism as a movement of susceptibility which is visible in the western philosophy. It emphasizes on the freedom of human life and the passion which an individual holds regarding life and about the existence of life. He thinks existentialism as an attitude that individuals have and during that they go through self consciousness.   It includes work of many philosophers who are co-related to the concept of the existentialism. These include Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. It also includes the works of the less popular philosophers namely Paul Tillich, Keiji Nishitani, Colin Wilson, de Unamuno, Marcel, de Beauvoir, Hazel Barnes, Martin Buber and Viktor Frankl. And lastly it has the works of those who have the concept of existentialism embedded in their literary genres who are Beckett, Borges, Pinter, Heller, Roth, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Hesse, Rilke, Kafka, Camus, Marquez and Miller. This essay will talk about the philosophical beliefs of Nietzsche and Karl Jaspers. Nietzsche was not in favor of immorality and he was not even against morality, he initially thought that life is devoid of any objective meaning, value, or purpose .His basic area of interest was the Judeo-Christian morality. He was in favor was aristocratic and independent master morality. Nietzsche acknowledged fate and fatalism, and was also in favor of self-realization. He was struggling with Schopenhauer’s glumness. He basically stressed a lot on stylizing our character in order to become what we are, it is important to mould our character in a way which depicts our originality. Nietzsche is popular for his inventions and his one invention which gained a lot of popularity although it just appeared in one book was the “Ubermensch” which is also a substitute and hateful last man. Ultimately, both the Ubermensch and the spiritualized will to Power that he embodies symbolize passion and the love of life. Throughout the book we can see some points which holds importance in the eyes of the philosophers, for Nietzsche of the belief is described as "The greatest recent event- that "God is dead" that the belief in the Christian god has become unbelievable -is already beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe." (Solomon 1974 p 67) It clearly depicts that the European culture is no longer placing God in the center of thing they are doing , he is saying that the value and the importance of God is decreasing in Europe and that we are cast adrift , even if we live in a world of denial. He later on in the book talks about his reaction to this as "Indeed we philosophers and "free spirits" feel, when we hear the news that "the old god is dead", as if a new dawn shone on us, our heart over flows with gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectations." He here is saying that with the death of god, Christianity form of anti strength and the way value is created has been eliminated and there are no particular ways of replacing it. Nietzsche in the book also talks about his point of view regarding the consciousness and its affect on men, he says that.”That consciousness does not really belong to mans individual existence but rather to his social or herd nature." (Solomon 1974 p 71) Here Nietzsche stresses on the point where life holds the basic value. He talks about the social values and other worldly values; he is denying the existence of other heaven or society without classes. He wrote about the way people should live a life and the decisions they should take regarding their lives and the way they spend their life. His way of leading life was not the traditional one which involved the existence of morals because for him he was not sure about the right and wrong. He claimed that required facts are not present which basically tells what is right and what is wrong. For him facts related to morals are self created, one should clearly have an idea about what is right and what is wrong. He also was not a supporter if Christian point of view when it comes to the ideas which were related to the beliefs about morality. He also had faith in the concept related to Christianity that one should feel pity for an individual when he sees him as helpless and weak. He said weak and cowards are dependent on others love and protection, people do not need that as it makes them weak. In his view, weak people tend to rely on the love of other people so as to secure protection for them. His point of view was self awareness about the human body along with the original world in which we all love. Daydreaming was not something he was in favor of and he supported realistic and practical approach of life. He also disregarded the idea of heaven as he thinks the inability to cope with life in the world basically generated the idea of heaven. Another important philosopher and psychiatrist covered in Existentialism is Karl Theodor Jaspers’s point of view and his beliefs about existence of human life. Jasper was a psychiatrist belonging to Germany and had a strong influence on modern theology psychiatry and philosophy. In the book there are various places where Jaspers point of view is that he does not want to become object for himself Jaspers work in influenced by philosophers like Weber, Kant, Kierkegaard and also Nietzsche. It is about true philosophy and the faith one holds about the original transcendence about the human existence. It also talks about the fact where the transcendent are short of the original work of philosophy. He also talks about the controversies and holds an opinion about the relationship which is between the religion and also the philosophy. He stresses on the fact that faith is nothing without existence of philosophy and that faith devalues its material in the places where it is positively or assertively proclaimed. Also this concept is contradictory and is not certain and the acceptance of attitude comes with the philosophical relativism and the exchange of discursive believes. It stresses on the point that the existence of faith strictly determines the transcendent knowledge. Karl Jasper in the book says "This being myself Existence. I am Existent if I do not become an object for myself. In Existence I no without being able to see it that what I call my "self" is independent." (Solomon 1974 p 62)  Here the philosophy is basically related to the relative secularism and that religion holds enough inquiry and along with that philosophy is important as well. Jasper is a true humanist holding doctrines which are about the uniqueness and dignity of human life and talks about the independent factors and variables if existence which stress being laid on independence and individual point of view. Karl Jasper while talking about the world and his philosophy and point of view about the world says, "The known world is the alien world. I am detached from it what my intellect can know and what I can experience empirically repulses me as such and I am irrelevant to it." (Solomon 1974 p 163). It clearly shows the point that for Jasper his philosophy and his point of view about the life and world. He would never become a substitute for religious believes. He closely observed that and he decided to live a life with is without self motives and self needs; He does not want to live just to fulfill his needs and requirements. For Jasper another point of view depicted includes "If I reduce all things to mundane existence, either in theory or in practice I feel unsatisfied. This feeling is a negative origin in separating Existent from mundane existence it makes me sense the truth of that separation." (Solomon 1974 p 166)  Over all if we talk about what life is and what is the meaning of life we can say that for Jasper there was a difference in the concept of life, it was divided amongst his opinion about life in the early period of his existential philosophy and then one which was in the later period of it. Overall Jasper had to understand and realize the meaning of life and what is life for him keeping in mind that he needs to overcome the boundaries which are made for him right away. Another important method or the concept used by Jasper was the understanding of importance and meaning of life through the interpersonal existential communication. His third and overall an important another feature was to realize the meaning or the importance of life by understanding the fact that life is governed by reasons of life by a life governed by reason. Talking about the point of view of Nietzsche it is important to keep in mind the fact that Nietzsche is far the more pessimistic philosopher, who thinks and takes life in a pessimistic way. He defined man as an intellectual hero and not a physical hero. He over redefined the idea of a man and the concept of heroism which exists in a man. He believes that physical pain and pressure is nothing but in reality the pain and pressures are the ones which come out as a result of frustration or the inability to be creative or to do something unique. When someone is not able to live up to the expectation one have from a different human being, this bothers the society, overall he tried to say that the human life is basically in the sense of lacking a certain strength to withstand society's pressures.    References Solomon, R. C. (1974). Existentialism. New York: Modern Library. Read More