Notes on Existentialism
1. Kierkegaard was a Christian fundamentalist, Sartre was an atheist and Marxist, and Heidegger was a fascist. What they have in common is that they all went to the far end of either religious or political spectrum, they were all extremists. Perhaps this is not a coincidence. After all, existentialism uses extreme conditions of individuals such as death, loneliness as the point of departure.
2. Individualism, self examination, peeling off all self-deceptions, breaking with crowd, authenticity,
individual responsibility, freedom, choice, passion, faith, commitment, facing absurdity, nothingness and ultimately death.
3. Is it the closest point to the eastern philosophy such as Buddhism, Taoism that the western philosophy has ever gotten ?
4. Existentialism originated in Europe but flourished in North America especially in USA as mainstream common believes and values.
5. It is now common knowledge that biology involves dynamic interactions of genetics and the environment. From this perspective, human psychology can not be explained without looking at the social context, existentialism is deeply flawed in this sense. May be Sartre realized this as he was a staunch advocate for peace and social justice.
2. Individualism, self examination, peeling off all self-deceptions, breaking with crowd, authenticity,
individual responsibility, freedom, choice, passion, faith, commitment, facing absurdity, nothingness and ultimately death.
3. Is it the closest point to the eastern philosophy such as Buddhism, Taoism that the western philosophy has ever gotten ?
4. Existentialism originated in Europe but flourished in North America especially in USA as mainstream common believes and values.
5. It is now common knowledge that biology involves dynamic interactions of genetics and the environment. From this perspective, human psychology can not be explained without looking at the social context, existentialism is deeply flawed in this sense. May be Sartre realized this as he was a staunch advocate for peace and social justice.
