Existentialism: a lonely man in a world of absurdity. Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre

If we need to reflect the mood of the 20th century, then best mirror there will be existentialism. This direction in philosophy has left a clear mark in history and literature, and, having carefully studied 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, so do not rush to be upset by the realization of the meaninglessness of being (which is what the existentialists tell us about). Maybe what you live for is already around you, it remains only to give life a greater meaning.

In order to delve into the essence of the philosophy of existence, one can appreciate the contrast of epochs, for example, of the 16th and 20th centuries. Remembering such trends 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 very Renaissance greatness of a person was 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, impotence of man in front of the natural elements. All this explains our disappointment in the monumentality of a single individual and pushes us to search for our place in the world.

Existentialists for the first time declared the absence of the meaning of life. Formerly a man found the truth in faith, in love, in wealth, in enlightenment and self-development, but cruel truth comes out: no one can escape the death sentence. Thus, people began to lose themselves as a person and slowly but surely come to the conclusion that there is no point. Existentialism is a philosophy that asserts that in the world it becomes difficult not to lose yourself. The essence of the philosophy of life lies in the search for one's destiny, one's "I". Everyone must find himself.

Philosophy of existentialism

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

• border state is a situation in which one almost looks death in the face. Why is it relevant to philosophy? After all, it is at such moments that the personality breaks out, and after acute, hard to bear moments, it turns out to be quite difficult to hide behind everyday life. Now, while reading the article, we can think about how we would act when experiencing difficulties, but 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 yourself in such borderline situations, because war or a hungry swoon that can break a person’s existence from existence are excellent examples of such situations. However, life gives people unpleasant surprises under the guise of the same accidents or terrorist attacks, and then most people show themselves - someone is afraid for their lives and runs away, and someone may turn out to be a hero. No one knows for sure, but it is thanks to such an impartial state that a person can find his very essence.
• Essence It is, in other words, the essence of man. Any creation has a meaning, even though the same existentialists argue that the truth is not given to man from the very beginning. This is true, not all of us are born with the same purpose. For one representative, perhaps, the mission is to prove himself at a certain moment, when for another the true achievement will be completely opposite. A person can search for himself and his role in the world all his life, and manifest his essence at an absolutely unexpected time. The philosophy of existence emphasizes the need for a person to quickly know his essence, because objects already have their own essence. The pen was created to write with it, the phone was created to make calls, and the man - why? There is no answer, a person is looking for it himself and will find it when his essence is manifested. We will talk about this in a little more detail, first having dealt with the rest of the important philosophical definitions.
• existence is the immediate existence of man. Existence is primary for a person, that is, he already exists, and why he is looking for an answer for himself. The whole philosophy is built on the rationale for the existence of people, because, since a person is in this world, it means that it is necessary for something. Actually, for the essence that a person manifests during life, his existence, his existence.
• Absurd - is no less important term in the philosophy of existentialism. This word no longer sounds in the negative, on the contrary, it acquires a bright color. Absurdity in art leads to an abundance of meanings, while 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 through absurdity that discord is brought about. human existence with the surrounding reality.
• As a separate term, it is quite possible to mention the existential « nausea». Sartre's novel of the same name intrigues strange name. After reading it, we already understand that the most incomprehensible feeling experienced by the main character is the intensification of sensations with the awareness of being. we wrote in a separate article.

So, the central idea of ​​the philosophy of existentialism becomes clear on the example of an ordinary object, say, a cup. It was created specifically to drink from it, that is, its existence is justified and filled with meaning. This can be said about any subject, so main character Sartre's novel "Nausea" Antoine reacts nervously to material things, in this we are given a hint that each product around us already has its own essence. Pick up any craft and make sure of 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 is looking for his essence throughout his life. The whole point of existentialism lies in the search for truth. Characteristic Philosophy consists in the conviction that there is no original meaning laid down by someone in being, but at the same time it can be found by oneself in every little thing. This is not necessarily faith, love, and what else did previous eras proclaim? The purpose of a person can appear in the choice of the type of activity, creativity, or in an insignificant, at first glance, moment. Each of us is able to find his own meaning of existence, what difference does it make, what if the end is the same in the end?

The idea of ​​existentialism is that a person is unique, and his position in the world is important and valuable in itself, even when confronted with the evidence of a fatal outcome. The teachings of the philosophy of existence put forward the life of a person with his problems and worries in the first position.

Directions

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

Categories of direction in philosophy can be recognized in the choice further action human after confronting the absurdity of existence. Philosophers of the 20th century have affirmed that there is no point, and this 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 being, but philosophy is not so gloomy as not to provide another solution.

Departure from the truth is one of the possible 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 worthy book? Maybe. Everything can become a meaning, it's all individual, you just need to be imbued with every moment of a priceless life.

The characteristic of existentialism allows for another way: acceptance. Yes, it is difficult to live and at the same time understand that everyone is going to one, but, despite this, you can put up with it and, moreover, become happy.

Problems

1. The problem of the meaning of life. Existentialism swept over Western Europe and pushed people to think about the new meaning of life. The problems of philosophy are quite acute, because it is quite difficult to come to terms with the situation in society, when only hopelessness surrounds. best example clarification of the philosophy of existence - the "myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus, where in the center of the work is a hero who is doomed to eternal dragging stones onto a rock again and again. The author raises the theme of the absurdity of life, and so we wonder about its meaninglessness in general. Returning to the way out of the predicament, the reader realizes that one can put up with and enjoy the existence in spite of the monotonous reality. After the next ascent, Sisyphus again raises the stone uphill, but at the same time he can look around and see something new for himself - even this cyclicality makes sense, is there really no happiness for us? The meaning of life is in the process itself, in the very existence of a person. The hero Camus, for example, is happy that he retained his pride, for which the gods punished him. Although he suffers punishment for insolence towards them, he realizes that he has remained true to his convictions.
2. Problem of choice. The most important feature existentialism is that a person is responsible for his choice. In a borderline situation, he can show his essence. As a rule, such situations are the moment before possible death, for example, a battle in a war. IN ordinary life a person can only guess how he would act in case of any catastrophe, but all these mirages are shattered by harsh reality. Once in trouble, the subject will not find time to think, but will immediately begin to act. How - already depends on the responsibility of the person for everything that happens. The main problem of existentialism is the exit of the individual from the borderline situation, so 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, discovering new facets of reality.
3. Problems of the philosophy of existentialism are clearly reflected in the literature, but for understanding it is not necessary to take up a philosophical essay. Such piece of art, like "" Sartre, demonstrates the stupor of the individual in front of the feeling of being useless in the world. Now, of course, psychology high level, and the first advice that persistently climbs into the head is to contact a specialist to suggest a solution to the yearning character, but the reader will also encounter a contradictory craving for loneliness, which fences off 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.
4. Existentialism also promotes 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. Through the realization of one's potentialities, 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 Soren Kierkegaard. The status of the father of the philosophy of existence is also attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, however, neither the Danish philosopher nor the author of the theory of the superman used the term "existentialism" itself, in contrast to the representative of the religious trend Karl Jaspers. It was he who first introduces a special scientific term for philosophy in their 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 Meursault's story violently pushes the priest out the door, calling to trust the divine providence. By the way, the position of the character coincides with the worldview of its creator, the French writer. Camus believes that the meaning of being is 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' 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 rightly attributed to the representatives of the atheistic philosophy of existence. Among the religious writers-existentialists, one can distinguish domestic representatives, for example, Berdyaev and Dostoevsky.

Existentialism in literature

The classics of existential literature are the works French writers, most clearly reflecting 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 "".

From Western Europe existentialism also crossed into Russian culture. The so-called "philosopher of freedom" Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev explored the direction in philosophy and analyzed the state of the individual during existential insight. Like a person, so 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 the hope of man for salvation in faith in God. Help thanks to religion is also glorified in the works of Dostoevsky, because if we remember the same “one field of berries” - 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 controversial Meursault Camus and the yearning Antoine Sartre, because even after delving into the Russian classics, we will get to the point, turning our attention to the same Eugene Onegin. Hero novel of the same name it 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 already relatively long appearance, existentialism is relevant at the present time. People have thought and will continue to think about the meaning of being, which is why they are looking for options, sometimes relying on new versions. If we recall the reasons for the emergence of existentialism, we can understand why the development of a direction in philosophy is quite understandable. Man has become powerless before technological progress. Living in an “advanced”, constantly changing world, willy-nilly you will wonder what your destiny is, because new gadgets step by step overtake you in development. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that each of us will be out of conflict 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 his own way of becoming a person. That is why existentialism can be called 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
• W. Eco

The immediate founders of existentialism are German philosophers Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), K. Jaspers (1883-1969); French philosophers and writers Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973), Albert Camus (1913-1960).

Martin Heidegger, attached to the analysis of the meaning of the category of being, defines being as the existence of things in time. Thus, he laid the foundation for existential philosophy.

The thinker denotes the existence of a person by the term “dasein”, which means the existence of consciousness. Only man knows about his mortality, and only he knows the temporality of his existence. Because of this, he is able to realize his being.

A person, getting into the world and being present in it, experiences a state of care. It appears as a unity of three moments: “being-in-the-world”, “running ahead” and “being-with-in-the-world-existing”. To be an existential being, Heidegger believed, means to be open to the knowledge of beings.

The structure of care, as it were, unites the past, the future and the present. Moreover, Heidegger's past appears as abandonment, the present as doomed to be enslaved by things, and the future as a “project” that affects us. Depending on the priority of one of these elements, being can be authentic or inauthentic.

“Inauthentic being is the world of 'manns'. This is the world of ordinary human existence. This is the world of rumors and ambiguity, the world of vanity, the world of the prosaic struggle for existence, mouse fuss and "cockroach" races. This is a world where a person is engaged in the implementation of a career, love, friendship, all kinds of hobbies. And all this is intended to disguise the true being of a person, which is revealed to him only in extreme situations, called "jaspers". Only in the face of irreversible death does a person discover his own true being, which is existence. The content of existence is the absolute freedom of man. But from the point of view of common sense, absolute freedom looks like complete absurdity. Freedom from natural laws turns out to be nothing but the freedom of suicide. This is how Heidegger understands this question. According to Heidegger, death is the hieroglyph of freedom. Suicide is the highest manifestation of human freedom, hence the famous Heideggerian “freedom for death” (2).

In general, the ideas of the thinker are an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of the old philosophy and find ways to solve the problems of human survival.

In addition to Heidegger, he had a decisive influence on existentialism K. Jaspers. He sought to combine the ideas of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche with the tradition of academic philosophy, but without accepting either Kierkegaard's "fanaticism", Nietzsche's "frenzy", or the "indifferent thinking" of university professors.

The specificity of Jaspers' existentialism comes through in his doctrine of "boundary situations", which subsequently served as the basis for the defense of "cultural-psychological value". According to Jaspers, the true meaning of being is revealed in a person only in moments of the deepest life upheavals (illness, death, inexcusable guilt, etc.). It is during these periods that the "collapse of the cipher" occurs: a person is freed from the burden of his everyday worries (from "existing being-in-the-world") and from his ideal interests and scientific ideas about reality (from "transcendental being-in-itself"). Before him opens the world of his deeply intimate existence ("illumination of existence") and his true experiences of God (transcendent).

The main theme of Jaspers's teachings is man and history as the original dimension of human existence. Unlike the natural sciences, history studies a person, and therefore the methods of study are also different. In order to understand history, it is necessary to be aware of what man is; in turn, human existence is revealed through time, through historicity. It is substantiated by the idea of ​​"axial time" - the heyday of ancient and oriental cultures. According to Jaspers, the idea of ​​unity operates in history, but the complete unification of mankind will never be completed.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a writer. His literary and philosophical works, starting with the novel "Nausea" (1938), are permeated with the ideas of existentialism. The humanity of existentialism according to Sartre, first of all, lies in the fact that this doctrine does not consider a person as an object, therefore, does not put him on a par with inanimate objects. According to Sartre, a person cannot be defined for the simple reason that initially he is nothing. He becomes a man, passing the distance of life and stuffing bumps on a thorny path. At the same time, it “creates itself” with the help of such tools as desire and will. Sartre called this subjectivity, thanks to which man rises above the rest of nature. The French thinker was an atheist, so the slogan "Man is the king of nature" is not at all alien to him.

A reasonable person acquires his essence only in the process of life, and therefore bears full responsibility for the "uselessly lived years."

Sartre conveys this idea very vividly and figuratively as a writer. Only in contrast to philosophical works, in his literary works, morality and politics are experimental testing grounds. Already in "Nausea" the writer seeks to convincingly prove that the world is not filled with meaning, and our "I" is simply aimless. Only through an act of consciousness and choice, "I" is able to give the world meaning and value: "Life acquires meaning if we ourselves give it to it" (6, p. 71).

As for morality, here the French thinker also could not overcome his individualism. While extolling the freedom of man, Sartre did not give a clear answer to the question: what to do with this freedom?

Gabriel Marcel wrote big number essays on this topic. According to Marcel, a person is an "embodied being", who, realizing his incarnation, feels the mystical connection of the spirit with the body.

“Existential philosophizing inevitably implies awareness of oneself as an embodied, bodily subject “captive” to space and time. For a person, Marcel believed, an ontological need is characteristic - the need to be. This existential being is attainable through concentration, the main objective which lies in the mystical comprehension of the Presence of God. According to Marcel, the only way out of a closed existential state is to know God, to feel one's connection with Him. This knowledge does not occur rationally, but through a personal mystical encounter with God. In comprehending the Mystery of being and gaining the Presence of God lies for a person the opportunity to conquer time and death. It is not rational theories that speak of the Presence of God, but the evidence of the very life of a person who gains faith and renounces the external world and its values ​​”(4, p. 116).

His principled focus on personal religious experience made dogmatic principles unnecessary, which led to the condemnation of existentialism in the Catholic Church.

Albert Camus does not raise the question of being in general, unlike Heidegger and Jaspers. Camus leaves being aside and focuses on the problem of meaning. What's the point? Human life, history, individual existence.

His views are developed in conditions when faith in God is lost, and it became clear that human existence is finite in the absolute sense, i.e., that the individual is waiting for complete annihilation, absolute nothingness.

In this situation, the conclusion suggests itself that there is no objective meaning human life No, because there is no one to give her this meaning. Indeed, for Camus, as for existentialism in general, the starting point is the individual. This philosophy, as we know, is imbued with the deepest individualism and subjectivism.

According to Camus, man initially appears in his absolute loneliness and finiteness. But if a person is lonely and goes to his inevitable and absolute end, then what sense of his existence can we talk about at all?

The main thesis of the philosopher is that human life is essentially meaningless. Most people live their petty worries, joys and do not give their lives a purposeful meaning. Those who fill life with meaning, sooner or later understand that ahead (where they go with all their might) is death, Nothing. Everyone is mortal - both those who fill life with meaning and those who do not.

The principle of the absurd is the initial postulate of Camus's concept. Camus gives two main proofs of the absurdity, groundlessness of life: contact with death - with it, much that previously seemed important to a person loses its relevance and seems meaningless; contact with the surrounding world, nature - a person is helpless in front of nature that has existed for millions of years.

Camus sees only 2 ways out of the alienated state of absurdity: Camus riot- this is actually a rebellion against reason, a struggle to debunk it, since reason is not able to comprehend the world. This is, first of all, the struggle of man for his human dignity. Pointing to suicide, he immediately rejects it, because. it is a cry of despair that is unable to break through the wall of the absurd. 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 a person.

Nausea is the essence of being people stuck "in the hustle and bustle of the day." People - thrown at the mercy of an alien, ruthless, bleak reality.

Nausea is the impossibility of love and trust, it is simply the inability of a man and a woman to understand each other.

Nausea is that “other side of despair” on which Freedom lies. But what to do with this accursed freedom to a man who has become mad from loneliness? ..

2. Albert Camus - "Happy Death"

Early novel by Albert Camus happy death", undoubtedly, will interest the reader, because it is fraught with many mysteries. The novel was not published during the author's lifetime, but it is "Happy Death" that opens the creative dialogue between Camus and Nietzsche - a dialogue that throughout his life served as a source of inspiration and writer's discoveries for Camus. “Happy Death is the most tender test of the pen, but the theme of “The Outsider” is already clearly heard in the novel, which will later become the leitmotif of the work of the French existentialist.

3. Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from the Underground

"Notes from the Underground" - Dostoevsky's overture to his Pentateuch; the great insights of the artist-thinker found their expression in the story; here, for the first time in Russian literature, the foundations of the philosophy of existentialism are formulated. "Notes from the Underground" is a story of precisely posed questions and precisely found intonations. Pain permeates the hero's word, it beats in the rapid swings of his moods, in endless unrest, in painful experiences and in unsolvable dead ends.

The protagonist of the work is an official from St. Petersburg. He receives an inheritance, leaves the service, buys an apartment and almost stops leaving it. That is, it goes underground. IN eternal questions he opposes himself to everyone else, and thus, delivers torment and torment to himself and those around him. Will the retired official manage to leave his “underground”, and who or what will help him in this?

4. Alberto Moravia - Boredom

One of the most famous works European existentialism, which literary critics rightly compare with Albert Camus's The Outsider. Boredom corrodes lyrical hero famous novel Moravia from the inside, deprives him of the will to act and to live, the ability to seriously love or hate. But at the same time, it also removes him from the chaos of the surrounding world, helping to avoid many mistakes and illusions. The author does not impose on us an attitude towards the character, offering us to draw conclusions from what we have read. However, the writer does not notice the moral right to "dissimilarity" with others for his hero.

5. Rainer Maria Rilke - "Notes of Malte Laurids Brigge"

Rainer Maria Rilke - one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, was born in Prague, where he spent his childhood and youth, lived in Berlin, Paris, Switzerland. R. M. called Russian culture the basis of his life perception and experience. He visited Russia twice, knew Leo Tolstoy and Repin, corresponded with Boris Pasternak and Marina Tsvetaeva. world fame the poet was brought his collections "The Book of Images", "Book of Hours", "New Poems" and others. However, poetry and prose competed on equal terms in Rilke's work. "Notes of Malte Laurids Brigge", included in this book, are his most significant prose work. In this whimsical stained-glass novel describing "everyday horror" everyday life, Rilke anticipated the artistic discoveries of existentialist literature by more than thirty years.

6. Erich Fromm - "Escape from Freedom"

One of the fundamental works of Erich Fromm - "Escape from Freedom" - is dedicated to psychological aspects power, dependency and personal independence.
“Can freedom become a burden that a person cannot bear, something that he tries to get rid of? Why is freedom a cherished goal for some, and a threat for others?
“Is there not, besides the innate desire for freedom, an instinctive craving for submission? .. Is not submission a source of some hidden satisfaction; and if so, what is its essence?

7. Leo Tolstoy - "On Madness"

A madman is a person who is not understood by others. The author raises such important questions at all times: what is the meaning of life? Why does a person come into this world? Why does he need faith, what to do with it? Or is his life reduced to nothing but satisfaction own desires? It is necessary to realize your mission in life and strive to realize it. However, there is very little time for this. After all, life is a short moment between birth and death.

8. Simone de Beauvoir - "Tangerines"

The events described in the book, one way or another, are connected with the collapse of the hopes of the French intelligentsia born during the years of the Resistance. In order to more fully present the post-war era, the author introduces many characters into the narrative, the main of which are the left-wing writers Henri Perron and Robert Dubreuil (their prototypes were A. Camus and J.-P. Sartre). Although the main intrigue is the quarrel, and then the reconciliation of these two outstanding personalities, important place in the plot, Anna, the wife of Dubreuil, is also assigned - in this image, the features of Simone de Beauvoir herself are easily guessed. Much of what the writer told in her best, awarded Goncourt Prize work, finds an explanation in female destiny as such and related to the position of women in the modern world.

The novel, which for several decades was considered the reference book of Western intellectuals, is finally becoming the property of the Russian reader.

9. Philip K Dick - "The Blurred"

“They just wanted to have fun, like kids playing in the driveway. One by one they were crushed, maimed, killed - in front of everyone - but they continued to play.

Terrible book.
Great book.
Magic realism?
Hippie dystopia?
Postmodern autobiography?
Simply - "Blurred" ...

In a semi-biographical novel American writer combines two genres: psychology and science fiction. The author describes the life of several drug addicts, one of which is completely destroyed by the psyche. He tries to commit suicide. It turns out that one of the "drug addicts" is an undercover special officer who is trying to find out where and who produces such a terrible drug that destroys a person. For the reality of the legend, he himself has to take this mysterious substance. As a result, the policeman has a split personality. He begins to monitor himself and ends up in a closed clinic, in which ... this very drug is produced. Will the brave hero on the verge of sanity be able to complete the task?

10. Soren Kierkegaard - "Diary of a Seducer"

The book includes a novel by the famous Danish philosopher, theologian and writer, the founder of European existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer, which is integral part his central philosophical work "Either-or" (1843).
The chronicle of the virtuoso seduction of a young girl with Shakespeare's name Cordelia by the cunning seducer Johannes, who lives an "aesthetic life", is built as a series of "approaches" - "removals" of the reflecting aesthetic from the object of his artificial passion. The diary and letters of the protagonist reveal the ideal strategy of loving submission, in which the Don Juan dexterity inherent in Johannes, Mephistopheles knowledge is manifested. human nature and a Faustian tendency to introspection.

Ecology of knowledge: Viktor Frankl - Man in search of meaning. The collection includes the works of the author, which highlight issues important to everyone: the meaning of life and death, love and suffering, freedom and responsibility

1. Albert Camus - Plague

In the novel-parable "Plague" in the city fictional by the author comes terrible disease- plague. But the fathers of the city, hiding the truth from people, make all the inhabitants hostages of the epidemic. Any biased reader can easily detect the similarity of the situation in the novel with tragic events in France during the Nazi occupation.

2. Jean-Paul Sartre - Existentialism is humanism

The book "Existentialism is Humanism" was first published in France in 1946 and has since gone through several editions. It introduces the reader in a popular form to the main provisions of the philosophy of existentialism and, in particular, to the worldview of Sartre himself.

3. Viktor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning

The collection includes the author's works, which highlight issues important to everyone: the meaning of life and death, love and suffering, freedom and responsibility, humanism and religion, etc. great attention in the collection is devoted to the issues of psychotherapy.

4. Simone de Beauvoir - Lovely Pictures

"I always had a need to talk about myself ... The first question that always arose for me was this: what does it mean to be a woman? I thought that I would immediately answer it. But as soon as I took a closer look at this problem, and I realized, first of all, that this world is made for men…" - this is how Simone de Beauvoir wrote about herself, a classic of feminist literature, whose female and creative life flowed alongside the great Jean-Paul Sartre, but not in the shadow of Sartre.

5. Irvin Yalom - Looking into the sun. Life without fear of death

This book is a new bestseller by the famous American psychotherapist and writer Irvin Yalom. The topic raised in this book is sharp and painful, it is rarely brought up for open discussion. But all people have the fear of death in one form or another, it’s just that usually we try to get thoughts about the finiteness of our life out of our heads, not to think, not to remember about it.

Now you have in your hands a very effective tool to combat the fear of death. This book teaches to understand and accept the conditions of human existence and fully enjoy every minute of life. Despite the seriousness of the topic, the book captures and captivates thanks to the skill of a great storyteller - Dr. Irvin Yalom.

6. Alberto Moravia - Boredom

One of the most famous works of European existentialism, which literary critics rightly compare with the "Outsider" by Albert Camus. Boredom corrodes the lyrical hero of the famous novel Moravia from the inside, deprives him of the will to act and to live, the ability to seriously love or hate, but at the same time it removes him from the chaos of the world around him, helping to avoid many mistakes and illusions. The author does not impose on us a relationship to the character, offering to draw conclusions from what we have read. However, the writer does not notice the moral right to "dissimilarity" with others for his hero.

7. Rainer Maria Rilke - Notes by Malte Laurids Brigge

Rainer Maria Rilke - one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, was born in Prague, where he spent his childhood and youth, lived in Berlin, Paris, Switzerland. R. M. called Russian culture the basis of his life perception and experience. He visited Russia twice, knew Leo Tolstoy and Repin, corresponded with Boris Pasternak and Marina Tsvetaeva. The world fame to the poet was brought by his collections `The Book of Images`, `Book of Hours`, `New Poems` and others. However, poetry and prose competed on equal terms in Rilke's work. `Notes of Malte Laurids Brigge`, included in this book, are his most significant prose work. In this whimsical stained-glass novel describing the 'everyday horror' of everyday life, Rilke anticipated the artistic discoveries of existentialist literature by more than thirty years.

8. Ronald Lang - Split "I"

The author, a professional psychiatrist who followed courses of traditional psychotherapy, is perhaps the most rebellious figure in contemporary English psychology. He not only calls for "learning from a schizophrenic", who, in his understanding, becomes a "guide" to other states of consciousness that are closed to the "everyday person" - but also organizes one of the world's first "alternative clinics" for psychotic patients, where he achieves serious success in their cure. In "The Divided Self" he makes an attempt not only to state his views on psychiatry, but to make the reader feel inner world schizophrenic, paradoxical and logical at the same time.

The philosophy of existence takes special place in the fundamental development of the 20th century. It arose as an attempt to create something new, different from the developing views modern man. It must be admitted that practically none of the thinkers was a 100% existentialist. The closest to this concept was Sartre, who tried to combine all knowledge together in his work entitled "Existentialism - How do existentialist philosophers interpret the concept of "freedom"? Read below.

The assertion of existentialism as a separate philosophy

At the end of the sixties, people were going through a special period. Man was seen as the main one, but a new direction was needed to reflect the modern historical path, which could reflect the situation that Europe experienced after the wars, finding itself in conditions of an emotional crisis. This need arose in view of the consequences of military, economic, political and moral decline. An existentialist is a person who reflects the consequences of historical catastrophes and seeks his place in their destruction. In Europe, existentialism firmly established itself as a philosophy and was a kind of fashionable cultural trend. This position of people was among the fans of irrationalism.

History of the term

The historical significance of the term as such dates back to 1931, when Karl Jaspers introduced the concept. He mentioned it in his work entitled "The Spiritual Situation of the Time". The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard was called by Jaspers the founder of the current and designated it as a way of being certain person. The well-known existential psychologist and psychotherapist R. May considered this trend as a cultural movement that captures a deep emotional and spiritual impulse in the soul of a developing personality. It depicts such a psychological moment in which a person is momentarily, expresses the unique difficulties that he has to face.

Existentialist philosophers trace the origins of their teaching to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. The theory reflects the problems of the crisis of liberals who rely on the peaks technical progress, but they are not able to reveal the incomprehensibility and disorder of human life with words. Involves constant overcoming emotional feelings: feeling of being in hopelessness and despair. The essence of the philosophy of existentialism is such an attitude towards rationalism, which manifests itself in the opposite reaction. The founders and followers of the direction argued about the division of the world into objective and subjective sides. All manifestations of life are considered as an object. An existentialist is a person who views all things from the unification of objective and subjective thought. The main idea: a person is what he himself decides to be in this world.

How to be aware of yourself

Existentialists propose to recognize a person as an object that finds itself in a critical situation. For example, when high probability experience mortal terror. It is during this period that world awareness becomes unrealistically close to a person. They consider it the true way of knowing. The main way to pass into another world is intuition.

How do philosophers-existentialists interpret the concept of "freedom"

The philosophy of existentialism assigns a special place to the formulation and solution of the problem of freedom. They see it as a certain choice of the individual out of a million possibilities. Objective things and animals do not have freedom, since they initially have an essence. Provided for man whole life to study it and understand the meaning of its existence. Therefore, a reasonable individual is responsible for every perfect act and cannot just make mistakes, referring to certain circumstances. Existentialist philosophers believe that man is constantly developing project, for whom freedom is a sense of the separation of the individual and society. The concept is interpreted from the point of view but not "freedom of the spirit". This is the inviolable right of every living person. But people who have chosen at least once are exposed to a new feeling - anxiety for the correctness of their decision. This vicious circle pursues a person to the very last point of arrival - the achievement of his essence.

Who is a person in the understanding of the founders of the current

May proposed to perceive a person as a process of constant development, but experiencing a periodic crisis. Western culture she perceives these moments especially acutely, as she has experienced a lot of anxiety, despair and conflict military operations. An existentialist is a person responsible for himself, his thoughts, his actions, being. He must be like that if he wants to remain an independent person. He must also have the intelligence and confidence to make the right decisions, otherwise his future essence will be of the appropriate quality.

Characteristic features of all representatives of existentialism

Despite the fact that various teachings leave certain imprints on the philosophy of existence, there are a number of signs that are inherent in each representative of the current under discussion:

• The starting point of knowledge is a constant process of analyzing the actions of the individual. Only being can tell about human personality All. The doctrine is based on general concept, but the analysis of a concretized human personality. Only humans can analyze their conscious existence and must do so continuously. Heidegger especially insisted on this.
• Man was lucky to live in a unique reality, Sartre emphasized in his writings. He said that no other beings have a similar world. Based on his reasoning, we can conclude that the existence of each person is worthy of attention, awareness and understanding. Its uniqueness needs constant analysis.
• Existentialist writers in their work have always described the process of ordinary life preceding the essence. Camus, for example, argued that the opportunity to live is the most main value. The human body comprehends the meaning of its presence on Earth during growth and development, and only at the end is able to comprehend the real essence. And for each person this path is individual. The goals and means of achieving the highest good also differ.
• According to Sartre, there is no reason for the existence of a living human organism. "He himself is the cause of himself, his choice and his life," they broadcast existentialist philosophers. difference statements from the ideas of other areas of philosophy that how each life stage human development - depends on himself. The quality of the essence will also depend on his actions that he performs on the way to achieving the main goal.

• Existence human body endowed with reason lies in simplicity. There is no secret because Natural resources can't figure out how life will pass a person, what laws and regulations he will comply with, and which he will not.
• A person must fill his life with meaning on his own. He can choose his vision of the world around him, filling it with his ideas and turning them into reality. He can do whatever he wants. What essence he will acquire depends on personal choice. Also, the disposal of one's existence is completely in the hands of a rational person.
• The existentialist is Ego. Considered in terms of incredible opportunities for everyone.

Difference from representatives of other currents

Existentialist philosophers, in contrast to the enlighteners, supporters of other directions (especially Marxism), spoke in favor of abandoning the search for reasonable meaning historical events. They saw no point in seeking progress in these activities.

Influence on the consciousness of people of the 20th century

Since the existentialist philosophers, unlike the enlighteners, did not seek to see the pattern of history, they did not set out to conquer a large number of associates. However, the ideas of this direction of philosophy had a great influence on the consciousness of people. The principles of the existence of a person as a traveler, going to his true essence, draw their line in parallel with people who categorically do not share this point of view.