Module 3

Set Text - Existentialism and Humanism

               Methuen

                  ISBN 0-413-31300-X

The claim that existence precedes essence with illustrative example. The implication for morality. The nature of human reality in contrast with that of material objects. God and human nature, the rejection of determinism. Freedom, choice and responsibility. Sartre's use of universalization. Relation of choice to value. Why man's situation gives rise to abandonment, anguish and despair - the existentialist meaning of these terms. Subjectivism and the cogito, intersubjectivity. Authenticity and self-deception (bad faith), the possibility of moral criticism. The criticisms laid against existentialism, the responses.

Jean Paul Sartre

Novelist, playwright, philosopher

 (1905-1980)

Soren Kierkegaard

Danish Existentialist philosopher

The father of existentialism

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards"

Martin Heidegger

German Existentialist philosopher.

Developed the concept of Dasein or 'being there'

"Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one"