What is “existentialism”? Perhaps there is no simple or straightforward answer to this question. That which gathers itself into the term “existentialism” is neither systematic nor uniform. That which is gathered into the term “existentialism” is itself scattered and manifold and often rejects or abandons even the attempt that is called “existentialism”
The scatteredness and manifoldness belonging to and characterizing what is gathered into the term “existentialism”, which is neither systematic nor uniform, make any attempt at defining “existentialism” problematic. The term “existentialism” itself neither appeared in any of the most important texts of the tradition nor was originally used by any of the philosophers whose thinking-philosophizing was later called “existential”.
Nietzsche and Kierkegaard did not call themselves “existentialists” or their thinking-philosophizing “existentialism”. Neither Heidegger nor Sartre mentioned the term “existentialism” in Being and Time and Being and Nothingness.
Both Heidegger and Camus completely rejected the label “existentialists” and attempted to distance themselves from it. Merleau-Ponty saw how problematic and problematizing the term “existentialism” and the label “existentialist” were and hence decided to distance himself from their implications as far as possible by not accepting the term and the label completely or simply. The term was first employed by Gabriel Marcel in 1943, reviewing Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. Sartre himself initially rejected the term before accepting it finally two years later in 1945.
Hence, that which is gathered into the term “existentialism” is neither unified nor single, but rather scattered and manifold. Yet there exists a certain philosophical togetherness or a unique philosophizing unity lying at the heart of that which is gathered into “existentialism”, of that which refers to itself as “existential”. This togetherness brings the scattered in “existentialism” together into one site, without rendering it either unified or systematic, for “existentialism” itself rejects the unity of all systems and every systemizing.
The Fundamental Themes of Existentialism
- Finitude, death, mortality, and suicide
- Freedom
- Meaninglessness and absurdism
- Abandonment
- Prioritizing the lived experience over academic abstraction and logical reasoning
- Focusing on phenomenological experiences and moods such as boredom, nausea, or anguish
- Emphasizing the importance of authenticity and responsibility
- Thinking and philosophizing against irresponsibility, bad faith, and inauthenticity
- Thinking and philosophizing for radical individuality and attempting to safeguard the radical singularity of individuals from the pressures of the society
- Showing how interpersonal relations are conflictual and full of attempts to dominate the Other
- Reversing the traditional opposition of essence/existence, rendering existence what precedes essence
- Rejecting all external, fixed, and pre-decided determinations of value and morality
- Emphasizing rationality and progress
This list is neither exhaustive nor complete; its scatteredness or manifoldness defies and rejects completion. But these themes gather what is scattered and manifold into the same site, which is called “existentialism”. This gathering brings Heidegger close to Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky to Nietzsche, Camus to Kafka, and Sartre to Camus, without ever rendering what is brought together systematic, whole, continuous, or unitary.
“Existentialism” is thus a site traversed by a manifoldness lacking any simplicity or unity. “Existentialism” is a site into which scattered endeavors and manifold encounters with oneself, the world, and the Other are gathered together and brought close to each other. “Existentialism” is a thinking from out of and toward our existing in the world, with the Other, with oneself, and with the Other within oneself.