What are themes of existentialism?

Question

What are themes of existentialism?

Answer 1

The theme of existentialism is that individuals are moral beings.

Most religions assume that individuals are not moral beings and that the only way to become a moral being is to accept that religions dogmatic interpretation of a supreme morality.

Answer 2

Existentialism in its modern sense began with sartre and camus. The ex's believe that each person is responsible 'totally' for his/her own life. Being an ex means being 'authentic' to your own values no matter how immoral or strange they appear to family, culture or society. In 'the outsider' camus portray's a character 'mersault' who is ultimately killed by the state for his crime of murdering an arab, not because of the act itself but because during his time in court he does not show the requisite amount of remorse. Character witnesses remember him not showing much emotion at his mother's funeral, being a bit of a cold fish. The fact that he despised his mother and found most people and social situations depressing was his death warrant. He merely refused to 'act' and perform the 'correct types of behaviour that his society demand's. By being honest, and true to himself - by being authentic he violated the social norms and payed the ultimate price.

This is an extreme example, but we all risk the wrath and exclusion by our culture when we attempt to be authentic. Batman and spiderman are classic existentialist loners that we see and read in modern cinema and literature, amongst many others. But to live the existentialist life is almost impossible in the real world - you're criminalised, hospitalised, institutionalised and finally despised!

Answer 3

nothing exists in this world without you beholding it.

Answer 4

Nothing will be Existence if Existence cannot be thought as "part, whole, equivalence, uniqueness, link, limit, influence, sensation, origin, derivative, rule, condition, intent, and fulfillment."

Answer 5

"The message of Existentialism, unlike that of many more obscure and academic philosophical movements, is about as simple as can be. It is that every one of us, as an individual, is responsible—responsible for what we do, responsible for who we are, responsible for the way we face and deal with the world, responsible, ultimately, for the way the world is.

"It is, in a very short phrase, the philosophy of 'No excuses!' We cannot shift that burden onto God, or nature, or the ways of the world."