EXISTENTIALISM

EXISTENTIALISM

Study material prepared by Dr. S. Sreekumar for students of Indian Universities.

Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine that became popular in Europe after the Second World War. It is chiefly concerned with man’s existence and his situation. It believes that man is a unique but isolated being living in an indifferent or hostile universe. At the same time man is responsible for his actions and also free to choose his own destiny.

Some Basic concepts of Existentialism

1. Man is not the manifestation of any absolute or infinite substance. Man’s existence is not proof for the existence of the ultimate reality or God. Existentialism rejects idealistic concepts like ‘Consciousness’, ‘Spirit’, ‘Reason’, ‘Idea’ and ‘Over Soul’

2. Existentialism tries to find out the meaning of Being (Being= nature and essence of a human being, his existence). It denies the absolute reality of man.

3. When a man looks for the meaning of his existence he may get different answers. From these answers he must select and then commit himself to that selection.

4. Existentialism is concerned with man’s relationships with other men and things. Man is viewed always as a being-in-the-world. He may try to extend beyond himself and reach out to the being of other men and things.

5. Existentialism asserts that it is the duty of a man to find out the meaning of his life. Therefore he must engage in a life of reflection and commit himself to his own projects.

6. Each man must learn to act as a free person rather than as a mere part of a crowd.

7. Some existentialists deny God. But many claim that a man’s aspirations may lead him to God as a living reality and as a bond among humans.

Growth and Development of Existentialism

There are different sources for the origin of Existentialism. Existentialist ideas are manifest in the teachings of Socrates, especially in his exhortation to fellow Athenians—‘Know thyself’. After Socrates, St. Augustine, a theologian who lived during the fifth century, showed his concerns with the problems of existence. Much later, Montaigne, the French philosopher and Pascal the scientist also revealed their concerns about the precarious life of man situated between Being and Nothingness.

However, Existentialism as we know today developed from the teachings of Soren Aaby Kierkegaard (1813-55) a Danish philosopher and protestant theologian. He held the view that God can be understood only through faith and not through reason. His chief works include Either-Or (1843), The Concept of Dread (1844), Stages in Life’s Way (1845) etc.

Kierkegaard’s teachings became particularly relevant during the Second World War when Europe faced material and spiritual destruction. The optimism of the Romantic period, which believed that man was unerringly progressing to an age of prosperity, seemed far from the realities of post-war Europe. Therefore, that faith was replaced by existentialist beliefs that man is just accidentally thrown into this world and that human freedom is limited and is in risk of being destroyed any moment. Such beliefs also suited the post-war atmosphere of gloom and pessimism. Moreover, Existentialism also stressed the negative aspects of human life such as pain, frustration, sickness and death which for every European was a day-to-day reality. Thus post-war Europe offered a fertile soil for Existentialism to grow into a credible, full-fledged doctrine.

The doctrine of Kierkegaard must have remained in libraries and seminar halls but for the great French intellectual of the 1940s—Jean Paul Sartre, philosopher, novelist, essayist and playwright. He became the leader of the movement after 1939. Through his writings he began to popularize his beliefs in Existentialism. He expressed the view that the world had no meaning and the individual should find some direction and meaning for his own personal life. Sartre’s beliefs are expressed in his novel Nausea (1938), in a book of short stories The Wall (1939), and in his play The Flies (1943). Simone de Beauvoir, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, and Samuel Beckett are the great Existentialists.

Existentialism and Literature

Already we have seen the influence of Existentialism on European Literature after the Second World War. It may not be far from truth if we state that Existentialism owes its popularity not to philosophy but to literature. After Sartre made it popular through his writings other writers attempted to express their existentialist angst through their writings. Chief among them are Kafka, Camus and Samuel Beckett.

Samuel Beckett

Existentialism became popular in English literature with Beckett’s absurd dramas. His main theme is the purposelessness of human existence. In his masterpiece Waiting for Godot there are scenes which reveal the existentialist crisis. To quote an example, the play opens with a dialogue between two tramps—Estragon and Vladimir.

    Estragon: Nothing to be done

Vladimir: I’m beginning to come around to that

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The close of the play also shows them in the same condition of inaction and aimlessness:

    Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?

    Estragon: Yes, let’s go.

But they do not go anywhere. The stage direction—“They do not move”—makes it clear. Again, throughout the drama, as G.C. Bernard points out in Samuel Beckett: A New Approach, ‘Nothing happens. Nobody moves. Nobody goes. It is awful’. All the characters are figures without any trace of life or vitality. No character is certain about anything. They, including the unseen Godot, live in constant assurances and reassurances of their existence. Moreover the phrase “Nothing to be done” is repeated several times in the play to emphasize the purposelessness of existence.

Beckett is constantly questioning the meaning of existence in Endgame also. Here his characters are well aware of the forces of life-negation and life-denial that result from the great void that lurks behind human existence.

Beckett’s plays had a tremendous influence on the European stag. His popularity reached its zenith with the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969. His dramas remain as the best examples for the dramatization of Existentialism on the English stage. His existentialist doctrines can be summarized thus:

1. The human world is not moving towards salvation or damnation.

2. We cannot be happy in the bliss of life. Similarly, we need not be afraid of the curse of death.

3. Behind all our logical thinking and action there is irrationality and sentimentality.

4. To bring out the tragic predicament of human life, human language is inadequate. Hence a death-like vacuum is unavoidable.

Existentialism in the Indian Context

This philosophy is nothing new in the Indian context. ‘Tva tum Asi’—‘know thyself’—is one of the basic tenets of Indian Philosophy. Existentialist ideas are dealt with in great detail in the novels of Anita Desai and Arun Joshi, in the poems of A.K. Ramanujam and in the dramas of Girish Karnad. It is a moot question whether the meaninglessness and rootlessness of existence that haunted the European mind immediately after the Second World War ever had any relevance to our ethos, which can absorb any cultural shock with an enviable resilience. Therefore the use of existentialist ideas by contemporary authors may be traced to Eurocentric mental make-up of our intellectuals. Again it may be just a literary convention. It may also be because of the sense of rootlessness caused by the rapid urbanization the country witnessed in the last four or five decades.

The purposelessness of life and its shapelessness are the themes of Voices in the City (Anita Desai) and Hayavadana (Girish Karnad). With these two works we shall deal with in some detail just to show how the creative writers in India have attempted to give a fictional or dramatic manifestation to existentialist doctrines.

Voices in the City

Though Desai deals more wth the corrosive effects of metropolitan life, time and again she also questions the very meaninglessness of life. Nirode, the main character grows alienated from society. The fate of his sisters is in no way different. Their lives are neither filled with action nor drama. The theme of the essential loneliness of man is conveyed through the consciousness of the character. The rising tide of commercialism has submerged the individuality of the modern Indian. He finds himself alone in the crowd. Nirode becomes a cynical, nihilistic and depraved youth. His attitude is one of absolute negation. His sister Monisha is also haunted by the absurdity of life and finds reality only in suicide. Desai has commented that her attempt always has been to give some design to the “shapelessness, meaninglessness and lack of design that drives one to despair of life”.

Hayavadana— Girish Karnad

This book deals with the metaphysical aspects of Existentialism. In the play Padmini places the head of Devadatta on Kapila’s shoulders and vice versa. Hence the question arises: “Which of the two is Devadatta, the head of Devadatta on Kapila’s shoulders or the head of Kapila on Devadatta’s shoulders? Karnad’s concern is with human identity. “Is this that or is that this?”. The confusion unveils the ambiguity in human existence. Man is indeterminate, changing. Thus human existence is questioned at a metaphysical level. Karnad has taken the theme from an Indian tale (the story of transposed heads) in Kathasarithasagara. This proves that such metaphysical questions always fascinated the Indian imagination.

Study material prepared by Dr. S. Sreekumar