History UsefulNotes / Existentialism

--> "[[{{Deconstruction}} Nothing is true,]] [[{{Reconstruction}} everything is permitted.]]"
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' is generally a {{Deconstruction}} of the notion of player choice, stated beliefs, motivations and actions. The first game articulates this by means of Nietzsche via Creator/AynRand:
--> '''Andrew Ryan''': ''In the end what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No, a man chooses, and a slave obeys! You think you have memories. A farm. A family. An airplane. A crash. And then this place. Was there really a family? Did that airplane crash, or, was it hijacked? Forced down, forced down by something less than a man, something bred to sleepwalk through life unless activated by a simple phrase, spoken by their kindly master.''
%%* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''
%%** Existentialist themes appear over almost the entire series, but most notably in ''Final Fantasy VII''.
%%* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''
%%** To the extent that the series literally ends with [[spoiler: you having to fight against God.]]
* The CentralTheme of the Franchise/DishonoredSeries (''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored2}}'' especially) deal with power, choice and WhatYouAreInTheDark. The game provides the players and their villains with abilities and resources and makes their choice on how they use that power the central dramatic conflict. You are judged by your smallest and your biggest actions, all of which have consequences and for which you alone are responsible.
* ''VideoGame/TheFriendsOfRingoIshikawa'' deals with troubled youth in Japan who are looking for a purpose in their lives outside of gambling, smoking, and meaningless gang wars.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': While rarely directly concerning itself with philosophy, the solution to basically every problem Shepard helps solve is to teach the involved parties to determine their own fates and overcome prejudices that prevented a peaceful compromise.

-->"A future is not given to you. It is something you must take for yourself."

--> '''Colonel Konrad''': ''The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not: a hero.''

The TropeCodifier of Existentialism was the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in his famous statement "Existence precedes essence. " From this philosophy, meaning and our purpose in life (essence) is not predefined by a higher power (like God or destiny) but rather is the product of one's own finite existence and how he choose to live life. Sartre himself went further, citing Jesus's words on the cross in the Gospel of Matthew [[note]]"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?"[[/note]]. However, as Sartre, and others, noted in his works, the concept of Existentialism identifies a particular strain of thought and idea across a diverse range of philosophical ideologies, rather than invent an entirely new dogma out of whole cloth. The earliest influences of Existentialism included UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, the works of Creator/BaltasarGracian, [[Creator/SorenKierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard]] and St. Creator/AugustineOfHippo, the literature of novelists Creator/FyodorDostoevsky and Creator/LeoTolstoy, the Book of Ecclesiastes, Ancient Greek Tragedy, Epicureanism and Cynicism, etc. But before Sartre, the biggest TropeMaker and popular stereotype of Existentialism (as the cynical StrawNihilist who tries to find meaning in life in a CrapsackWorld without God) was arguably the pessimist Arthur Schopenhauer and his late student, the notorious atheist Creator/FriedrichNietzsche.

It is important to stress that, befitting a philosophy of individuality and self-created meaning, thinkers both pre-existential, existential, and post-existential differ wildly in their conclusions and their sentiments. You'll find that many of the people held up as examples of existentialism indignantly claimed that they weren't -- probably a side-effect of the fact that nonconformity is one of the school's main tenets. For instance, Søren Kierkegaard was a devout Lutheran, and some of his works were about [[DeconReconSwitch finding and discovering a new modern approach to religious belief]]. A strain and approach that anticipated and inspired other thinkers interested in reconciling religion with the modern world. Creator/FriedrichNietzsche however was an atheist, as was most of the post-war French thinkers (Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir). Yet even Nietzsche differed from the latter by means of his distinct pessimism, his strong sense of {{Irony}} which allowed him to advocate ideas and views that are inherently contradictory and paradoxical. Active existentialists like Sartre, and his circle of friends, as well as the school of literature and philosophy that he inspired, advocated ideas that were intended to be clear, humanistic, bridge together ideas and views even from sources that were on the opposite spectrum. For Sartre, who was sympathetic to Marxism, existentialism was primarily a means of advocating and advancing social criticism into contemporary society, and criticizing colonialism, racism and advocating social justice. The likes of Creator/AlbertCamus differed with Sartre in his political sympathies and he also rejected the label of existentialism and advocated instead the idea of "the absurd" which was a middle ground between Nietzschean pessimism and Sartrean humanism. As such existentialism was originally, and ''intentionally'' a very diverse school of thought rather than a single authoritative ideology or beliefs. Some historians see it as simply a cultural and intellectual movement rather than a real philosophy. That's about as far as we can cover the philosophical side of existentialism.

The TropeCodifier of Existentialism was the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in his famous statement "Existence precedes essence. " From this philosophy, meaning and our purpose in life (essence) is not predefined by a higher power (like God or destiny) but rather is the product of one's own finite existence and how he choose to live life. Sartre himself went further, citing Jesus's words on the cross in the Gospel of Matthew [[note]]"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?"[[/note]]. However, as Sartre, and others, noted in his works, the concept of Existentialism identifies a particular strain of thought and idea across a diverse range of philosophical ideologies, rather than invent an entirely new dogma out of whole cloth. The earliest influences of Existentialism included UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, Creator/BaltasarGracian, the works of [[Creator/SorenKierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard]] and St. Creator/AugustineOfHippo, the literature of novelists Creator/FyodorDostoevsky and Creator/LeoTolstoy, the Book of Ecclesiastes, Ancient Greek Tragedy, Epicureanism and Cynicism, etc. But before Sartre, the biggest TropeMaker and popular stereotype of Existentialism (as the cynical StrawNihilist who tries to find meaning in life in a CrapsackWorld without God) was arguably the pessimist Arthur Schopenhauer and his late student, the notorious atheist Creator/FriedrichNietzsche.

The TropeCodifier of Existentialism was the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in his famous statement "Existence precedes essence. " From this philosophy, meaning and our purpose in life (essence) is not predefined by a higher power (like God or destiny) but rather is the product of one's own finite existence and how he choose to live life. Sartre himself went further, citing Jesus's words on the cross in the Gospel of Matthew [[note]]"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?"[[/note]]. However, as Sartre, and others, noted in his works, the concept of Existentialism identifies a particular strain of thought and idea across a diverse range of philosophical ideologies, rather than invent an entirely new dogma out of whole cloth. The earliest influences of Existentialism included UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, the works of [[Creator/SorenKierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard]] and St. Creator/AugustineOfHippo, the literature of novelists Creator/FyodorDostoevsky and Creator/LeoTolstoy, the Book of Ecclesiastes, Ancient Greek Tragedy, Epicureanism and Cynicism, etc. But before Sartre, the biggest TropeMaker and popular stereotype of Existentialism (as the cynical StrawNihilist who tries to find meaning in life in a CrapsackWorld without God) was arguably the pessimist Arthur Schopenhauer and his late student, the notorious atheist Creator/FriedrichNietzsche.

-->'''Holly''': As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you? \\

* The Music/PinkFloyd album ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''.

* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Objects In Space" had existentialist themes, according to Creator/JossWhedon's commentary, particularly River's point that all meaning is bestowed. Where Jubal Early sees dead, empty things, River sees the same objects full of life, beauty, and possiblity.

%%* ''Film/{{Love}}''

* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Objects In Space" had existentialist themes, according to Creator/JossWhedon's commentary, particularly River's point that all meaning is imbibed. Where Jubal Early sees dead, empty things, River sees the same objects full of life, beauty, and possiblity.

** With the ironic result that, of the four of them, the two who are found innocent are the egomaniacal Cat and Rimmer, who refuses to accept any blame for his many faults. So the ones who are condemned are the unselfish Kryten and generally decent guy Lister, because they actually hold themselves to a higher standard and recognize that they have failed to live up to it. So ultimately, the Inquisitor's crusade is eliminating nice people and leaving the universe filled with jerks. (Of the the four, they are the only ones to question what right the Inquisitor has to determine who has had a meaningful life and who has not, suggesting a level of [[EvilIsPetty pettiness]] in his judgement).

* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'': The eponymous traveller is on a journey that has no destination and with "the world is not beautiful, therefore it is" as a motto.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s primary theme is that, while the world might be a big ball of senseless chaos (hence the series' name[[note]]"Ruckus" in Italian[[/note]]), that doesn't mean you can't pull subjective meaning out of it.

* ''LightNovel/BlackBullet''. Yes, just because you live [[CrapsackWorld in a shitty world]] where the Gastrea virus has killed off a good portion of humanity and [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer societies treat the cursed children as total trash]], doesn't necessarily mean that you should just fall over and die; you do have some purpose to live. [[spoiler:Case in point, when Rentaro lost his right leg, right arm, and left eye 10 years ago for saving Kisara's life, he was rushed to the hospital and was given two sheets of paper. One was a death certificate, the other was a contract that will allow Rentaro to live with ArtificialLimbs and become a mechanized soldier through the "New Human Creation Plan." Encouraged by the words of his foster father ("If you don't want to die, live"), Rentaro decided to pick the latter and signed up for the "New Human Creation Plan;" feeling that he has a purpose in life.]]

* German Neurologist Dr. Hans Georg Häusel wrote books about human drives/will, where he connected the phenomena described by Nietzsche, Sartre, Kierkegaard etc. to several brain structures. He theorized that humans have 3 main motivations: Nietzschean Will to Power, Heideggerian Existential Angst, and something which is similar to Kierkegaard's "Aesthethic Stage". His works are frequently taught in German advertising lectures. For example , often, in these lectures, it is recommended to apply to the "Aesthethic stage" to advertise food and beverages, to apply to Existential Angst to advertise everything security related, and to apply to the will to power for the advertisement of "efficient" tools and machinery.

** The first major villain, Zabuza, makes a point of saying that ninja- and evil ninja, like him- try to become something other than human; a common theme amongst later villains is taking this idea literally, as several attempt to transcend their humanity in various ways, both ethically (eg. severing all bonds to clan and country, or viewing godhood as a way of looking at the world) and physically (eg. experimenting on themselves, turning themselves into living puppets etc.). Many characters, hero and villain, could be considered wannabe or actual {{Ubermenschen}}.

* ''Manga/Berserk'' presents an inconceivably horrific DarkFantasy setting and ends up with the characters fitting here. Existence is cruel, brutal and painful but it's through the love of others and our own will that we continue living. It's worth noting that the series ''strongly'' rejects egoism in favor of altruism, however, as the main villain Griffith's embracement of such is the cause of his ruthless villainy.

Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism has an article and analysis on this subject.]] See also {{Absurdism}}, {{Postmodernism}}, {{Romanticism}}, {{Deconstruction}} and Individualism.

An existential worldview asserts the importance of active engagement, personal choice, and commitment. It shifts the focus away from ends to means. What you do and how you do certain actions matter as much as your reasons, motivations and justifications for the same. The existentialist agrees that "meaning" is an empty word, [[HumansAreFlawed our life sucks]] and [[YouCantFightFate there's nothing we can do about it]]. However, they also point out that each individual has the choice to ''make the most out of each hour of their empty lives''. Those who choose to spend it being bored, following others, {{wangst}}ing endlessly, adhering to [[ItAmusedMe hedonism]], or ForTheEvulz are ignoring their responsibility to themselves and to society, and are potentially [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers wasting their real virtues and qualities]]. As Creator/JeanPaulSartre said, "Man is condemned to be free", by which he meant that we have no choice but to make a choice of some kind or another in some way or other to accommodate our selves with our lot in life. In other words, existentialism is like [[TheAntiNihilist "Optimistic Nihilism."]]

** With the ironic result that, of the four of them, the two who are found innocent are the egomaniacal Cat and Rimmer, who refuses to accept any blame for his many faults. So the ones who are condemned are the unselfish Kryten and generally decent guy Lister, because they actually hold themselves to a higher standard and recognize that they have failed to live up to it. So ultimately, the Inquisitor's crusade is eliminating nice people and leaving the universe filled with jerks.

%%* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Objects In Space" had existentialist themes, according to Creator/JossWhedon's commentary.

An existential worldview asserts the importance of active engagement, personal choice, and commitment. It shifts the focus away from ends to means. What you do and how you do certain actions matter as much as your reasons, motivations and justifications for the same. The existentialist agrees that "meaning" is an empty word, [[HumansAreFlawed our life sucks]] and [[YouCantFightFate there's nothing we can do about it]]. However, they also point out that each individual has the choice to ''make the most out of each hour of their empty lives''. Those who choose to spend it being bored, following others, {{wangst}}ing endlessly, adhering to [[ItAmusedMe hedonism]], or ForTheEvulz are ignoring their responsibility to themselves and to society, and are potentially [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers wasting their real virtues and qualities]]. As Creator/JeanPaulSartre said, "Man is condemned to be free", by which he meant that we have no choice but make a choice of some kind or another, some way or other to accommodate our selves with our lot in life. In other words [[TheAntiNihilist "Optimistic Nihilism."]]

In the popular culture, existentialism becomes a short-hand for individuality, and involves character tropes such as having a personal ''raison d'être'' (reason for existence), BeYourself, DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, IAmWhatIAm, living out your GoalInLife, EarnYourHappyEnding, and sometimes moments of YouAreNotAlone. This gives a PatrickStewartSpeech [[ShutUpHannibal to the nihilists]] and {{reconstruct|ion}}s the "[[WhatYouAreInTheDark meaning in life]]" concept. Existentialist character types include TheAntiNihilist and TheUbermensch (the extreme {{Blue And Orange| Morality}} version). The KnightInSourArmor and the DeterminedDefeatist have some elements of this, as does the VictoriousLoser.

* Surprisingly ''Manga/OnePiece'' contains a great deal of Existentialist themes. It has many characters, including the heroes talk about fulfilling their [[GoalInLife dreams]], wondering whether or not they [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife even have a purpose in this world or even deserved to live]], and trying to enjoy their lives as best they can, despite living in a CrapsackWorld while being [[YouAreNotAlone there for each other]]. The story also condemns [[ItAmusedMe hedonism]] and ForTheEvulz, and has several [[TheUbermensch Ubermensch]] as important characters most prominently [[TheHero Luffy]], Whitebeard, and Gold Roger

** The first major villain, Zabuza, makes a point of saying that ninja- and evil ninja, like him- try to become something other than human; a common theme amongst later villains is taking this idea literally, as several attempt to transcend their humanity in various ways, both ethically (eg. severing all bonds to clan and country, or viewing godhood as a way of looking at the world) and physically (eg. experimenting on themselves, turning themselves into living puppets etc.). Many characters, hero and villain, could be considered wannabe or actual [[TheUbermensch Ubermenschen]].

* ''Existential Terror and Breakfast]]'' revolves around the terrible existential dread one feels when they fail to be actively engaged.

* [[http://revfitz.com/existential-terror-breakfast/ Existential Terror and Breakfast]]: Revolves around the terrible existential dread one feels when they fail to be actively engaged.

** ''A life force'' the major character, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic a Jewish carpenter]] has just been told that the study hall he built for a local synagogue won't be named after him but a rich benefactor, making him feel like the four years he spent building it are wasted. On the way home he has a heart attack. He sees a cockroach on the sidewalk struggling to survive and figures they are NotSoDifferent, but also starts to wonder why he wants to live in the first place. He figures that either God created man or man created God but in either case the meaning of life is anyone's guess. Eventually he concludes that staying alive is the only thing everyone agrees on and manages to do that. Towards the end of the story [[spoiler: he divorces his overbearing wife and starts a relationship with a NewOldFlame he genuinely loves because he doesn't want to be a cockroach who's only concerned with staying alive]].

Existentialism is the name given to a philosophical worldview that came into prominence and consciousness in the late forties and early fifties. It articulated itself as [[PostSomethingIsm a response]] to the soul-crushingly [[TheFatalist fatalistic]], [[WhatIsEvil morally relativistic]], DarknessInducedAudienceApathy-fostering worldview of [[StrawNihilist Nihilism]]. A tragic consequence of the scientific scepticism of [[UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment The Enlightenment]], Nihilism {{deconstruct|ion}}s and rejects all ethics, ideals and meanings in life as meaningless unproven lies (e.g., science can't differentiate which {{morality|Tropes}} exists and which is {{propaganda|Piece}}). Alternatives to nihilism, such as religion, art, culture, society, ideology, nationalism, science, modernity, material wealth, fame and social respectability, came to seem as both unfulfilling and inadequate.

%% Entries marked as %% are ZeroCotextExamples. They do not demonstrate what the work has to do with existentialism and are not allowed on wiki pages.

In the popular culture, existentialism becomes a short-hand for individuality, and involves character tropes such as having a personal ''raison d'être'' (reason for existence), BeYourself, DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, IAmWhatIAm, living out your GoalInLife, EarnYourHappyEnding, and sometimes moments of YouAreNotAlone. This gives a [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech world-of-cardboard]][=/=]PatrickStewartSpeech [[ShutUpHannibal to the nihilists]] and {{reconstruct|ion}}s the "[[WhatYouAreInTheDark meaning in life]]" concept. Existentialist character types include TheAntiNihilist and TheUbermensch (the extreme {{Blue And Orange| Morality}} version). The KnightInSourArmor and the DeterminedDefeatist have some elements of this, as does the VictoriousLoser.