Existentialism

Existentialism is not a religion, but more like a creed. It is an organised ideology that takes lot from Friedrich Nietzsche and has no rational or reasonable restraint on expression. It is very relevant to journalists because writing is the act of freedom and the fact that we can write what we want means that we are free.

'The Outsider' by Alfred Camus

In this novel, the main character Meursault has many qualities that an existentialist would admire. He murders a man he has never met before for no reason, just because he felt like it. This is ultimate liberation. He was of the opinion that life is pointless and you're going to die anyway so why do anything? This is known as an existential void. No morals have any point or logic to them so why should Meursault adhere to them? He goes on trial for killing an algerian man in a french colony in Algeria. The jury are all French and raciest and so try to get him off. His mother died a few days before he committed the murder and if he would have said that he was upset about that then he would have been let off. However Meursault said that he didn't care about his mother dying and he doesn't care about anything! This is the main reason that he is sentenced to death, because he didn't show any emotion at his mothers death. He is also offerend to turn to God by a chaplain but says that God is a waste of his time. This is extremely existentialist.

"Existence Perceives Essence" - John Paul Satre

Existentialists would say that the past is fantasy and the future hasn't happened yet so it might not happen, everyone could just disappear at any moment. Existence is a fact and is pretty much the only fact. A criticism of existentialism is that is it just marxism but without technology and that women, homosexuals, and black people are the proletariat. In the book 'The Second Sex' by the french existentialist Simone de Beauvoir she states that one is not born a woman but one becomes a woman. However existentialism is not class based and it is often the difference between those who are determined by others and those who are free to determine others. In existentialism it is also a sin to stereotype as they believe that everybody is capable of doing anything at any time. Andy Warhol was a very existentialist film maker, for example his film 'Sleep' which only showed his friend John Giorno sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes. Warhol was bored of everything and wanted to show timeless pointless time. This is also like jazz star John Coltrane, who was a heroin addict and would just improvise for hours and hours on a saxophone. In fashion existentialism is just black, black, black; clothes that don't signify anything.

On the upside of existentialism is personal liberation. It also questions the westen philosophy phrase of 'I think therefore I am' because it proves that it is impossible that you exist because it is impossible 'that I am' therefore I am impossible. This questions existence itself, is just a mistake or a joke? You can rewrite your own story.


This is the 'Duck-Rabbit' image and it shows that we can have a certain amount of voluntary control how we see certain images, this control is linked to how we understand things around us without making decisions. But we can decide what we see in that image and we can decide how to understand the things around us, this is very existential idea.

Good faith / Bad faith

The existentialist dilemma is weather to collaborate with bad faith. If you even do this just a bit it is still very bad. You should do everything in good faith , you know why you're doing it, you've negotiated with other people and you're happy that you're doing it. Existentialist set themselves goals and then achieve them. They also do not let people down, if they have made a commitment to someone then they have to do it. They also don't treat people as means to an end, rather they treat everyone as separate end and treat all people as bundles of possibility, not fixed.

Existentialists often talk about the 'burden of being' and they are thinking all the time about if there could be a pure existence and constantly trying to free themselves. Another trademark of existentialism is being passionately committed to something, weather that be a football team or a religion etc. If you are passiately commnited to something then that means that you have point to your life and you have determined yourself, for example going to every football game of the team you support, this would be a path to liberation and having a life.

We find out who we are by how we act act

Existentialist do not sit and worry but actually go and do something. They are of the opinion that we are practically thrown here and we don;t know why or how the world came to be and we can;t chose when we were born or who our parents are, it's all just random. Existentialists believe that you are what you are because of that personal choices that you make and you can change all of this! This is the existentialist dilemma, what are you going to do? Existentialist only do something because thy think it is getting them somewhere, if it's not, what is the point of doing it? This links to the existentialism angst that you're going to die and you're not going to exist again so you better get on with it!

Cool Communication / Hot Communication

This is where the origin of the word 'cool' came from. Cool communication is where the meaning is determined by the viewer which means that people see you and determine for themselves what they think you are communicating. Hot communication is where the meaning is determined by the producer, for example when someone is wearing a train driver's uniform the viewer would identify them as a train driver. So next time you want to look 'cool' make sure you have no determined meaning in your clothing before you go out!