Comprehensive Study Guide on Existentialism, Authenticity, and Freedom

Subjective Meaning and the Will

Meaning is fundamentally subjective rather than rationally justifiable; individuals find activities meaningful or pleasurable simply because they experience them as such, in the same manner that musical appreciation defies objective rationalization.
Richard Taylor argues that enjoyment and meaning are entirely subjective phenomena rooted in the human will rather than intellectual rationalization.
Under Taylor's framework, good reasons are not required for an experience to confer meaning; meaning originates entirely from within the subjective agent.
In Taylor's interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus lives a meaningful life provided he possesses the internal desire or impulse to roll his stone up the hill, rendering external questions about why he enjoys the task irrelevant.

Historical Foundations and Core Themes of Existentialism

Existentialism developed as an intellectual and philosophical movement in early twentieth-century France, primarily through the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.
Literary precursors to the movement include authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Franz Kafka.
The philosophy arose as a reaction against formalized, systematic, and collectivist doctrines regarding the nature of meaning.
Existentialism places a primary emphasis on the individual and the deliberate, self-directed creation of meaning in one's life.
The movement champions active engagement over theoretical detachment, rejecting the assumption that individuals can solve fundamental life dilemmas purely through detached contemplation.
The necessity of active engagement aligns with perspectives found in Robert Nozick (who argues that individuals want to actually do things rather than passively experience them), Susan Wolf, and Richard Taylor, contrasting active involvement with complacency, passivity, or being a mere client of life.

Human Existence, Teleology, and Radical Freedom

Classical teleology defines objects and beings by their function: Aristotle posits that even a knife possesses a virtue (arete) or proper functioning (ergon) if it cuts well.
While classical philosophers like Aristotle and Plato assert that the purpose of human existence is to be a virtuous or fully rational person, existentialism rejects all preset human essence or teleological design.
Human beings enter the world without predetermined potentials, intrinsic values, or prescribed obligations; human emergence begins as blank biological existence.
Although individuals are situated within biological conditions and cultural contexts, authentic values require the individual to act as the sole author and originator of their commitments.
Socrates functions as a proto-existentialist by holding self-determined values, yet differs fundamentally by viewing perpetual rational examination as the ultimate path to truth and meaning.
Human thought and discourse proceed from mutual dissatisfaction with prevailing answers and an openness to discovering new ones.
In existential thought, reality is not structured around logic, rationality, or objective reasons; existence itself is an inescapable problem common to all humans that cannot be resolved through philosophical argumentation, but only through living and passionate commitment to projects.

Identity, Transcendence, and Authenticity

Existentialism rejects static definitions of the self, such as René Descartes' conception of the human as a substantive thinking thing (res cogitans) or Plato and Aristotle's definition of man as a purely rational being.
The human self is processional, narrative, and continuously reinterpreted across time rather than static; past events and regrets can be retroactively reframed by the self-interpreting agent.
While non-human animals (such as water buffalo) inhabit the present without comprehensive awareness of their past trajectory or future destination, humans possess the capacity to project into the future while bearing consciousness of their mortality.
In existentialism, transcendence does not carry a religious connotation; it signifies the human capacity to surpass biological limitations, cultural conditioning, and environmental constraints by choosing self-authored values.
Sincerity and authenticity represent the foundational virtues of existentialism, standing entirely outside traditional moral systems such as utilitarianism (the greatest happiness principle).
The film Dead Poets Society serves as an archetype of existential values by idealizing authenticity, raw emotion, and passionate commitments that break away from conventional expectations and complacency.
Living authentically requires breaking with conformity, affirming radical freedom, and recognizing that one's self-chosen projects may end in failure.

Radical Freedom, Despair, and Nihilism

The existential task centers on recognizing that the universe is inherently valueless and meaningless, leaving the individual with radical freedom and sole responsibility to forge value.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's observation that man is free yet everywhere in chains illustrates that individuals are condemned to freedom but routinely flee from its terrifying weight and associated responsibilities.
Existential literature exhibits a distinctively romantic, hyperbolic, and effusive style, contrasting with the hyperbolic sensory doubt characteristic of Cartesian philosophy.
Existentialism maintains skepticism toward rigid ethical codes and abstract taxonomies, prioritizing an agent's practical disposition, lived attitude, and concrete actions over rational justification.
Precursors to the existential view of the unconscious include Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, who observed that the majority of human cognition and motivation operates beneath conscious awareness.
Søren Kierkegaard identifies the quintessential condition of despair as the unconscious state of being in despair without recognizing it.
The early twentieth century experienced a collapse of traditional theological frameworks that formerly supplied objective purpose, characterized by the ascendance of scientism and the philosophical death of God.
Christian existentialists such as Kierkegaard reject institutional Christianity and collective religious identity, emphasizing solely the unmediated, individual relationship between the person and God (exemplified in the biblical narrative of Abraham and Isaac).
Failing to confront radical freedom or make authentic commitments produces distinct existential states: nausea, absurdity, anxiety, guilt, mystery, and the uncanny (das Unheimliche).
Nihilism (derived from the Latin nihil, meaning nothing) asserts that nothing possesses intrinsic value; while existentialists accept that the world lacks objective value, they reject nihilism as a cowardly form of escapism designed to evade personal responsibility.

The Rejection of Teleology in Suffering and Action

Existentialists deny that human actions possess inherent, preset goals or destinations within an objectively meaningless universe.
Although conventional worldviews frequently ascribe redemptive purpose, spiritual maturation, or intrinsic value to human suffering, existentialism views suffering as devoid of inherent teleology.
Much human suffering is mundane, senseless, and uninstructive (such as stubbing a toe while taking out the trash), possessing no greater metaphysical significance unless an individual artificially constructs one.

Philosophical Insights of Søren Kierkegaard

People routinely settle for a tolerable threshold of despair and mistakenly designate that compromise as happiness.
The most pervasive manifestation of despair consists of failing to be who one truly is, thereby neglecting the fundamental obligation to author a meaningful life.
Despair is defined by a lack of awareness of one's own compromised existential state.
The most agonizing condition of human existence is remembering the future, specifically mourning the unrealized potential of a future that will never materialize.
Under the doctrine of negative responsibility, choosing not to act constitutes an action and an existential commitment in itself.
Kierkegaard's literary output was deeply shaped by his profound personal regret following his broken engagement with Regine Olsen, serving as an ongoing tribute to that severed bond.

Primacy of Action Over Rumination

Søren Kierkegaard emphasized the indispensable value of physical walking: daily walking cultivates well-being, generates one's best thoughts, and allows one to walk away from burdensome ideas, whereas physical and mental stagnation compound distress.
Intellectualizing problems through excessive rumination exacerbates psychological distress rather than resolving it.
Friedrich Nietzsche advocated treating problems like a swift, bracing immersion—quick in, quick out—prioritizing decisive action over debilitating analysis.
The hazards of excessive deliberation are exemplified by William Shakespeare's Hamlet, whose compulsive rumination regarding the assassination of his uncle paralyzed his ability to act.

Practical Exercise on Authentic Choice

A ten-minute walk to the university quad serves as an applied exercise in evaluating existential authenticity.
Participants identify two major personal choices—such as an academic major or impending life decisions.
Group discussions evaluate whether these choices reflect the passive adoption of prefabricated societal norms or authentic commitments originating directly from the individual.

Questions & Discussion

Purpose and Function of Tools: In response to an inquiry regarding the proper purpose of a knife, Gabriel identified cutting as its defining function. The analysis established that while an object can be used for diverse arbitrary tasks, its proper functioning (ergon) and virtue (arete) within classical philosophy reside in cutting well, contrasting with human beings who possess no such predetermined function.
Distinction Between Fear and Anxiety: Stuart queried whether anxiety constitutes an inability to assign a rational cause to an emotional apprehension. The response clarified that while fear possesses a determinate, identifiable object (such as the specific fear of failing or receiving a zero on an essay due on the 16th), anxiety is generalized dread lacking a direct object—analogous to an unreachable particle lodged between one's teeth—stemming from an unacknowledged awareness of radical freedom.
Interpretation of Kierkegaard's Maxim on Walking: Francis and other participants examined Kierkegaard's quote regarding walking to clarify whether it advocates physical exercise. The discussion concluded that the passage advises keeping forward momentum in the face of life's struggles, warning that static over-intellectualization deepens despair while purposeful movement sustains vitality.
Attendance and Logic banters: Dr. Barbara and students concluded class administration regarding attendance input (confirming the response code "R"), while students briefly discussed the beginning of formal proofs in logic, noting their initial difficulty.