Notes on Existentialism
Compiled for PSY 345 (Fall 2004)

Existentialism provides a moving account of the agony of being in the world. The spirit of existentialism has a long history in philosophy. But it became a major movement in the second half of the 20th century. Existentialism is not a systematic body of thought like Marxism or psychoanalysis. Instead, it is more like an umbrella under which a very wide range of thinkers struggled with questions about the meaning of life. Much of the appeal and popularity of Existentialism is due to the sense of confusion, the crisis, and the feeling of rejection and rootlessness that Europeans felt during World War II and its aftermath. Existentialism’s focus on each person’s role in creating meaning in their life was a major influence on the Phenomenological and Humanistic traditions in psychology and on the “human potential” movement that emerged from them. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) said, “Conquer yourself rather than the world.”. To modern existentialists this means that the World itself has no real meaning or purpose. It is not the unfolding expression of Human Destiny or a Divine plan, or even a set of natural laws. The only meaning is that which we create by acts of will. To have a meaningful life we have to act. But we should act without hope. Acting is meaningful but it doesn’t create meaning that lasts beyond the acts themselves or beyond our own lifetime. You are what you do – while you are doing it – and then nothing. (Very depressing.) In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus (pronounced “Kam-moo”) (1913-1960) describes life as a kind of hopeless, endless, uphill labor. Hence, the only true problem is that of suicide. Yet, he rejects nihilism; for the human being must fight and never accept defeat. The problem is to be a saint without a God. The last judgment takes place everyday. The human being must do his best,