Not to steal TexRob's thunder, but I've been called an existentialist, too. The Wikipedia definition leaves me kind of cold. The way I see it, being an existentialist is being someone trying to find meaning in a godless world. The existential dilemma is trying to decide what is right and what is wrong in a world where no one will ultimately judge us for our actions - i.e., since there is no God, if I can get away with it, what's to stop me from lying, stealing, killing? I don't think it's an accurate moniker for me now, because I have found meaning and I do know what's to stop me - my own conscience. The existentialist believes he or she exists separately from all other individuals (and from God) and doesn't need anyone else for anything. I'm too much of a social animal for that. I'm a humanist, I think. I think we're all connected through our very humanity - through the fact that we all need sleep and water and food, that we all laugh and weep, that we all die. So I'm still a little miffed that this person thinks that of me. Either she doesn't really understand the word or she doesn't really understand me. Just being an atheist alone doesn't make one existential, like she thought. One can find a great deal of meaning in life and in nature without the existence of a god or gods.
Hi ednbarby --
Yes, for existentialist thought -- and most atheist or human thought for that matter -- "meaning" in life is a project that we freely choose for ourselves. The project doesn't have to make any sense or relate to anyone other than ourselves, but our absolute freedom as conscious entities means freedom from having our meaning in life chosen by someone else, like a society or our parents' religion.
Existentialism proposes no particular right or wrong for our moral existence. It only states that, whatever our moral choices, we alone bear total responsiblilty for them, for absolute freedom is inseparable from absolute responsibility for our choices. The closest existentialism comes to a moral wrong is "mauvaise foi," which is the refusal to recognize what you know to be the case. The best English translation of
mauvaise foi is "self deception." Put another way, existentialists don't believe in an unconscious mind because they don't think any evidence shows that a conscious mind can surpress part of its awareness into another realm without on some level remaining aware of what it is that it's surpressing. So to deceive yourself -- about another person's intentions, for example -- is almost to commit a crime against your very essence -- your consciousness.
Your own consciousness is not enough to stop you from committing an absurd act. You can steal or kill if you wish. That's another existential theme, the theme of anxiety. Anxiety arises in our awareness of our capability, due to our freedom, of doing just about anything, regardless of the consequences. We aren't anxious driving because we could get run off the road; we get anxious because we know we can drive
ourselves off the road of our own free will.
Sartre stated that existentialism is a form of humanism. But humanism, as we understand it now, means making choices for the good of human beings, and existentialism doesn't require that. To me, what humanism does is to supplement existentialism by proposing a morality that makes sense in a world without intrinsic meaning. So I see humanism a value system which is different from existentialism. Since I think of myself as a "naturalistic humanist," I try to combine existential themes with a freely chosen, human-centered morality.
No, an atheist doesn't have to be an existentialist. The Objectivists, who follow Ayn Rand, specifically reject existentialism. About your comments about the social animal, a lot of atheist philosophers asked how individualistic or free we really can be in a social setting, especially since were are trained as social animals in childhood, long before we start questioning where we got those beliefs from and long after we can do much about them, perhaps. I think personality has a lot to do with people's varying social orientation, so it's not an either/or question. But again, does your personality come from within -- or is it conditioned by the society you live in?
