Cartesian Skepticism to Existentialism The nature of our reality and existence has been a topic of debate since at least the ancient Greeks. Do we exist? Why do we exist? Does it even matter? These are questions I will attempt to address thoroughly. Answers may not be comfortable or satisfactory‚ but it’s better to rip that band-aid off now than continue blindly in the dark. Rationalism and Empiricism have both attempted to prove existence‚ but at their most extremes they fall apart. Using
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Waiting for Godot: Existentialism and Christianity In modern day society‚ individuals usually experience the same routine over and over again‚ but rarely become aware of the drudgery of daily life. These people are unable to achieve a higher level of existence by being uniform. Waiting for Godot‚ by Samuel Beckett‚ is an existential play where two men are stuck in the same routine day after day. They sit around all day waiting for the inevitable arrival of a man named Godot‚ who seems like he will
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Existentialism In The Stranger and The Metamorphosis Have you ever contemplated whether or not your life‚ or even life in general‚ has meaning or purpose? Have you ever wondered why we are here or why we have responsibilities or even why we think of things as we do? This series of questions that an individual might ask in his or her own mind all point to a philosophy known as existentialism. Existentialism explores the uselessness of the human’s responsibility to make choices‚ perform actions
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Many people describe places by their emotions. Existentialists are subjective people instead of objective. This means that they believe in facts and not emotions from others. Many have different emotions than others about a same place in the world. People connect places that they have traveled to different emotion that they have felt towards a certain place. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye‚ J.D. Salinger writes about the adventures of teenager Holden Caulfield after he flunks out of his prep
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responsible for the birth of existentialist thought. Existentialism is the theory that individuals are independent beings and are free to exercise their own free will. It focuses on questions such as: Do humans have a predetermined essence or do they live completely free from restrictions? If a divine creator does exist‚ what is its true nature? And whether the universe is indifferent to human existence. This paper takes a deeper look into existentialism and how it can apply to literature. Mary Shelley’s
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Existentialism as Exemplified in ‘The Seventh Seal’ The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film offers interwoven storyline. It starts with a game of chess between a medieval knight‚ Antonius Block‚ and Death – in which if Block won‚ Death will prolong the knight’s life. This game goes on in intermittent times. The knight is accompanied by his squire‚ Jöns‚ as they go back to the knight’s castle to be reunited with his wife. Throughout their journey
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Anthony Caruso Dr. Mosser American Literature 5 October 2017 The Sculpting of Existentialism F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway identify the meagerness of American democracy in a gradually marketable and purchaser ethos and cast-off the capitalistic morals‚ characteristics‚ and customs given by and strengthened through the increasingly domineering social‚ and political structures of American culture. For Fitzgerald and Hemingway‚ what is at stake is the person‚ the creative essence‚ and the
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"Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one experiences life as a "single individual"‚ giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking‚ and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment." In the book‚ "The Hunger Games" by Suzzanne Collins‚ one such character displays her life as a "single individual" Her name is Katniss Everdeen. Even before the moment she became a tribute she had to be strong and help provide for her family. She began to provide
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The Existentialist school of thought poses that humans live in an irrational universe and try‚ to no avail‚ to forge meaning out of the chaos and stress. Franz Kafka expresses this sentiment in his novella‚ Metamorphosis‚ in which Gregor Samsa awakes to find he has transformed into a human-sized dung beetle and struggles to maintain that which makes him human. Through Kafka’s expression of Existential ideas of living-for-others and isolation‚ the author encapsulates Gregor’s descent into animalistic
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Edgar Allan Poe is noted as one of the most controversial authors. He was rejected by many and his works like his life are captivating‚ horrifying‚ and deal with love‚ death‚ terror‚ revenge and often brand evil. He had a love for the arts‚ alcohol and women. Death surrounded much of Poe’s early years and it is no wonder that many of his works deal with death and dying. His writings did not deal with the supernatural world of vampires or ghosts but dealt with the evil from within our souls that
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