Introduction
Ideas have impacted society today in that everything ever invented started with an idea. The development of an idea can be challenging as people usually query the facts which support the idea. Scientists and skeptics show a lot of resistance to ideas until convinced otherwise. This has not deterred the formulation of ideas to better understand the human challenges. Idealism was developed to have a foresight of something desired in the future such as a state or a way of life. Many areas of education, culture and political sphere used idealism as a basis. Political giants such as Karl Marx used idealism to conquer and rule. Artists have also tapped into the use of idealism. Philosophy developed from idealism, has impacted major countries in Europe and later Americas in the twentieth century. The response was mixed and it was referred to as continental in English speaking countries and pragmatism in the United States.
In the continental philosophy there are variations; the existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, deconstruction, and critical theory. In all variations, the phenomenology and existentialism were more influential with origins traced from days of Socrates and before. These philosophies influenced each other in the nineteenth century and were used by many philosophers such as Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) a phenomenologist and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980) an existentialist. Their philosophies have influenced society especially in the English speaking countries.
Body
Existentialism consists of themes that concentrate on the individual and his/her life. Areas such as individuals confronting life, the world is illogical and no explanation can be given to why it is so. Existentialists give their ideas to society hoping the society will adopt them. Two famous existentialists are Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre who influenced society through literature in the form of novels. They existed during World War II and believed that social action is necessary and understanding of the situation.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) grew up in poverty and so much suffering, waste and death leading him to question reason for not committing suicide. He believes this query is brought about by lack of looking at life as it is and not having a preconception to life. He believed that people never reflect on the dangers in life instead dwell on selfness, and continue to spend lives in this terrible world banking on optimism. The more they get positive results the more they are entrenched. Indeed we do not realize or understand ourselves and meet our primary needs. These are the need for precision and social affection and contact. These needs are not met as the world is illogical and no explanation for things happening the way they happen. Social affection and contact is disgruntled, he thought humans in this age stay strange to one another and to themselves living in isolation. Relationships are not mutual and giving out but conservative this leads to misery which humans conceal in baseless optimism.
According to Camus, humans are condemned to a life of vainness and fruitless labor. As much as humans try to live a just life it is improbable that our labors will yield lasting results. Camus visits his thought of suicide and equates it to being weak minded and only struggle with the world can realization be achieved with others and love for the environment. In this unfair world, people commit crime just to live to tell the tale and he viewed as the world in a contest for murder. He cited capital punishment as one such case where people are reduced to the level of murderers. Cynicism has drove humans to extreme anxiety and prevents them from being accountable. Albert believed that there is no God therefore he was an atheist.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) being an atheist believed that you are what you make yourself. According to Sartre humans exist for themselves meaning they are aware and since there is no God there is no determinist humans are free to do what they want and cannot blame a force. Since there is no God we have to institute or devise our own values. This accountability for oneself and for mankind he thought we experience thus it is our duty cannot be escaped. Sartre thinks that people tend to run away from the duty by not appearing anxious which soon catches up causing anguish. The duty to self and others is overwhelming and people tend to run away from it. He also attributes the difficulty to not knowing what to do as the world is bizarre and one has no choice. He maintains that it is only through accommodating our duties that we may live faithfully making choices about life and future. This he suggests can be achieved by directing ones energy to a project and create something that does not exist hence having meaning in their life. Sartre’s thinking leaves man in an absurd situation nothing to do and nothing to be done.
To find meaning in life the individual must create his/her own world by making authentic choices. You are what you do was a phrase associated with Sartre. He wrote that man is nothing other than his actions. This is true but not everybody agreed with the statement as people think that their behavior shows a poor expression of their proper personality. This Sartre sees as deception to oneself. He focuses on his understanding of the existential predicament and he became concerned with social and political issues.
Phenomenology is a variation of continental thinking that came from mindful experiences manifesting free of scientific assumptions and prepositions. In phenomenology an imaginary world can be explored as there are no limiting factors as the seen world. Heidegger wanted to institute a scientific learning of being as the reason for meaning and essential in all things. This attempt brought other deeper studies of being. According to Heidegger, the human is put into the world and shortly experiences both terror and fright when powers that are not implicit confront. He says that humans should think and understand beyond what they see.
A lack of knowledge leads humans to live an unsatisfying life. Communication is also an area Heidegger explores saying nothing meaningful is said or allowed to be said. This has led to humans talking meaningless words to camouflage their fears. A genuine existence can only be established if one appreciates his/her self as a totality. This can happen if one faces the hard fact of death and one is mortal and we have limited time to contribute. He attributes the intellectual poverty to assumption that the value of things is determined by human intelligence and will; this has led to loneliness and social destruction. He suggests that we should take time and think in a disposition allowing thought to flow freely. Heidegger says that thought cannot impose itself on being but being makes thought possible. This gives being the work of enlightenment as opposed to merely existing. The thinking brings about concepts that can be used in enhancing the life standards of self and others. Phenomenologist’s use concepts as opposed to existentialist’s who believe in self and hide in fallacy of optimism in future change.
Conclusion
Existentialism and phenomenology borrow from idealism in areas of dealing with self. There has been continued influence by the various schools of philosophical thought in society. Although they have the same origin, existentialism differs in its philosophy compared to phenomenology. The Hegelian idealism has been used by the school of thought largely with existentialism tapping into the self existence of the human and phenomenology is an extension to introduce the conceptualization of a better living as opposed to just existing.