The Protest Against Existentialism

Existentialism exposes a dismissal towards traditional philosophy, where it protests against idealist and rationalist philosophy along with their abstract theories. Existentialism attempts to discover a new outlook by emphasizing the subjective realities of human existence, freedom, and choices as a single individual. Existentialists are concerned with the primary concepts of existence with individuals, rather than universal, and to return man away from his despair and back to himself where he discovers the real meaning rested on his consciousness within his freedom and existence. They view societal standards and norms and even religious authoritarianism to be obstructive towards the development of individual’s inner self-discovery in existence, …show more content…
It is hard not to find the man to whom one can surrender oneself devotedly, but It is unspeakably hard not to be able to surrender oneself. A young girl surrenders herself, and then they say, "Now she is no longer free"; but Sarah was never free, and yet she had never surrendered herself. It is hard if a girl surrendered herself and then was cheated, but Sarah was cheated before she surrendered herself. What a world of sorrow is implied in what follows, when finally Tobias wishes to marry Sarah! What wedding ceremonies! What preparations! No maiden has ever been so cheated as Sarah, for she was cheated out of the most sacred thing of all, the absolute wealth which even the poorest girl possesses, cheated out of the secure, boundless, unrestrained, unbridled devotion of surrender -- for first there had to be a fumigation by laying the heart of the fish and its liver upon glowing …show more content…
In the aesthetic sphere, men are constantly in search for pleasure and fulfillment within individualism. Their search for individual experience will become unfulfilling because they are incapable of finding the ultimate answer since they will never transcend beyond the uncertainty; hence they are not completely free. In the ethical sphere, men are constantly filled with a sense of duty towards society. This mindset they possess requires the rejection of personal fulfillment, as they are constraint to be free willed. Subsequently, the religious sphere is where men could live in the truth by transcending above all uncertainty, thus he is free of error and have unlimited freedom to choose what he desires. One might suggest that by completely surrendering themselves to God in order to achieve ultimate freedom by transcending above all uncertainties before him is nothing but God’s pre-determined plan. Kierkegaard believes that God is the source of men’s freedom and for one to be free, one has to unconditionally return freedom to God. Sartre is an atheistic existentialist, whose philosophy of freedom differs significantly from that of Kierkegaard. Sartre strongly believes that men were born free, born completely alone that he himself is responsible for who he is. Being an atheist, Sartre does not believe that our actions are defined