“French existential philosopher Simone de Beauvoir pointed to authenticity as a foundational element of the meaning of life. But she meant something very different by the idea than the familiar parade of platitudes about being true to a pure form of yourself. For Beauvoir, there is no fixed essence to our being, since we are always becoming something other than what we are today. For Beauvoir, “existence precedes essence,” meaning that we exist first and then spend the rest of our lives creating who we are (our essence). 1 She thought that there is no “true self” to discover, but only a vibrant self that we create through our choices. In other words, we are creative nothings.” — How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment by Skye C. Cleary
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Let’s introduce ourselves, Existentialism class of ‘26/'30. Go to the comments space below and tell us who you are, why you’re here, h...
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Starting Sep 10 you can indicate your preference (in the comments' space of this post) for the topic and date of your report presentati...
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PHIL 4200 - Existentialism. Fall 2026. (Syllabus under construction) Dr. Oliver Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu 220 HONR (Honors Building), 300 JUB...
Perhaps realizing an individuated self requires first accepting our facticity. Through an honest evaluation and taking stock of these given conditions, we develop into agents who, in hindsight, squander as little potential as possible in forging who we become.
ReplyDeleteThat's the issue with more extreme existential statements: they tend to understate the relevance of facticity, or pretend that our fixed biogentic/cultural inheritance is more flexible than it might be. We're never just "nothings," creative or otherwise. Sometimes the existential rhetoric carries itself away.
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