Notes On Existentialism

• Existentialism means the importance of personal experience and responsibility and the demands that they make on the individual, who is seen as a free agent in a deterministic and seemingly meaningless universe.
• Nietzsche- 'God is dead' means the end of certainty. He thought this was fantastic because it meant freedom. Therefore there would be no more pressure about going to heaven or hell, we are our own personal Jesus. 
• Heidegger- his most famous book was called Being and Time. However he claimed that he was not a existentialist. He is interested in what it means to exist. 'Dasein' is each of us. it is being in the world.
• In existentialism you are defined by your choices and your next decision is your most important.
• Your 'das man self' is your inauthentic self, the one that is scared to make true decisions because of social pressures.
• Facticity- for you to base your morality or the outcome of your life on things you have no control over is ridiculous. E.g. Because your parents died and you grew up in a bad area, that doesn't mean you are not going to amount to anything. If you think that your past is going to effect you now, this would mean that you are inauthentic. 
• They believe in the absurd, there is no teleological driving force. 
• As an existentialist you always have the possibility to re create yourself. You can do this by your next decision. 
• Abandonment- god is dead, god does not guide our actions. There is no Devin set of rules to follow.
• Anguish- humans are fundamentally free.
• In some respects you could argue that most top athletes have a existentialistic way of thinking. In terms of, when they are competing, their next game, match or even next move will/can define who they are or how their career turns out. Also they are able to put whatever happened in the past behind them and focus on their next decision which they know will be the most important one for them. But then on the other hand, in terms of their career, top athletes probably do believe that there is a teleological driving force. This would normally be there main goal or reaching the pinnacle of their sport, such as winning the World Cup or multiple Olympic gold medals.