DE Weekly: Aristotle, Existence, & Essence
Below is an archived email originally sent on December 23, 2024.
Aristotle, Existence, & Essence
I’ve written in the past how existentialism is an all-encompassing philosophy–even though it was born of twentieth century thinking, its ideas are timeless ones.
What I haven’t written much about before is why existentialism is so unique, and such a novel view of things…
Thousands of years ago, there lived a super obscure philosopher named Aristotle. You probably haven’t heard of him before (kidding).
Aristotle’s principle work Metaphysics studied what he coined “First Philosophy”. He studied existence and explored the nature of being in the world, whether there was a single source of all being, and other big questions like that.
Aristotle argued that everything in the world–you, me, a chair, a knife–had an “essence”. That essence defines something’s purpose.
For a knife, its essence is its blade. A knife can be all shapes and sizes, and can be used for many different purposes, but its essence is still the same.
The same goes for a human being; a human’s essence precedes our existence.
This metaphysics–essentialism–was so important for so long. It was considered so intrinsic and so true that it commanded nearly two millennia of philosophy that came after it.
So, why is this important as it pertains to existentialism?
Because existentialism completely reverses essentialism.
Jean-Paul Sartre coined the term “existence precedes essence”. It became a central tenet of existential philosophy, one you’ll find in most of its author’s writings.
For the existentialists, existence comes first. And, as for essence, well…
That part’s up to us.
However difficult it might be, however anxious it might make us, we simply have the fact that we exist. Past that, we determine our essence with the life that we live.
To me, this isn’t bleak. It’s endlessly exciting. And that’s how the existentialists viewed it, too.
Albert Camus said, “The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning.”
The realization of the absurd is the first step. It is then our responsibility as individuals to accept the weight of our own potential, and to work toward giving our lives meaning and purpose–toward essence.
This is a totally different view of things than Aristotle had, to be sure. But it got me thinking…
While existentialism and essentialism are two different mechanisms of living, they both ultimately work toward the same end: to live a life of meaning.
Aristotle believed we could achieve eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that can be translated to “good spirit” or “flourishing”. It’s a type of happiness.
For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the highest human good. It’s achieved when, throughout our lives, we actively pursue happiness through our choices.
Existentialists believe the same.
Karl Jaspers wrote that we can transcend our individuality by connecting with a greater purpose–we can do this by living an authentic life.
We can live an authentic life by confronting our anxiety and the uncertainty of life, and taking responsibility for our actions.
“It is possible,” Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity.”
The Nihilists concluded life was absurd, and found it a bad thing. The Existentialists also concluded life was absurd, and found it exhilarating.
In the face of absurdity and the pitfalls of meaninglessness, there lie endless possibilities to find a purpose, to create meaning… to give our lives essence. So, while existentialism and essentialism approach the question from opposite sides, they meet at the epic finish line of ultimate meaning.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Brandon J. Seltenrich
P.S.––
Merry Christmas. Thank you for joining me each week to explore this beautiful philosophy.
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