The idea that there is absolutely no point in anything at all, including god is called Nihilism.
Existentialists then asked - what do you do is there is no point? - you make choices because you are free.
Nietzsche
"God is dead" - This marks the start of freedom and the end of certainty, which then means we are faced with crisis (it isn't a problem because it = freedom) - we need something to keep us going.
Nietzsche believed humans have their own morals and human nature is not universal.
This disagrees with the position of natural rights - Locke - and approves Fanon's violence.
Ubermensch - overcomes what defines us as humans.
The superman (overman) ignores this and finds his place in the world - according to his own will - the will to power.
Heidegger
'Being and Time' - highly influential work - it highlighted Heidegger's interest in what it means to exist and the problems within human life. Dasein - is in everyone and it refers to the investigation of the nature of being and the question of nature.
Heidegger is against the work of Descartes - because Cartesian dualism is something that makes philosophy impossible. Hume, who was a Skeptic, believed that humans could never know the world truly because how do we get out of our minds to know the world?
Heidegger talks about Dasein instead of consciousness and subjectivity - so existence is the engagement we have in the world. For Dasein, dualism is absurd, and for Dasein to exist it must exist in the world - so we couldn't exist without the world.
Das man self - the inauthentic self - is a social contrast to the self.
Existence is made up of choices and possibilities.
The inauthentic self is turning existence into an object - because it is not making a choice.
Sartre
Sartre believed that "existence precedes essence" and we create our own purpose.
Things happen without any reason - it is unpredictable - no guiding spirit - no driving force.
The life or someone is not determined by moral laws or God - we choose.
The alternative to recreating oneself is to take responsibility for your own actions and be defined by your choices.
Sartre believed that humanity is -
ABANDONMENT - God is dead - there are no divine set of rules - there is no one to guide us - we make our own path and choices.
ANGUISH - humans are free - 'condemned to be free.' We are responsible for everything - there are no excuses.
DISPAIR - the realisation that the world may prevent us from getting what we want. We are the totality of what we do - we still have the choice of how to react to the setback.
Bad faith - we are radically free - we have no obligation.
"You are free therefore choose"
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