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Concept Of Human Existence
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1.6 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
In
order to give this work its required philosophical grounding, the
researcher made wide consultation of research materials on Kierkegaard.
The outcome of that effort is manifested in the acquisition of deep
knowledge of existentialists’ concept of human existence. However, there
is strict adherence to Kierkegaardian method. Some necessary opinions
or insights of others are employed as and when due as the research
progresses.
The work therefore employs the philosophical methods of
analysis, criticism and prescription. Analytical, as to how it relates
the existential ideas to subjective experiences. Critical, in that it
does not assimilate all Kierkegaard’s assumptions, rather it appraises
his strong points but criticizes the unwholesome aspects of his notion
or teachings in regard to human existence.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
What
formed the scope of this work stems eventually from what Kierkegaard
applied in his effort to ascribe meaning to human existence through
authentic individuality. This implies his ideas of the individual and
the mode of the individual’s existence. Also, the scope of this research
covers Kierkegaard’s existential philosophy, particularly on his notion
of human existence and, by extension, his thought as it affects the
contemporary man.
1.8 DEFINITION IF TERMS
Meaning of Human
What is Existentialism?
Existentialism
as a philosophical endeavour is seen differently from the perspective
of different philosophers. According to R. C. Solomon, existentialism
“is the explicit conceptual manifestation of an existential attitude–a
spirit of ‘the present age’. It is a philosophical realization of a
self-conscious living in a “broken worldâ€â€¦ a world into which we are
“thrown†or “condemned†yet “abandoned†and “freeâ€â€¦a world which appears
to be indifferent or even “absurdâ€â€¦â€ (ix), this definition sees
existentialism “as an attitude which begins with a disoriented
individual, facing a confused world that he cannot accept†(Olawonyin
24). On his part, G. O. Ozumba sees existentialism as “the philosophy of
human existence…concerned with the individual in the uniqueness of his
existence. It therefore renounces reason, universality, abstraction and
objectivity in favour of privacy, particularity, randomness and
subjectivity†(87-88). Supporting this view, Idang (99) writes that “it
would seem, man with his problems, is the main focus of existentialism.
It is a manner of philosophizing, a way and manner of looking at the
world especially of man and his place in the universe.†For Aqulanna
(147) existentialism “is concerned with the ambiguities and paradoxes
that constitute the inner being of manâ€.
From the foregoing,
existentialism, generally, is a philosophical outlook that stresses
man’s predicament, and lay emphasis on man existence as an individual
rather than an abstract being.
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