Jackson Slaughter
Why do we Dread our Existence?
Why do we have the propensity to feel dread? What about our existence brings about feelings of anxiety and fear? Philosophers and psychologists have long pondered these questions. As with many human experiences, the dread of our existence seems to be adverse to fitness, health, and even survival. Furthermore, as Camus posits, what about the condition of existence is so dreadful that it makes some choose to cut their lives short? This research aims not to answer these questions but to offer possible paths to managing our dread, making meaning, and understanding how to grapple with one's own existence. While attempting to provide a multitude of perspectives, this research will push perspectives that help us answer. Why do humans experience dread, and how should we attempt to live in relation to this part of our being? Asking about the origin of dread and why, when left unchecked, people choose to end their lives are both questions that will help reveal answers to the former question. To suggest that the subjectivity of experience removes the possibility of universal answers to this question is unsatisfying. In turn, this research will aspire to provide a guide to those hoping to answer this question for themselves. The examination of continental philosophers Camus, Kafka, Sartre, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard, contrasted with analytical perspectives like Kagan, Jung, and Frankl, has led this research to the following conclusion. There are many paths to navigating the dread one may encounter, but detaching oneself from a desire for objective meaning and forming meaning based on one's own experience is necessary for those who choose to live life away from faith.
Back
Why do we have the propensity to feel dread? What about our existence brings about feelings of anxiety and fear? Philosophers and psychologists have long pondered these questions. As with many human experiences, the dread of our existence seems to be adverse to fitness, health, and even survival. Furthermore, as Camus posits, what about the condition of existence is so dreadful that it makes some choose to cut their lives short? This research aims not to answer these questions but to offer possible paths to managing our dread, making meaning, and understanding how to grapple with one's own existence. While attempting to provide a multitude of perspectives, this research will push perspectives that help us answer. Why do humans experience dread, and how should we attempt to live in relation to this part of our being? Asking about the origin of dread and why, when left unchecked, people choose to end their lives are both questions that will help reveal answers to the former question. To suggest that the subjectivity of experience removes the possibility of universal answers to this question is unsatisfying. In turn, this research will aspire to provide a guide to those hoping to answer this question for themselves. The examination of continental philosophers Camus, Kafka, Sartre, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard, contrasted with analytical perspectives like Kagan, Jung, and Frankl, has led this research to the following conclusion. There are many paths to navigating the dread one may encounter, but detaching oneself from a desire for objective meaning and forming meaning based on one's own experience is necessary for those who choose to live life away from faith.
More About Thacher
Interested in learning more about Thacher? Sign up for a virtual visit here.
A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12
Thacher is committed to maintaining an atmosphere of respect and dignity free from harassment. Our school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, or any other characteristics protected by state or federal law in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, tuition assistance, and athletic and other school-administered programs, or any other basis in law.