Essay #1: Existentialism

Depression and Existentialism

Jean-Paul Sartre, a proponent of atheistic existentialism, believed that "humans are not made for anything.  We simply exist, and each of us must decide for ourselves what purpose, if any, our existence will serve" (69).  This is because, to Sartre, God does not exist to have given humanity a fixed purpose or nature (188).  It is this thought--the thought that we have full responsibility for our actions, beliefs, feelings and attitudes--which "is the basis for our feelings of despair, fear, guilt and isolation" (67, 69).  Furthermore, he says, "if we're depressed we've often chosen to be" (67).

There are many who would disagree with Sartre, especially to the last statement, including those individuals who are truly depressed.  Depression is "a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason" (dictionary.com: depression, definition #5).  The fact that depression stays with a person longer than any reason can justify is an argument against Sartre's belief that a person who is depressed has chosen to be.  For, if they had chosen to be depressed, then that person could just choose not to be depressed, which would mean that a reason (the person's choice) warrants the depression.  Many people who suffer from depression say that they are unable to "snap out of" such a state, no matter how much they would wish to do so.  They have not chosen to be in this state, and therefore, cannot choose to not be in that state.

Depression is a form of suffering, and even those who are depressed did not willingly choose that suffering.  Therefore, Sartre's denial of the traditional sense of human nature is flawed.  Whether or not humanity as a whole has a purpose--defined by God or not--is irrelevant.  That is not to say that the atheistic existentialist view has no merit at all, however.  Rather, a combination of atheistic existentialism and determinism, or the idea that "every event has prior conditions that cause it"--such as genes or environment--"so that each event is at least theoretically predictable if we know all its prior conditions and the laws governing these conditions" and therefore, no one is responsibile for their own actions (196), would work best.

In other words, perhaps there is no one purpose for humanity, but a person's genes, upbringing and environment are contributing factors in the choices that individual would make for themselves.  Such contributing factors may incline in individual to be more violent, or to like the color green, for instance; however, that person would have a choice to eschew such violent tendencies and become a pacifist, or might prefer blue instead.  This does not mean that a person could choose not to be depressed, but rather that the individual could choose to fight the depression--though that person would never fully be rid of the inclination toward depression.