Existentialist Philosophies and Political Decline

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 7 Article 23 1955 Existentialist Philosophies and Political Decline William A. Bultmann University of Central Arkansas Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas Part of the Other Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Bultmann, William A. (1955) "Existentialist Philosophies and Political Decline," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 7 , Article 23. Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol7/iss1/23 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact , . Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 7 [1955], Art. 23 EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHIES AND POLITICAL DECLINE WILLIAM A. BULTMANN State Teachers College Arkansas One of the major tasks confronting the historian who is engaged in the study of ideas is an understanding of the relationship between manifest political change and the shifting currents of formal philosophic thought. It falls within the historian's province to shed light on the order of precedence existing between philosophy and polity in any particular situation. The phenomenal growth of interest in existentialist philosophies among European intellectuals in recent decades is a matter for inquiry. Existentialism has attracted such wide notice that Jean Wahl, a proponent, lamented that the philosophy had become a world problem. The popularity of existentialism in Europe seems coincide with national which marked the beginin the twentieth century appeared in Germany after World War I. These early writings received wide notice, and after their appearance several German universities initiated the study of the philosophy. During the 1920' s many German commentaries on existentialism were published. It was during this time that the works of Soren Kierkegaard, whose thought is regarded as the foundation of contemporary existentialism, became available to German readers. Kierkegaard's works stimulated further interest in existentialism in Germany, and by 1930 it was evident from the widespread discussion and sizeable literature that a major trend in formal thought was in the making. During the 1930's, however, Germany's economic and political hopes were resuscitated under the leadership of the National Socialists, and the existentialist trend was stemmed with the rise of Hitler. Existentialists such as Karl Jaspers 3, who stood on the prestige of his university position to speak out against the Nazis, were deprived of their posts, and their teachings were suppressed. Others, like Martin Heidegger, accepted the new government and either refrained from publication or joined the officially sanctioned neo-Hegelian school of political thought. Thus, it seemed that German existentialism was unable to cope with the reconstruction of political might, and would die without to political decline and insecurity. The two publications 2 ning of the movement a fight. But the German school was not without its offspring. The writings of Jaspers, Heidegger, and Karl Barth were read outside Germany, especially in France. Under the leadership of Gabriel Marcel, a French school of existentialism was founded in 1930, and the translation of Kierkegaard's works into French was begun. During the 1930's the new thought made great headway among French intellectuals, so that the decline in Germany was paralleled by a rise in France. By 1940, when France was overrun and occupied by German troops, existentialism had acquired the status of a major philosophic school. Through the years of occupation, existentialist writings continued to appear in France, often in the form of plays or novels, and existentialist leaders risked imprisonment and death as leaders of the French resistance movement. By the end of World War IIexistentialism had become as much a fad as a philosophy in France, and Jean-Paul Sartre, who had emerged during the war as the school's most colorful representative, was something of a national hero. In the period of political malaise which has gripped France since 1945, existentialism has persisted. Marcel and Sartre have been joined by scores of writers, and the sale of existentialist literature continues to be brisk. The disastrous defeat and subsequent partitioning of Germany opened the door to a revival of the philosophy there. With the fall of the Nazi government, Jaspers resumed his university post and his writing, and he was received avidly n 3 A Short History of Existentialism, Philosophical Library, 1949, 1. These were Karl Barth' s Commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans, and Jaspers' der We Itanschauungen. Jaspers was professor i Psychologie of philosophy at Heidelberg University from 1921 to 1937 when he was dismissed for political reasons. He was reinstated in 1945. 87 Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1955 87 Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 7 [1955], Art. 23 ARKANSAS ACADEMY OF 88 SCIENCE works, along with those of other existenwestern Germany. Jaspers' tialists, have been termed in Russian-controlled zones as manifestations of western decadence. With the revival of existentialism in the universities, the philosophy has won attention elsewhere in Germany, where it holds a dominant place in German thought. throughout The movement has attracted notice elsewhere in Europe, and since 1945 Kierkegaard's books and those of his followers have been translated into all the major languages of western Europe. To what extent existentialism may influence the thought of intellectuals in England, or Italy, or Spain, is difficult to determine, for the philosophy is relatively new in each of these nations. Itmay be noted, however, that each of these countries has produced thinkers who are influenced by the assertion of the school. The question which emerges in the light of the apparent widespread interest in existentialism is this: What is the appeal of this philosophy to the European of the mid- twentieth century? There are several possible answers. Norberto Bobbio, an Italian thinker, ascribes its growth to the toxic decadentism which today permeates European culture. 4 Or the movement might be regarded as the manifestation of temporary unrest following war. Whatever the explanation, it must emerge in relationship to a Weltanschauung created in an atmosphere of power recession and decline. The institutions which supported the past greatness of Europe, today seem incapable of holding back th (...truncated)