PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Existentialism, Umwelt, Dasein
2 Jul 2018
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29/03/2018 Rollo May’s Existential Analysis
Phenomenology – first person description of experience – individuals and how they describe
their experience – often combined with existentialism
Individual is a free, responsible, self-determining agent who constructs their own meaning in
life – existentialism
Concerned about the individual/human agent – therefore humanistic approach
Even if we understood everything in academic psychology – we still don’t grasp the whole
agent experiences existence
Key existentialist questions:
What is the meaning of human existence?
What does it mean to be a self?
What kinds of struggles does the self have to go through in order to be?
What meanings does the individual create so as to organise their understanding of self and
reality?
Dasein – human existence in the world
Our existence is fluid and emotional, characterised by 3 modes: Umwelt (the around world,
the natural and physical world including our body), Mitwelt (with world, the world of being
with others, interrelationships between human beings), and Eigenwelt (the own world,
relationship with one’s self)
It is believed that the Eigenwelt is the most neglected, which is hard to argue
Eigenwelt presupposes self-awareness and self-relatedness, grasping of what something
means to the individual
As individuals, we are conscious of the fact that we will die – concepts of death and anxiety
Death is a state of non-being, therefore heightens the meaning of life for everyone
There are deaths of other kinds – psychological death (death of self/identity) we fight
against
E.g. Being downgraded in place of employment, end of a close relationship
This threat is known to the existentialists as angst/anxiety
Existentialism doesn’t care about the why
Free will – individuals are responsible for their own existence
“Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself” – Sartre
First principle of existentialism is free will, we are responsible for our actions and for who we
are
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Document Summary
Phenomenology first person description of experience individuals and how they describe their experience often combined with existentialism. Individual is a free, responsible, self-determining agent who constructs their own meaning in life existentialism. Concerned about the individual/human agent therefore humanistic approach. Even if we understood everything in academic psychology we still don"t grasp the whole agent experiences existence. Dasein human existence in the world. It is believed that the eigenwelt is the most neglected, which is hard to argue. Eigenwelt presupposes self-awareness and self-relatedness, grasping of what something means to the individual. As individuals, we are conscious of the fact that we will die concepts of death and anxiety. Death is a state of non-being, therefore heightens the meaning of life for everyone. There are deaths of other kinds psychological death (death of self/identity) we fight against. Being downgraded in place of employment, end of a close relationship. This threat is known to the existentialists as angst/anxiety.
