VARIETY
DOES EXISTENTIALISM
STILL EXIST?
Let me explain
this
question. Is
it not true that the discussion of
the meaning of existentialism has
been dying down? or at any rate
is being taken more and more for
granted, like cynicism, optimism,
surrealism, acoholism, and practic–
ally all the other well-known top–
ics of conversation?
If
so, this is a dangerous state
of affairs. For as soon as a philo–
sophy is taken for granted, as soon
as its meaning is assumed, then it
begins to be misunderstood and
misinterpreted. Philosophical ideal–
ism
is
3:
good eXample. It was once
just as fashionable as existentialism
and is now generally thought to
have to do with those impractical
people who believe in ideals and
never amount to anything.
I propose a revival of interest in
the meaning of existentialism be–
cause when everyone asks what
something means, the possibilities
of misunderstanding are, if not
lessened, more controllable. Hav–
ing studied existentialism in an off–
hand way since 1935, I become
more and more convinced that its
meaning can be reduced to the
following formulation:
Existential–
ism means that no one else can
take a bath for you.
1361
This example
is
suggested by
Heidegger, who points out that no
one else can die for you. You must
die your own death. But the same
is true of taking a bath. And I pre–
fer the bath as an example to
death because, as Heidegger fur–
ther observes, no one likes to think
very much about death, except in–
digent undertakers perh:1ps. Death
is for most a distant event, how–
ever unpleasant and inevitable.
A bath, however, is a daily
af–
fair, at least in America. Thus it
is something you have to think
about somewhat everyday, and
while you are thinking about it,
and while, perforce, you are tak–
ing a bath, you might just as well
be thinking about what existential–
ism means. Otherwise you will prob–
ably just be thinking about your–
self, which is narcissism; or about
other human beings, which is like–
ly to be malicious, unless you are
feeling very good; or worst of all,
you may not be thinking at all,
which is senseless and a waste of
time.
Of course, there are other acts
which each human being must per–
form for himself, such as eating,
breathing, sleeping, making love,
etc. But taking a bath seems to me
the best of the lot because it in–
volves the vital existentialist em–
phasis on choice: you can choose
not
to take a bath, you can waver
in your choice, you can finally de-
