— Ch. 1 · Origins Of Theological Constraints —
Abandonment (existentialism).
~3 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche stood at the dawn of existential thought in the 19th century. Their theories remained bound within theological systems that acknowledged a higher power. Both thinkers focused on the singularity of existence and the fact that existence comes before essence. They did not approach the belief that God never existed or controlled individual will. This constraint kept their work from fully exploring the concept of abandonment as later defined by others. The first philosophers to remove God entirely were Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. These men opened the door to a philosophy where humanity faces infinite freedom without divine oversight.
Sartres Atheist Framework
Jean-Paul Sartre delivered his defining lecture L'Existentialisme est un humanisme in 1946. In this address he declared that abandonment is the derivative of atheism. He argued there are three schools of philosophical thought influencing individual freedom. Christian Belief suggests God creates people with purpose, giving meaning to life. Christian Existentialism posits man creates identity while searching for union with God. Atheist Existentialism asserts no human nature exists because no creator defines man until he encounters himself. Sartre stated that human reality is subjective to the journey of the individual. Existence precedes the development of meaning for that existence. The absence of God became known as abandonment through this specific 1946 lecture.Heideggers Abandonment Of Being
Martin Heidegger wrote about the abandonment of self before Sartre defined abandonment regarding higher powers. He derived ideas from Nietzsche's work to theorize that distress stems from the lack of distress itself. A person's truest state involves being coming before meaning and results in extreme distress. Heidegger claimed modern times bring darkness and derangement to the West. This era sees the death of moral values echoing Nietzsche's earlier warnings. Three concealments characterize the abandonment of being according to his theory. Calculation represents the machination of technicity where faith rests on scientific data. Acceleration describes a mania for what is new or surprising especially technologically. The outbreak of massiveness compromises unique qualities through beliefs common to many.