Analysis Paper

Student’s Name:

Course Title:

Professor’s Name:

University Affiliations:

Analysis Paper

Introduction

Existentialism is a modern form of philosophy that emerged from the words (existence and philosophy). This philosophy was developed in the 19th century by; Nietzche and Kierkegaard. Unlike conventional philosophy which mainly focuses on objectivity, existentialism is open to subjectivity, personal opinions and the aspects of the existence of vast branches of knowledge (John 39). The theme was created in Europe and is often referred to as the modern movement in philosophy. The latter is nowhere close to systematic philosophy rather it is a means of existent where various disciplines are interconnected and studied within their existence. In the pursuit to comprehend the connection between different disciplines, one can identify emerging common themes and shared values. Existentialism can be termed as a core school of philosophy contrary to different to traditional schools of philosophy (Ivanova 43).

Through education, students can get existential awareness in the disciplines they study and in other forms of life. Existential pedagogy is paramount in the study of humanities and other learning disciplines. Lifelong learning and comprehension are promoted by existential philosophies (Kaur 9). The ideology of this paper is to exemplify how existentialism can be applied in varied humanities. This includes in courses such as; philosophy, literature, history, art or a theatre and film course study. This is by considering that the formats of these humanities may be different and also taking into consideration that the study of one humanity may be a link to comprehending another discipline.

Body

Existentialism does not apply relativism or realism, but it supports methodologies of inquiry which are utilized in any discipline (Ivanova 43). The philosophy relies on evident facts and this helps in the identification of shared themes between two humanity disciplines. Existentialism acts as a driving force during the pursuit of connection between different genres of study. Every tool, gesture or technique opens up the world of connection between a literature topic and that of film. A teacher is prompted to present lessons in class in all the possible ways to open up an avenue of diversification and application of knowledge from other disciplines. Students, on the other hand, ought to be trained to learn with an open mind to attract knowledge acquired from other subjects. (Kaur 10) Without the integration of data from various genres, it can be hard to attain outcomes of a particular subject.

Existentialists have constantly believed that; arts, history, literature, and theatre have a source of truth due to their open nature to subjectivity. In these genres, it is easy to find facts and relate them to materials read in class (Stewart 439). However, a genre such as science is highly disregarded due to its vague nature. Integration is highly encouraged in both sciences and humanities to comprehend their nature. Existentialism is wide in its application of efficient strategies in teaching various concepts of humanities and this opens a platform for integration of the genres. Disciplines of humanity have their means of looking at the universe and making meaning out of theories that guide its content (John 39). The approaches utilized are pragmatic and are meant to make students arrive at a certain conclusion. Interpretations and explanations of human subjects are not limited to some form of tradition and this makes it easy to apply existentialism (Stewart 439). For instance, music and literature studies have vast ways of being conjoined when it comes to knowledge and the comprehension of concepts.

In literature, there is a need for characterization which is also applied in the music genre. Themes commonly known to the world are also studied in the two. History has vast knowledge that can be applied in other genres. Students study the topic of racism or gender inequality in humanities such as; art, literature and film studies which are also major subjects taught in history. The aspect of existentialism is a hard philosophy to ignore or segregate like other philosophies (Olafson 22). Its applicability makes it essential in school as well as in other forms of life. Modern pedagogy is promoting the integration of subjects and this makes the philosophy applicable not only in humanities but also in other major disciplines. My learning experience from this course is that there are various ways that you can relate different disciplines despite them being from distinct genres. For instance, knowledge from one humanity can be essential in another. The personal preferences that I picked from the course is that existentialism can be applied not only in school but also in other aspects of life. For example, I can apply aspects of school at home or borrow content learned at work and apply it to making social relationships.

Conclusion

Existentialism is an essential tool in the pedagogy of humanities and STEM disciplines (John 39). A student in theatre or a religion class can apply knowledge attained from a poetry or history class. There is validation of such experiences through the philosophy of existentialism. Students should be allowed to explore and learn from various disciplines without being confined to one area of a subject.

Reference list

Hersey, John M. "Existentialism: An Introduction, by Kevin Aho." Teaching Philosophy 39.1 (2016): 81-85.

Ivanova, Anna. "Phenomenology, Existentialism and Postanalytic Philosophy in Modern Social Cognition: Attitude Positions." International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2018). Atlantis Press, 2018.

Olafson, Frederick. Principles and persons: An ethical interpretation of existentialism. JHU Press, 2019.

Stewart, Jon. "France: Kierkegaard as a Forerunner of Existentialism and Poststructuralism." Volume 8, Tome I: Kierkegaard's International Reception-Northern and Western Europe. Routledge, 2016. 439-492.

Kaur, Navdeep. "Elements of Existentialism in Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha." IJELLH (International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities) 7.5 (2019): 9-9.