Violence and the Crisis of Meaning

Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher of existentialism, famously noted that “man is condemned to meaning.” Very succinctly this statement alerts us to the fact that human beings are impelled by needs that go beyond simply material desires. Sartre’s assertion denies the crude versions of Marxist philosophy that reduce the human quest for social change and improvement to being only about the struggle for power and material interests. In place of this the struggle over purpose and meaning in our lives looms large in the quest for a worthwhile and satisfying existence. The need to find overarching purpose to our lives is as central to our being as the demand for food and shelter. Meaning is as essential to human well-being as the satisfaction of bodily needs. Sartre’s words points us towards recognizing that a world that is without symbolic value and coherence constitutes a deep crisis in human existence and a profound indictment of a society. To live in such a world means to live an animal-like existence dependent on habit and repetition rather than being impelled by any sense of transcendent purpose, direction, or reason for our presence in the world. Such individuals are, in the words of philosopher Maxine Greene, “sunken in everydayness,” 1 merely going through the motions and routines of their lives without connection to something beyond the self that provides significance or value to our efforts and energies. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.