Life of Pi Existentialist Examination

Is Life of Pi live onentialist philosopher? There atomic number 18 two insures of existential philosopher philosophy, that of the much popular a theistic view, and that of the theistic view (Sartre Lecture). In the mass Life of Pi, by Yann Martel the chief(prenominal) authorship of the make is religion, with the main character world of multiple religions Hinduism, Christian universality, and Islam. (Martel). Life of Pi is both existential philosopher and non-existentialist, in both the skeptical and theistic views because of specific religious persuasions, abandonment of religion, despair, and the supreme use of compassionate replete(predicate) for survival.I would outgrowth like to begin by big(a) brief explanations of both nerves of existentialist philosophy, because both do apply to this book, even though the main theme is religion. The main root word of existentialist philosophy is that of cosmos in the first place essence (Sartre Lecture). By this, they mean that we define ourselves as what we argon by our own actions and throw in depart. We exist before our essence, or our ascertaind character, because we determine it for ourselves by our own doings. In the book Life of Pi, by Yann Martel the main theme of the book is religion.The theistic view of existentialism can stapleally be summed up by this quote When we think of divinity fudge as the creator, we ar thinking of him, close to of the time, as a supernal operative (Sartre Lecture). By this, they mean that theists view matinee idol as the all powerful creator. He arrive atd man with a specific idea in mind, and he knew what we would do and create. immortal creates he knows precisely what he is creating (Sartre, Lecture. ) He knows the past, present, and future, and will non allow us to be de gear upate by our sympatheticity nature.Human nature was simply a side effect, to allow us to understand perhaps why and how we atomic number 18, but we cant let it define ourselves as tender-hearteds. Our sense and creations define us as who we are, not our natural consciousness. Therefore, we cannot blame something on instinct and gay nature, because beau ideal did not create us to do that. He created us to innovate. And as intellectuals, it is our muse to realize what we are here for, and to fulfill god and ourselves as human and not to let petty(a) biological needs hinder our knowledge.It is our job to differentiate ourselves from one an otherwise, because we all throw away the same human nature and basic needs, and if we did not use our minds to create an examine for ourselves, we would all be the same. On the other hand, the atheistic view, Atheistic existentialism, declares with greater consonance that if God does not exist in that location is at least one cosmos whose worldly concern comes before its essence, a macrocosm which exists before it can be outlined by any conception of it. That organism is man or the human earth (Sart re Lecture).This is saying that in that respect is no human nature, because there was no god to gestate humans, or the idea of human nature. gentlemans gentleman just simply is, and there is no meaning to demeanor or existence unless they give meaning to it. They shape who they are and who they want to be, or if they are anything at all, and there is no god to throw tryd what humans will be because he does not exist him egotism. homo will barely attain existence when he is what he purposes to be. Not, however, what he may wish to be (Sartre Lecture).Man does not abide existence unless he creates it for himself, therefore neutralisation the theistic view, and saying that essence is before existence. Your essence allows you to exist. Within Life of Pi, there are some things that oral sex to it cosmos possibly theistically existentialist. For example, one of the three religions he intends in is Hinduism, which the aspect of reincarnation and karma are greatly important in. Reincarnation is the article of belief that your somebody is passed down through many natural forms, and karma determines what physical form your soul will foreshorten on in the next life.This follows with existentialism because it is the thought that you are not tied down by your physical attributes, but you are defined by what you do in life and what chain of mountains you create for yourself, and gods ultimately find what physical form you will take on. Therefore, you cannot be defined by what physical form you have or human instinctual needs. It is your job to see beyond that. some other thing that Pi does that admits with theistic existentialism is that of when he is abandoned on the gravy holder, he still continues to pray five clock a day (Martel).Yes, other actions that he committed on the boat turn up otherwise to be non-existential, but he remained hopeful by praying on the boat for quite a while, feeling that he was not yet abandoned by god and did not compl etely accept to his human needs and solely steering on survival. Moving on to slipway that the book is non-existentialist, I imagine that the book was far more non-existentialist from the theistic view. wiz of the ways was how Pi was the denomination of Catholicism (Martel), which is a denomination of Christianity that does not believe in guiltless will.They believe that free will is a denial of grace, or the denial that God created humans in the image of himself, which is reasonably much the demand opposite of existentialism itself. Existentialists believe that god gave man the power of free will because he knows what they will do with their free will, and there is no denial of the image of god. Another way that Life of Pi is not existentialist is when he is on the boat, and commits acts of human instinctual survival. He goes against his beliefs to survive.An example of that is when he goes against his vegetarianism and love of animals to drink the turtles blood (Martel). T his is abandoning your beliefs and self image to survive, and just giving into human instinct, which brings me to another topic of atheistic existentialism anguish, abandonment, and despair (Sartre Lecture). Anguish is basically describing that, when a man decides for himself, he is not only deciding something for himself, but that of all earthly concern because he is representing them all as a whole because all of our decisions define us (Sartre Lecture). Abandonment is saying that we cannot depend on god to give us chaste guidance. We have to have our own moral, and not look to god and holy books to decide what we do in life (Sartre Lecture). discouragement basically means that there should be no despair, because there is no limit as to what we can do. If there is no god, there is no all-powerful being, and and so there is no one to decide our limits for us. Therefore, we cannot be in despair, for the possibilities are unfailing (Sartre Lecture). They all seem to counteract t he belief in god, so in the atheistic sense, Life of Pi isnt existentialist at all.He became a bit abstracted with himself, and not mankind while he was on the boat. He did not fright most the animal he killed, and went with human instinct, thus only caring about himself. He depended on his multiple gods for guidance, and in addition expected them to help him while memory up with prayer five multiplication a day (Martel). In conclusion, I believe that Life of Pi is non-existentialist as a whole. Too many things point to it being non-existentialist in the theist sense, and pretty much all things point to it being non-existentialist in the atheist view.Reincarnation and Karma seem to coincide with that of existentialism, as well of his perseverance with faith. hardly that same perseverance counteracts that of the atheistic view, with anguish, abandonment, and despair. He also showed true human instinct by going against his instincts to survive. I believe that the non-existential ist aspects definitely outweigh the existentialist ones. whole kit and boodle Cited Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Orlando Harcourt, Inc. , 2001. Print. Sartre, Jean Paul. Philip Mairet, trans. Existentialism is a Humanism. Lecture given in 1946. Web. 11 December 2012.