PHIL304: Existentialism

5a. Explain the main existential themes in Du Bois' philosophy

• Why might we consider W.E.B Du Bois an existentialist?
• What are the existential themes in Du Bois' philosophy?

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American author, professor, and activist. While many do not think of him as an existential philosopher, he wrote during a time when people of color were struggling throughout the world to achieve liberation. W.E.B. Du Bois explored themes related to freedom, existence, alienation, and hardship attributable to living in America as a person of color. Philosophers of the Black experience engaged in philosophical reflection about the lived experience of racism and its intersections with other oppressions, including sexism and classism, which also present existential themes.
 
To review, see W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin.
 

5b. Analyze Du Bois' theory of double consciousness

• What is Du Bois' theory of double consciousness?
• How does Du Bois' theory of double consciousness represent existential themes?

In his autoethnographic novel, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois said, "It is a particular sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity".
 
Du Bois exposed the problem of Black suffering in American society as the concept of double consciousness – a philosophical, principally-existential issue. Du Bois wanted people to recognize that people of color are victims of structural oppression following enslavement, apartheid, and colonialism, which generates feelings of alienation, despair, dread, and anxiety, among other issues.
 
To review, see The Souls of Black Folk.
 

5c. Explain Du Bois' social construction of race

• How is race a social construction?
• What changes does Du Bois wish to make related to how race is philosophically defined?

Du Bois took direct issue with the notion that human nature is biologically fixed and defined according to the biological sciences. He wanted to show that racial categories are not based on biology but are created by society to divide people for socio-political and economic reasons – that is, that race is a social construction. The biological construction of race and the meaning assigned to each racial category can devalue one's humanity, create alienation, and promote one's double consciousness, all of which lead to despair.
 
To review, see The Conservation of Races.
 

5d. Identify Du Bois' notion of freedom

• How does Du Bois' notion of freedom affect aspects of social and individual freedom?
• What's one of the best ways individuals might attain freedom, according to Du Bois?
• What role might one's double consciousness play in attaining freedom?

Du Bois' believed one of the finest ways people could liberate themselves from misery, humiliation, and self-loathing was to express themselves through art and writing. Du Bois exercised his freedom when he wrote The Souls of Black Folk, where he revised history by providing a much-needed cultural critique. He hoped his writing would broaden society's empathy for and understanding of, Black American suffering.
 
Another way to free one's soul and achieve wholeness in an alienating environment is to embrace one's double consciousness. People should not abandon their double self through assimilation (giving up on part of the self) or separatism (giving up on the rest of society), but they should merge these activities into a "better and truer self" – one that does not deny history but builds upon it.
 
To review, see More on The Souls of Black Folk.
 

5e. Summarize Du Bois' views about nihilism and pessimism

• How do Du Bois' perspectives about nihilism relate to other existential thinkers?
• How might one avoid falling into nihilism and pessimism, according to Du Bois?

Du Bois spends considerable time discussing what it feels like to be "a problem" as a person of color within the social fabric of the United States. These feelings can lead one to fall into nihilism and pessimism, whereby one assumes life is meaningless and, therefore, not worth living.
 
Like other existentialists who came before him, Du Bois understood that nihilism and pessimism were a natural part of human existence. Like his contemporaries, he believed aesthetic art produces value and meaning for people. In the same way, we can mediate feelings of nihilism and pessimism with respect to life, perhaps we can also completely overcome them through aesthetic appreciation.
 
To review, see W.E.B. Du Bois' Life and Works and African-American Writers and Dostoevsky.
 

Unit 5 Vocabulary

Be sure you understand these terms as you study for the final exam. Try to think of the reason why each term is included.

• alienation
• double consciousness
• nihilism
• pessimism
• separatism
• social construction of race
• The Souls of Black Folk
• William Edward Burghardt Du Bois