Being a philosophy minor and English major, I constantly look at interactions
that take place between the different disciplines and ways in which life can be
approached from a philosophical standpoint. Existentialism is a philosophy that
piqued my interest with its reliance on the precedence of the individual and the
consequentiality of man’s choices. And like Jean- Paul Sartre once stated, I
believe that “Existentialism must be lived to be really sincere” (47).University Writing Cente

Hill, Joseph

English

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Praxis: A Writing Center Journal (2003-2011)SectionsFocusColumns and ReviewsConsultingTrainingNews & AnnouncementsArchivesBrowse past issues of PraxisAbout UsAbout UsSubmissionsSubmit an article to PraxisHome » Archives » Fall 2004 (Volume 2 Issue 1) - Secondary Schooland Community Writing CentersExistentialism in the Writing Center: The Path toIndividualityFall 2004 / Consultingby Joseph HillExercising your freedom of choice can make you a better writer andwriting consultant.Joseph HillBeing a philosophy minor and English major, I constantly look at interactionsthat take place between the different disciplines and ways in which life can beapproached from a philosophical standpoint. Existentialism is a philosophy thatpiqued my interest with its reliance on the precedence of the individual and theconsequentiality of man’s choices. And like Jean- Paul Sartre once stated, Ibelieve that “Existentialism must be lived to be really sincere” (47).Working at the Writing Center at Sam Houston State University, I havediscovered a way to incorporate existential philosophy into my interactions withstudents. Aspects of the versions espoused by Sartre and Kierkegaard areparticularly applicable in my involvement with the various people that I tutored.Their philosophies have allowed me to approach tutoring with a new outlookand profound enjoyment.Soren Kierkegaard, forerunner of Sartre in the existential tradition, states thatthe existentialist individual has two duties. One is to contemplate his or herexistence as an individual; another is to contemplate his or her existence as anindividual in the eyes of society. The individual does not exist in a vacuum. It isonly through both his or her facing the void/nothingness and making a claim byone’s interactions with it and others that existence is possible. Kierkegaardidentifies this, then, as a fundamental duality in the existentialist individual.There is the charming societal individual and the alienated individual whocontemplates his or her existence with fear and trembling.At the Writing Center, we all occasionally receive a horrible paper, a paper thatmakes us want to relinquish our tasks as tutors. But we don’t. We don’tbecause our interactions with these clients, even on the small level it is, definesboth us and them at the same time. When student writers are alone, in front ofthat computer screen, they are undergoing Kierkegaardian fear and tremblingstemming from their insecurities about their existence as both writers andindividuals. But, when the students bring the papers to us, the tutors, it is ourfunction to engage them, and force them to realize that they can exist as anindependent and individual writer. Alone, they ponder with typical “fear andtrembling” their existence, but in the presence of a tutor they are existing inthe fullest sense of the word. Their individuality is reassured.Kierkegaard also makes mention, in his work Point of View, of the individualand the crowd. The crowd, according to Kierkegaard, is the untruth and theprevailing attitude of the masses. The crowd is the Roman mob, easily swayedand intimidated by the individual. The individual, on the other hand, is truth.Due to this realization of the simplicity of his or her freedom, the individualexists fully on his or her own, coming to his or her own truths. This freedomdraws its power from the ability to choose.As a tutor, I must realize what the driving force behind tutoring is. For me, it isthe making of individuals. Helping people to think and to question their ownwriting and their prospective abilities as a writer is paramount. Writing, to hearsome of the clients tell it, is something they are never going to be good at.“Writing sucks.” “Writing is terrible.” “I can’t write.”This is the attitude of the crowd. It is the crowd that has forced the students toadopt this attitude. And it is the crowd, this influential power, that studentsmust abandon. The crowd does not think, it merely acts. And writing is aprocess of intense thought. Writing is a process that scares the crowd, due tothe intense examination and re-evaluation of self that accompanies it. Throughtutoring, we teach students to lose the excess baggage of the crowd andbecome truly self-confident writers.Most students struggle with self-doubt. And it is this attitude of self-doubt thatpervades through a majority of students’ psyches. But, through subtle nudgesin the right direction, we tutors allow the students to re-evaluate themselvesconstantly. By doing this, by engaging them in a dialogue about their writing,we allow them to create a unique self, a self that has gone through the internaldiscourse and thought development that is accomplished by writing.There is also Sartre’s brand of existentialism, which is often looked on as aphilosophy that condemns life in general. However, in all actuality, rather thancondemning life, his philosophy condemns the individual to be in control of theburden of his or her own freedom. It resurrects the individual and forces him orher to cast off the essences that enslave. According to Sartre, “Man iscondemned to be free…man is free…man is freedom” (295). Each individual,after realizing that one’s actions are limited to one’s individual will, experiencesdespair to some degree. This despair, in turn, leads to a corresponding positiveabandonment, when the individual realizes that there is no higher power andthat he or she is free to control his or her own life. Sartre puts it best bysaying, “In fashioning myself, I fashion man” (292). The existential individualalso constantly faces the void: being free to define himself or herself, theindividual must constantly face the void or nothingness in order to existactively.Sartre gives an example of a man asking for his advice about a major decision.Sartre answers the man’s query with a single word, the only word with whichhe feels he could answer: “Choose.” The man is thus burdened, so to speak,with the freedom of choice. Many times in the Writing Center a student will askas blatantly for your advice. “What should I do in this case?” “What does theteacher really want?” “What will get me an A?” (“Write my paper for me.”) Astutors, we can only answer them as Sartre would, by freely offering them theoption of choice. We must say “Choose.” Choose what you, as a student, thinkworks. Choose what you think will earn you an A. Choose what you think theteacher wants. Like Sartre, all we can really do for students is to have themexplore their options. We can guide students to the path to choice.With this newfound freedom, students may then undergo a period of despairand an overwhelming sense of abandonment. They might enter into anintellectual stasis, not quite yet free to define themselves, not quite fully free tochoose, yet still feeling that they have a freedom of choice. Of course, they areabandoned only in the sense that their writing ability now exists within them astheir choice. It is our job as tutors not to show them what to choose, but toguide them on the path to individuality, at least as far as their writing isconcerned. Their writing must exist on its own, without any sort of cause orblame lying in the hands or at the feet of other parties.Also part of becoming an individual, according to Sartre, ties into the concept ofself-deception. This self-deception is the denial of one’s true existence and thesubjugation of this existence beneath another existence. Sartre uses theexample of a man who has become a bartender and has led himself to believethat his only existence is that of a bartender. In effect, the bartender lies tohimself about his existence, his choices.I often tutor many clients who begin the initial sessions with little confidence intheir writing. So I ask them, “What’s your paper about? What’s your thesisstatement? Do you understand the assignment?” And through the weeks, andoften months, their papers improve. Their writing begins to take a more well-reasoned and clear shape, reflecting the thinking of a self-confident writer. Thatis to say that these students lose the crowd’s intellectual instability and havestarted instead down the path to individuality. Moreover, they are no longer in astate of self-deception as far as their writing is concerned.Finally, the Writing Center has worked for me personally as an existential tool.One of the main premises of existentialism is the ability to act, but act withinone’s means. Rather than protesting futilely about my responsibilities as afreely choosing individual, and affecting few in the process, I work at theWriting Center, slowly nurturing students towards intellectual confidence andindividuality. Acting within my means I defy the void. I exist.Works CitedKaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. New York:Meridian Books, 1956.‹ Changing Hearts and Minds up Fall 2004 / About Us ›____________________Joseph S. Hill is a recently graduated Sam Houston State University Englishmajor and philosophy minor. He worked at the Writing Center at Sam Houstonduring his senior year. He is interested in trying to make philosophy work in themodern world, which, in his experience, is a difficult task.    Praxis is a project of the Undergraduate Writing Center at the University of Texas at Austin     Editor login

Existentialism in the Writing Center: The Path to Individuality

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Existentialism in the Writing Center: The Path to Individuality

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