Throughout our lives, we are forced to recognize that the future is unknown. Some see this as terrifying, becoming locked in an internal battle between outcomes. The uncertainty of our existence is something which should not be feared, but met with courage and acceptance. It is a stronghold, and the ability to make decisions and perform meaningful actions in response is the ultimate challenge to us. To proceed, however, we must begin with a firm knowledge of who we are as humans, accepting the fact that we can shape ourselves through our decisions. Some philosophers, however, have put forth ideas which seem to threaten this power. Immanuel Kant, in his Prolegomena, asserts that we are incapable of physically experiencing ourselves as subjects. If “I” as a subject cannot be experienced, then our power in the face of uncertainty vanishes. If it is possible to face the uncertainty plaguing our lives, then we must be able to experience ourselves as real subjects (A->B). The fact that we face uncertainty is indisputable (A), as we are plagued by this condition daily. As such, we can experience ourselves as subjects, and indeed must (B). It is this experience which allows us to accept our fate and move forward. Only by being firmly planted in the reality of our condition can we truly live our lives without fear of uncertainty.
In the Prolegomena, Kant asserts that the fundamental “I” which we use to define ourselves is something which has no physical reality. This subject is something we have created as a sort of general consensus, which allows us to have a common footing as humans. He states that “but the question whether I myself as an appearance of the internal sense...exist apart from my faculty of representation in time...must likewise be answered in the negative (p.73, 337).” To claim this is to say we have no power over uncertainty. We become entities lacking the ability to move beyond our physicality to create our own meaning. For Kant, “...the ego is not a concept, but only the indication of the object of the internal sense, so far as we cognize it by not further predicate (p.70, 334).” Kant views the notion of humanity as a subject as a feeling we have, a method of sorts for organizing our impressions of the world. If this is the case, then humanity is reduced to a mere illusion. If a human, as a subject, is without reality, then we become unable to create our essence. This is precisely the point which Jean-Paul Sartre makes in In Existentialism and Humanism, where he paints an empowering picture of what it means to be human in an uncertain universe. To Sartre, we do not define ourselves until we have affirmed certain values. Each of us, through our actions, defines humanity as we face an uncertain fate. In addition, Sartre sees our existence as the starting point. “We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself...and defines himself afterwards (p.67).” We are born into the world as a tabula rasa of sorts, later defining who we are. To him, “man is free, man is freedom (p.71).” This, above all, is the fundamental thing we experience of ourselves. Sartre, like Kant, does not believe in a universal definition for humanity. They both value the power of human reason, but what Sartre claims about the human condition is, inadvertently, the fundamental core of our being. “I” is a fundamental reality of being human that is defined by the freedom which we carry. The fact that we are capable of surviving an uncertain world points to the fact that we fully experience ourselves. It is this freedom which we are experiencing in all that we do, and it is inescapable. It is impossible for us to not experience our fundamental selves.
If Kant were correct, and we had no physical reality as subjects, then we would be incapable of facing uncertainty. The fundamental core of our being, what defines a person as “I,” is the ability to look uncertainty in the eye, and to have the freedom to take action. To be unable to experience ourselves in this way would be like saying that a fish is unable to experience water. We are defined by our ability to cope with uncertainty. Only by accepting this fact, and not letting the unknowns haunt us, can we find peace. Sartre makes it clear that we are the masters of the future, in that we craft the society we wish to exist. Kant and Sartre both miss the fundamental concept of humanity as a subject which is experienced and defined, however, and indeed is necessarily experienced. While Sartre accepts our free will, he does not make the connection of this freedom to the subject that is a human. “I” am a free being, one that can face uncertainty in any way I choose. At the most fundamental level we experience ourselves as subjects with an inescapable freedom. Acceptance of our predicament is the only way to move forward. Ultimately, we must trust only ourselves. To be paralyzed by fear of uncertainty is to not embrace the empowerment that comes with being human.
