The Human Predicament: Towards an Understanding of the Human Condition

For each of us, if life is to be experienced as worthwhile, if not thrilling, and occasionally pleasant, if not joyful, our diligence is required. Even the most enviable of lives includes challenges, disappointments, frustrations, and confusions. There is a word for circumstances that challenge, disappoint, frustrate, and confuse – that word is predicament. Being a human being is not easy. Every advantage we enjoy seems to be accompanied by a disadvantage. We can acquire information, but also experience the frustration of forgetting. We can create, but also be tormented with “writer's block.” We can know the euphoria of being in love, but also suffer heartbreak from a lover's rejection. These are but a few of the phenomena that can make life difficult, troubling, perplexing, and, perhaps, a predicament.

Max Malikow is on the faculty of the Renee Crown Honors Program of Syracuse University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy at LeMoyne College. He earned his M.A. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Th.D. from Boston University. His other books include Being Human: Philosophical Reflections on Psychological Issues, Philosophy 101: A Primer for the Apathetic or Struggling Student, Philosophy Reader: Essays and Articles for Thought and Discussion, Profiles in Character, and Suicidal Thoughts: Essays on Self-Determined Death. He is a practicing psychotherapist in Syracuse, New York.