Research Question The life and suicide of Bertrand Zobrist in dan Brown`s Inferno: an existentialist perspective.

how they should live their life 17 . Men believe that they have a particular purpose in this world and they need to do something in order to fulfill their purpose. However, existential philosophy rejects all that assumption and believes that men are the one who decides their own fate. The development of existential philosophy, then, leads European to some prominent names in the field like Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, Karl Jaspers, and more controversially Martin Heidegger. Their works become the root of existential philosophy that prosperously develops through Europe especially after the WW II when people lost their faith to God, religion, and even humanity 18 . One of the most prominent names in Existentialism is Friedrich Nietzsche. He is a major existentialist that opposes the existence of God and religion. Central to Nietzsche’s philosophy is the idea of “life-affirmation”, which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines which drain lifes energies, however socially prevalent those views might be 19 . To believe in God is one of the views that, according to Nietzsche, need to be erased. However, instead of living uncontrolled life, Nietzsche suggests that there should be new ethic in life. He is known as the person who proposes “willpower” as the substitution of God. He believes that “willpower” is the soul of the world and is embodied by every single individual. He believes that nothing will obstruct men for doing what men’s want. 17 J.P. Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism, 2 18 J. Webber, The Routledge Companion to Ethics, 231 19 . Wicks, Robert. “Nietzsche”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edwin N. Zalta, editor. Web. May, 2015 . http:plato.stanford.eduentriesnietzsche His opposition towards God and Religion is depicted in his statement of faith. Paul Roubiczek on Existentialism for and Against states that: Nietzsche recognizes that Christianity has lost its hold over the majority of the Europeans, especially over the majority of intellectuals. For, as European civilization had been based on the Christian concept of God, the disappearance of faith must necessarily leave a void at the very heart of our civilization; instead of God there is nothing 20 . Nietzsche declares that God is dead. He argues that God resides in men’s faith. When the faith disappears, the God’s conception will also vanish from men’s life. Nietzsche, moreover, introduces the concept of nothingness. He argues that the nothingness in man’s life will destroy man by discarding more and more values, beliefs, convictions, and concepts. Nietzsche states that “in the end we are confronted by nothingness as the core of our existence” 21 . Nietzsche, however, believes in an indescribable matter. Instead of thinking that there is a reason behind everything, he thinks that there is a mystery behind the existence of man, “Nietzsche remains aware that, despite all the problems which might be solved, the fact of existence still represents an insoluble mystery” 22 . The other prominent name in the realm of aesthetic existentialism is Martin Heidegger. He is a social expert who focuses his work on social philosophy. Heidegger believes that man is a conscious existence that develops their own faith. This notion becomes the basis of atheistic existentialism. The developments of this 20 Paul Roubiczek, Existentialism For and Against Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964 39. 21 P. Roubiczek, Existentialism For and Against, 39 22 P. Roubiczek, Existentialism For and Against, 54