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What is Existentialism?
Answer (number 1.) A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe. This philosophy regards huma…n existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. Its intention is to show people their own obligation to secure their existence (identity) by realizing how they define themselves as separate from anything that blurs individual identities. An easy way to begin understanding that concept is to think about how we are generalized into groups or types of people, and how that negates our individual significance. To do something because you are part of a group or want to be accepted into one (following trends, for example) nullifies your personal identity. You exist only as part of a group. But to make a choice (the same choice, even) separate from influence of anything except yourself (e.g., because you genuinely want to) secures you as a unique and significant human being. Existentialists argue that not thinking and acting towards determining your place in the universe essentially makes your existence meaningless. Acting in ways that pertain to one's existence = existential (and essential) Answer Number 2. What is Existentialism? 1.Existentialism is a 20th century cultural movement, primarily literary , theological and philosophical in character, that recognizes the free individual as the sole creator of meaning and morality. It is a reaction against traditional philosophy including Rationalism, without seeks ultimate meaning in metaphysical principles, and Empiricism which seeks it in the observed world, and it is a total repudiation of all traditional systems of belief. 2. The core of Existentialism is to be found in the dictum " Existence precedes Essence", that is, the existence of the individual, both factually and logically, comes before the meaning that he or she gives to the world. This fact inevitably generates "Anxiety" against which the individual seeks to defend himself by various stratagems, including, accepting the meaning that others have ascribed to him, which Sartre called "Being for Others", or living under their " Gaze", or by lying to himself about the nature of reality, which he termed " Bad Faith". For the existentialist, a belief in reason, or at the very least, the belief that rationality can solve the riddle of meaning, is an act of " bad faith" particularly attractive to intellectuals. The existentialist rejects all these stratagems, embraces existence , accepts that he lives in an " absurd" world, that is, one that is objective and therefore indifferent, and recognizes himself as the only genuine source of meaning. 3. Existentialist themes can be found in " The Epic of Gilgamesh", the Old Testament, particularly the books of Job and Ecclesiastes, the teachings of the Buddah, and "Pascal's Wager", but the sources of modern Existentialism are the works of Kierkegaard, whose " Knight of Faith", and Nietzsche whose "Ubermensch", are existentialist heroes, though neither author used the term. Nietzsche's aphorism " God is dead", that is obsolete, is the starting point for atheistic existentialism, while Kierkegard's view that belief in God is a matter of personal choice, influenced the existential theologians, Tillich, Bultman, Buber and others. Indeed, theologians more than others, are prepared to style themselves Existentialists. 4. In the 20th-century Sartre and de Beauvoir were self-confessed Existentialists, but most other intellectuals eschewed the term. Even Heidegger, who, on any view, is a key existentialist thinker, denied he was an existentialist in the Sartrean sense. Moreover, " Existentialism" has come under fierce attack from philosophers of differing traditions. From a Marxist perspective, Marcuse accused existentialistm of projecting anxiety and meaningless onto existence rather than recognizing them as products of the capitalist system, and identified it as reactionary. The Logical Positivists, particularly, Carnap and Ayer, thought that existentialists misunderstood the verb " to be", which led them to peculiar conclusions about " Being" and its opposite " Nothingness". More recently, in " From Descartes to Wittgenstein", Roger Scruton describes existentialism as inconsistent in recommending the " authentic life", which, on its own assumptions, can have no objective force. 5. Indeed, if existentialism had merely been a philosophical movement it is unlikely to have had such a profound affect on the intellectual climate of the middle of the 20th century. In truth, existentialism was always primarily a literary movement beginning with Dostoevsky's " Crime and Punishment" and " Notes from the Underground", continuing with Kafka's " Metamorphosis" and Hesse's " Steppenwolf"(strongly influenced by Kierkegaard's " either/or"). Sartre himself was a novelist and playwright of some note as well as a propagandist or brilliance." Nausea"," The Roads to Freedom" and " No Exit"(" Huis Close") are works of considerable merit. In his "Theatre of the Absurd" Martin Esslin identified Becket, Ionesco, Genet, and others as essentially existentialist playwrights. Unsurprisingly, literature has been far more effective in portraying the existentialist perspective than philosophy. 6. Is existentialism now of purely historical interest? Certainly, there has been no great existentialist figure since the death of Sartre in 1980 and de Beauvoir shortly after, but existential literature and film continue to flourish, for example," Taxi Driver", "Blade Runner" and " Fight Club", though on the whole existentialism has given way to fashionable postmodernism, which exhibits similarities particularly in relation to the relativity of morality. Another answer: Philosophy on life is often attributed to ontology , the study of being. There are many ways to consider why we are alive. One major example is Existentialism, which was a movement in the 1890s that was prevalent into the mid 1900s (until structuralism took over). There are still many Existentialists today. The most basic sentence that summarizes the foundation upon which existential thought is placed is, "Human action dictates essence." That is to say that one's actions dictate what he or she is. A student is only a student as long as he or she does student-like things (such as studying). Notice the emphasis on human action. This is because other objects, such as a table, or sentient beings, such as a cat, do not have the capacity to act in such a way that they give consent to act. A table doesn't act at all, so it doesn't stop being a table. A cat has no choice in the matter of action; its impulses drive it to act a certain way and it will never stop being a cat. Humans, however, have the freedom of choosing their actions, which gives rise to the phrase "humans are condemned to freedom". Thus is one example of the nature of life or "existence", in this case. Others include dualistic approaches (separation of soul and body) and theological approaches (we are here to do God's will and there is an after-life). It is up to you to choose one to which to adhere. (MORE)