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Definition: Existentialism from Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

A philosophical attitude owing much to the writings of Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55), which developed in Germany after the First World War and somewhat later in France and Italy. Atheistic existentialism was popularized in France by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) during the Second World War. Existentialists emphasize the freedom and importance of individual ‘existence’ and personality and show a distrust of philosophical idealism. Much of their writing is characterized by disillusionment. The term is a translation of the German Existenz-philosophie.


Existentialism

From Encyclopedia of Communication Theory
Existentialism is difficult to define. This is due, in large part, to the fact that although it was conceived as a serious philosophical doctrine, it has been frequently vulgarized to the level of some loosely related styles of writing or, worse yet, to a fad, so that the existentialist label gets applied to authors or ideas that are only remotely, if at all, connected to existentialist philosophy. More significantly, a further complication derives from the fact that, as is the case with so many philosophies, the ideas proposed by various existentialist thinkers often do not share any one cardinal point. For example, Martin Heidegger, one of the major voices of the existential philosophy, vehemently chides Jean-Paul Sartre, a giant of existentialist thinking in his own right, for misunderstanding the term existence and thus debasing the label existentialism to mean some kind of nihilistic view on life and human history. Moreover, even when existential philosophers draw on the same…
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Existentialism is a chiefly philosophical and literary movement that became popular after 1930 and that provides a distinctive interpretation of human existence. The question of the meaning of human existence is of supreme importance to existentialism, which advocates that people should create value…
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Full text Article existentialism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(ĕgzĭstĕn'shӘlĭzӘm, ĕksĭ–), any of several philosophic systems, all centered on the individual and his relationship to the universe or to God. Important existentialists of varying and conflicting thought are Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Gabriel Marcel, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All…
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Full text Article existentialism

From Encyclopedia of American Literature Full text Article Volume 4
Existentialism, a complex philosophy often oversimplified, has its roots in the nineteenth-century writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others. It was a term adopted by Jean-Paul Sartre for his speculations, shared by other European philosophers, notably Martin Buber, Martin…
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Full text Article EXISTENTIALISM

From Global Dictionary of Theology
Existentialism is a twentieth-century Western philosophical movement that emphasizes existence over essence. Every other Western philosophy from Plato through Kant and Hegel has attempted to understand the universe and human beings through a system of thought that emphasizes a general essence of…
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Full text Article existentialism

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Søren Kierkegaard, drawing by Christian...
Philosophical movement oriented toward two major themes, the analysis of human existence and the centrality of human choice. Existentialism’s chief theoretical energies are thus devoted to questions about ontology and decision. It traces its roots to the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich…
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Full text Article EXISTENTIALISM

From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms
The philosophy (or anti-philosophy) that claims that existence - being-in-the-world - precedes and takes primacy over essence (or more precisely the philosophical movement which explores the thesis that human existence constitutes the living matrix for every form of action, knowledge, values and…
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Full text Article Existentialism

From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
Core definition Philosophical doctrine that emphasizes the ultimate responsibility and freedom humans have in deciding how to journey through an absurd and meaningless world. Longer explanation Last night I went to bed knowing my life had meaning. I had goals, I had a purpose, and even if I didn't…
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Full text Article existentialism

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
a philosophical and literary movement that came to prominence in Europe, particularly in France, immediately after World War II, and that focused on the uniqueness of each human individual as distinguished from abstract universal human qualities. Historians differ as to antecedents. Some see an…
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Full text Article existentialism

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
Term adapted from the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55), and now denoting the philosophy of personal existence which he introduced, according to which the subjective consciousness of the individual, and his solitary ‘leap into the unknown’, constitute the sole legitimate premise of all…
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Full text Article EXISTENTIALISM

From The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics
Existentialism is a term associated with SARTRE , who in his philosophy emphasises the use of the imagination and what is not, over what is, the latter being a rather humdrum sort of affair consisting of the kind of facts that scientists examine, while the ‘what is not’ is really much more…
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