Any existentialists here?

Question

If so, how did affect ur life, and if not, what do u think about Existentialism??

Answer 1

Existentialism

Existentialism is a diverse current of philosophers, who share a distinction between the categories of Being (Sein) and Existence (Existenz), holding that Being cannot be grasped through rational thought and perception, but only through personal existence.

Existentialism has its roots in the 19th century reaction against the “impersonal” Rationalism of the Enlightenment, Hegelianism and Positivism, especially Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. It also includes the Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. Its founders are Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.

See The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir, 1947, and Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre, 1946.

http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/e/x.htm#existentialism

http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/s/a.htm#sartre-jean-paul
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm

"The word “subjectivism” is to be understood in two senses, and our adversaries play upon only one of them. Subjectivism means, on the one hand, the freedom of the individual subject and, on the other, that man cannot pass beyond human subjectivity. It is the latter which is the deeper meaning of existentialism. When we say that man chooses himself, we do mean that every one of us must choose himself; but by that we also mean that in choosing for himself he chooses for all men. For in effect, of all the actions a man may take in order to create himself as he wills to be, there is not one which is not creative, at the same time, of an image of man such as he believes he ought to be. To choose between this or that is at the same time to affirm the value of that which is chosen; for we are unable ever to choose the worse. What we choose is always the better; and nothing can be better for us unless it is better for all."

Definitely a must read for proper warning against superstition. Although there is a reaction against Hegels positivism, whatever that is, Hegel also is a good read for linguistic excersize. It can also be rather therapeutic.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/li_terms.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/sl/slappear.htm#SL131n

Answer 2

Two existentialist philosophers had a big influence on me, Nietzsche and Kirkegaard. Of the two, Kirkegaard had the more lasting influence.
He showed me that if your life is a lie, then your life is worthless. In order to have a meaningful life, it has to be authentic, which means you have to stop lying. Try it for a month and see how easy it is.

Answer 3

existentialism was define to me meaning that we stand alone in a vast and sometimes hostile universe. based on that, i understood it as one who would be a loner, an outcast, an exile. but it really isn't. why and how would a life be a lie? it's in our nature to seek acceptance, to find a mate, to reproduce and pass on traditions, genes, attributes, family quilts and albums. we are not alone, we are not accompanied, we are searching.

Answer 4

Sounds to me as though he's being somewhat facetious...or maybe he feels a honest accountability to stay his existence to fullest quantity of music of Solomon...no longer elementary to declare for beneficial w/o understanding your chum :) Hedonism: a million. the doctrine that excitement or happiness is the optimum sturdy. 2. devotion to excitement as a existence-variety: The later Roman emperors have been infamous for their hedonism.

Answer 5

I am.
It hasn't really affect my life at all.
We learned about it in Humanities not too long ago.
I really agree with all or most of it's major points though.