it's a philosophy question please help!!!!?

Question

I need to parapharase this passage from a book about esixtential philosophy. The title of the book is "Irrational Man" by William Barrett. The passage is: "THe work of all these writers pointed to something that was happening to Western man that could not be arrested; something of such power and momentum that it had eventually to erupt into philosophy itself. This eruption took place in the existential philosophers, to whom we now come. The malaise of poets over the last hundred and fifty years, far from being the itch of merely personal neurosis discloses rather the human climate in which philosophers, too, whether they knew it or not, drew their breath."

Answer 1

These writers' work revealed a phenomenon that was happening to Western man that couldn't be stopped: something so powerful and crucial that it finally exploded into philosophy. This explosion happened in existential philosophy, which we now approach. The angst of poets in the past century and a half, rather than being a discomfort of neurotic individuals exposes the human condition as a whole, which philosophers, unaware or not, were breathing in."

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

My first suggestion is to read "Irrational Man" by William Barrett.
That being said, I'd start by saying that this passage is, in summary, stating that the writings of the poets and philosophers of the past hundred and fifty years (since about 1850) have reflected Western society itself (as opposed to the philosophy and writings of the Romantic and Reformation Eras).

There are several possible causes of this shift, most chiefly the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Americas which led to significant socioeconomic, political, and cultural changes.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The culimnation of these authors' works was indicative of a surging movement common in the Western World. This movement expressed itself through the existential philosophers, who were not removed from the depressing, uneasy Zeitgeist voiced by the poets of the past century and a half. This feeling was not merely some symptom of some collective emotional disorder, but a broader statement of the status of society's prevailing attitudes.

Answer 4

existentialists became increasingly aware that neither science nor traditional form of religion can provide answers to the urgently needed questions that have been raised after The Great War such as "what does it mean to be human in the world without God? The Old belief structures and institutions have crumbled and centuries-long man;s faith in the Enlightenment and Reason have given place to uncertainty and despair. Changes in the Zeitgeist like these are first and most acutely felt by poets and artists and later philosophers as well.

Answer 5

I am assuming this 'something' is the annihilation for morality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihlism

"Prominent philosophers who have written on the subject of nihilism include Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger. Heidegger argued that the term "nihilism has a very specific meaning. What remains unquestioned and forgotten in metaphysics is being; and hence, it is nihilistic."[6]"


While few philosophers would claim to be nihilists, nihilism is most often associated with Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche defined the term as any philosophy that, rejecting the real world around us and physical existence along with it, results in an apathy toward life and a poisoning of the human soul — and opposed it vehemently. He describes it as "the will to nothingness" or, more specifically:

"A nihilist is a man who judges of the world as it is that it ought not to be, and of the world as it ought to be that it does not exist. According to this view, our existence (action, suffering, willing, feeling) has no meaning: the pathos of 'in vain' is the nihilists' pathos—at the same time, as pathos, an inconsistency on the part of the nihilists."

—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, section 585, Walter Kaufmann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

Answer 6

How about:

"Oh My God I'm Going To Die Someday SO, Life Has No Meaning!"