doe`s anyone know what Existentialism mean?

Question

I looked in the dictanary but it kept giving me some other deffintion could you help me out?

Answer 1

Existentialism is a philosophical movement in which individual human beings are understood as having full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. It is a reaction against more traditional philosophies, such as rationalism and empiricism, which sought to discover an ultimate order in metaphysical principles or in the structure of the observed world. The movement had its origins in the 19th century thought of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and was prevalent in Continental philosophy in the 20th century.

Answer 2

A movement in twentieth-century literature and philosophy. Existentialism stresses that people are entirely free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves. With this responsibility comes a profound anguish or dread.

Answer 3

My definition looks like this... existence... why do we exist... what is the meaning of our life? Existentialism is a philosophy that states we define our own reason for being.

I am an existentialist. I believe many people cling to religion because they are overwhelmed by the thought of having to determine their own meaning in their life.

Just my way of looking at it.

Answer 4

Look at the first five letters: they spell, "Exist." Existentialism is the study of existence...do we actually exist...that sort of thing. "Exist" is the root word in the word, "Existentialism."

Answer 5

Check my answer here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsV9PR1DH.69wbKQMZVeN0jsy6IX?qid=20070213112432AAzSHwn&show=7#profile-info-e562cb35852d00f4acb8d62975eda770aa

Answer 6

It is the belief that life is a freak accident of nature and therefor meaningless.

Answer 7

nope.
no one knows.
sorry.