Describe existentialism?

Question

As best you can

Answer 1

The first "theme" or tenet of existentialism
is the importance of personal responsibility.
The other main tenets are isolation, death, and meaning.
These lead to problems with freedom, boredom, dread, and alienation versus belonging.

In other words, the individual is between being and nothingness, and so being, s/he must CHOOSE and be RESPONSIBLE to MEANING.

That choice will be put off by dread or boredom or "existential nausea," but in putting it off those very aspects increase in the person, that is known as angst, or an existential crisis.

A decision must be made, and it must be made despite isolation, alienation and impending death. It does not matter how "absurd" the decision or CHOICE may appear to others (as in Sisyphus' eternal pushing of the rock up the hill, only to find it back at his feet). The decision must be made, and one must give it MEANING, and be RESPONSIBLE to it in order to find any reason, at all for living or dying. There is NO EXIT.

Tenets in sum:
Choice
Meaning
Responsibility
Death
(within those come freedom, nausea, dread, fear, isolation, loneliness, and, of course, the necessity to deal with absurdity.)

Having said that, Existentialists vary greatly among themselves. Camus, for example, despite opinion to the contrary, did NOT think of himself as an Existentialist.

Sartre's atheistic views of Existentialism differ greatly from the very Christian views of the Existentialists, Soren Kierkegaard (father of Existentialism) and the Jesuit, Jacques Maritain.

It is not true to believe that the philosophy of absurdity and existentialism are one. They are not (although one tends to derive from the other).

Answer 2

I agree with the longer answers on a definition but I've always seen existentialism as a swing philosophy in response to the fallacies of religion in the face of atrocity rather than an enduring creed.

I think the balancing factor for existentialism has been evolutionary psychology and biology. With the fact of human nature and our limited abilities let us choose our destiny and to choose the higher moral path in life.

Answer 3

I took a class dealing with this issue in college. Read a lot of intellectual books, had discussions, and watched some very good movies. My general synopsis of existentialism is this: Man creates his own reality out of the consequences that his environment has brought him up on. We may attach labels to ourselves to feel safe, but the truth is, we each see the world by how we view ourselves as a whole. If we have lots of fears, low self-esteem, no self-respect...then we are paranoid of others and on a macro scale buy into the "threat" of terrorism and any other scare tactic the gov't throws our way. However if we are sure of ourselves, confident in what we represent, and have a strong sense of integrity, then we see politics for what they are at face value and the world is suddenly not so bad.

Answer 4

Rather than look at this in a larger context I will try to explain my perspective from a personal point of view. I use three criteria to better understand existentialism. 1. Meaning is derived through context. IOW, the reality of something is defined by the things it touches or that touch it (physically or symbolically) or that views it. The one exception being that for an entity that is self aware it is also defined by how that entity views itself which in turn helps to change the way it presents itself to the world and therefore how it is viewed. 2. Passion. Existentialists tend to live passionate and energy filled lives. No couch potato, the existentialist!!! 3. Individuals rule. Existentialists tend to be civil libertarians and independent thinkers and highly resent being controlled in their thoughts or deeds. Bear in mind that they are also very respectful of others and their paradigms.

Answer 5

How did you ever come across existentialism? I never thought I ever see that word again.Really I don't believe there is a way to describe a certain way..it has many avenues it could take.Very good question..

Answer 6

As I understand it, existentialism is the philosophy that says each person creates the reason for his or her own existence: Their "why" of living.

Some, like Kafka, see this in a negative way, that we have no control over our lives, that there's no definitive Grand Purpose of life shared by all of us. We're subjected to and victims of whatever faceless powers throw at us.

Others, like Camus, see it more a more positive light, that we're the architects of our lives and, in part, our destiny. No matter how bad a situation is, we can choose to do something about it.

Again, just my understanding.

Answer 7

I haven't heard of that since the mid 60's It was something like, Why bother, it just doesn't matter.

I can't remember the why's and the wherefore's but it was something like We really don't matter at all, what will be, will be, and there's nothing you can do about it.

I don't know if that is right or wrong, but it is what I remember about it from a long time ago.

I really did like the 60's. We had our problems but what a time.

Answer 8

Existentialism, in essence, consists of pointing to modern philosophy and declaring: "Since this is reason, to hell with it!"

In spite of the fact that the pragmatists-positivists-analysts had obliterated reason, the existentialists accepted them as reason's advocates, held them up to the world as examples of rationality and proceeded to reject reason altogether, proclaiming its impotence, rebelling against its "failure," calling for a return to reality, to the problems of human existence, to values, to action—to subjective values and mindless action. In the name of reality, they proclaimed the moral supremacy of "instincts," urges, feelings—and the cognitive powers of stomachs, muscles, kidneys, hearts, blood. It was a rebellion of headless bodies...

Existentialism elevates chronic anxiety into the realm of metaphysics. Fear, misery, nausea—it declares—are not an individual's fault, they are inherent in human nature, they are an intrinsic, predestined part of the "human condition." Action is the sole alleviation possible to man. What action? Any action. You do not know how to act? Don't be chicken, courage consists in acting without knowledge. You do not know what goals to choose? There are no standards of choice. Virtue consists in choosing a goal by whim and sticking to it ("committing yourself") to the grim death. It sounds unreasonable? Reason is man's' enemy—your guts, muscles and blood know best.

Answer 9

Individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives.

Answer 10

describe the importance of a person's first name and his hes surname the first name identifies anindividual