| *1: a chiefly 20th century philosophical [[movement]] embracing [[diverse]] [[doctrines]] but centering on [[analysis]] of [[individual]] [[existence]] in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate [[responsibility]] for acts of [[free will]] without any certain [[knowledge]] of what is right or wrong or good or bad | | *1: a chiefly 20th century philosophical [[movement]] embracing [[diverse]] [[doctrines]] but centering on [[analysis]] of [[individual]] [[existence]] in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate [[responsibility]] for acts of [[free will]] without any certain [[knowledge]] of what is right or wrong or good or bad |
| 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology ontology] and [[decision]]. It traces its roots to the writings of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche]. As a philosophy of human existence, existentialism found its best 20th-century exponent in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers Karl Jaspers]; as a philosophy of human [[decision]], its foremost representative was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre]. Sartre finds the [[essence]] of human existence in [[freedom]]—in the duty of [[self-determination]] and the freedom of choice—and therefore spends much time describing the human tendency toward “bad [[faith]],” reflected in humanity's [[perverse]] attempts to deny its own [[responsibility]] and flee from the truth of its inescapable [[freedom]]. | | 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology ontology] and [[decision]]. It traces its roots to the writings of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche]. As a philosophy of human existence, existentialism found its best 20th-century exponent in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers Karl Jaspers]; as a philosophy of human [[decision]], its foremost representative was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre]. Sartre finds the [[essence]] of human existence in [[freedom]]—in the duty of [[self-determination]] and the freedom of choice—and therefore spends much time describing the human tendency toward “bad [[faith]],” reflected in humanity's [[perverse]] attempts to deny its own [[responsibility]] and flee from the truth of its inescapable [[freedom]]. |
| Existentialism is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite [[profound]] doctrinal [[differences]], shared the [[belief]] that philosophical thinking begins with the [[human]] subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, [[feeling]], living human [[individual]]. In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential [[attitude]]", or a sense of disorientation and [[confusion]] in the face of an apparently meaningless or [[absurd]] world. Many existentialists have also regarded [[traditional]] systematic or [[academic]] philosophies, in both style and content, as too [[abstract]] and remote from concrete human experience. | | Existentialism is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite [[profound]] doctrinal [[differences]], shared the [[belief]] that philosophical thinking begins with the [[human]] subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, [[feeling]], living human [[individual]]. In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential [[attitude]]", or a sense of disorientation and [[confusion]] in the face of an apparently meaningless or [[absurd]] world. Many existentialists have also regarded [[traditional]] systematic or [[academic]] philosophies, in both style and content, as too [[abstract]] and remote from concrete human experience. |