Changes

==Origin==

==Origin==

The term "existentialism" was coined by the French, Catholic philosopher [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Marcel Gabriel Marcel] in the mid-1940s. At first, when Marcel applied the term to him at a colloquium in 1945, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre] rejected it. But later, he changed his mind and, on October 29, 1945, publicly adopted the existentialist label in a [[lecture]] to the ''Club Maintenant'' in Paris. The lecture was published as ''L'existentialisme est un humanisme'' ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism_is_a_Humanism Existentialism is a Humanism]), a short book that did much to popularize existentialist thought.

The term "existentialism" was coined by the French, Catholic philosopher [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Marcel Gabriel Marcel] in the mid-1940s. At first, when Marcel applied the term to him at a colloquium in 1945, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre] rejected it. But later, he changed his mind and, on October 29, 1945, publicly adopted the existentialist label in a [[lecture]] to the ''Club Maintenant'' in Paris. The lecture was published as ''L'existentialisme est un humanisme'' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism_is_a_Humanism Existentialism is a Humanism]), a short book that did much to popularize existentialist thought.

Some scholars argue that the term should be used only to refer to the cultural movement in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s associated with the works of the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus Albert Camus]. Other scholars extend the term to Kierkegaard, and yet others extend it as far back as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates Socrates]. However, the term is often identified with the philosophical views of Jean-Paul Sartre.

Some scholars argue that the term should be used only to refer to the cultural movement in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s associated with the works of the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus Albert Camus]. Other scholars extend the term to Kierkegaard, and yet others extend it as far back as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates Socrates]. However, the term is often identified with the philosophical views of Jean-Paul Sartre.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1941 1941]

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1941 1941]

==Definition==

==Definition==

*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

==Descriptions==

==Descriptions==

:''Concise Encyclopedia''

:''Concise Encyclopedia''

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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology ontology] and [[decision]]. It traces its roots to the writings of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche]. As a philosophy of human existence, existentialism found its best 20th-century exponent in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers Karl Jaspers]; as a philosophy of human [[decision]], its foremost representative was [https://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]].

:''Wikipedia''

:''Wikipedia''

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.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Søren_Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard] is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher, though he did not use the term ''existentialism''. He proposed that each [[individual]]—not [[society]] or [[religion]]—is solely responsible for giving [[meaning]] to life and living it [[passionately]] and sincerely ("authentically"). Existentialism became popular in the years following [[World War II]], and strongly influenced many [[disciplines]] besides philosophy, including [[theology]], [[drama]], art, [[literature]], and [[psychology]].

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Søren_Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard] is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher, though he did not use the term ''existentialism''. He proposed that each [[individual]]—not [[society]] or [[religion]]—is solely responsible for giving [[meaning]] to life and living it [[passionately]] and sincerely ("authentically"). Existentialism became popular in the years following [[World War II]], and strongly influenced many [[disciplines]] besides philosophy, including [[theology]], [[drama]], art, [[literature]], and [[psychology]].

[[Category: Philosophy]]

[[Category: Philosophy]]