Existentialism - Revision history

Rightof Genghiskhan at 05:52, 27 February 2023

2023-02-27T05:52:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:52, 26 February 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{Nopic}}		{{Nopic}}
	'''Existentialism''' <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120810055736/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/existentialism "existentialism"]. ''Lexico''. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 2 March 2020.</ref><ref>existentialism\|access-date=2 March 2020}}</ref>) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting.<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Lavrin \|first1=Janko \|title=Nietzsche: A Biographical Introduction \|date=1971 \|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons \|page=43 }}</ref><ref name="Macquarrie">{{cite book\|first=John \|last=Macquarrie \|title=Existentialism \|location=New York \|publisher=Penguin \|pages =14–15\|year=1972}}</ref> Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence. In the view of an existentialist, the individual's starting point has been called "the existential angst", a sense of dread, disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.<ref name="Robert C. Solomon 1974, pp. 1">{{cite book \|first=Robert C. \|last=Solomon \|title=Existentialism \|publisher=McGraw-Hill \|year=1974 \|pages=1–2}}</ref>		'''Existentialism''' <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120810055736/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/existentialism "existentialism"]. ''Lexico''. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 2 March 2020.</ref><ref>existentialism\|access-date=2 March 2020}}</ref>) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting.<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Lavrin \|first1=Janko \|title=Nietzsche: A Biographical Introduction \|date=1971 \|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons \|page=43 }}</ref><ref name="Macquarrie">{{cite book\|first=John \|last=Macquarrie \|title=Existentialism \|location=New York \|publisher=Penguin \|pages =14–15\|year=1972}}</ref> Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence. In the view of an existentialist, the individual's starting point has been called "the existential angst", a sense of dread, disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. <ref name="Robert C. Solomon 1974, pp. 1">{{cite book \|first=Robert C. \|last=Solomon \|title=Existentialism \|publisher=McGraw-Hill \|year=1974 \|pages=1–2}}</ref>

	Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought.<ref name="Crowell-SEoP">{{cite encyclopedia \|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ \|title=Existentialism \|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy \|author=Crowell, Steven \|date=October 2010}}</ref><ref name="Macquarrie"/><ref name="Philosophy 1995 p. 259">{{cite book \|title=Oxford Companion to Philosophy \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond_471 \|url-access=limited \|editor-first=Ted \| editor-last=Honderich \|location=New York \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|year=1995 \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond_471/page/n274 259]\|isbn=978-0-19-866132-0 }}</ref> Among the earliest figures associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, all of whom critiqued [[rationalism]] and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning. In the 20th century, prominent existentialist thinkers included Jean-Paul Sartre, [[Albert Camus]], [[Martin Heidegger]], Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, and Paul Tillich.		Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought.<ref name="Crowell-SEoP">{{cite encyclopedia \|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ \|title=Existentialism \|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy \|author=Crowell, Steven \|date=October 2010}}</ref><ref name="Macquarrie"/><ref name="Philosophy 1995 p. 259">{{cite book \|title=Oxford Companion to Philosophy \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond_471 \|url-access=limited \|editor-first=Ted \| editor-last=Honderich \|location=New York \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|year=1995 \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond_471/page/n274 259]\|isbn=978-0-19-866132-0 }}</ref> Among the earliest figures associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, all of whom critiqued [[rationalism]] and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning. In the 20th century, prominent existentialist thinkers included Jean-Paul Sartre, [[Albert Camus]], [[Martin Heidegger]], Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, and Paul Tillich.
Line 24:		Line 24:

	=== The Absurd ===		=== The Absurd ===
	The notion of the absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the amorality or "unfairness" of the world. This can be highlighted in the way it opposes the traditional Abrahamic religious perspective, which establishes that life's purpose is the fulfillment of God's commandments.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|title=Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide\|last=Wartenberg\|first=Thomas\|publisher=One World\|year=2009\|isbn=9781780740201\|location=Oxford}}</ref> This is what gives meaning to people's lives. To live the life of the absurd means rejecting a life that finds or pursues specific meaning for man's existence since there is nothing to be discovered. According to [[Albert Camus]], the world or the human being is not in itself absurd. The concept only emerges through the juxtaposition of the two; life becomes absurd due to the incompatibility between human beings and the world they inhabit.<ref name=":0" /> This view constitutes one of the two interpretations of the absurd in existentialist literature. The second view, first elaborated by Søren Kierkegaard, holds that absurdity is limited to actions and choices of human beings. These are considered absurd since they issue from human freedom, undermining their foundation outside of themselves.<ref>{{Cite book\|title=The A to Z of Existentialism\|last=Michelman\|first=Stephen\|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.\|year=2010\|isbn=9780810875890\|location=Lanham, Maryland\|pages=27}}</ref>		The notion of the absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the amorality or "unfairness" of the world. This can be highlighted in the way it opposes the traditional Abrahamic religious perspective, which establishes that life's purpose is the fulfillment of God's commandments. <ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|title=Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide\|last=Wartenberg\|first=Thomas\|publisher=One World\|year=2009\|isbn=9781780740201\|location=Oxford}}</ref> This is what gives meaning to people's lives. To live the life of the absurd means rejecting a life that finds or pursues specific meaning for man's existence since there is nothing to be discovered. According to [[Albert Camus]], the world or the human being is not in itself absurd. The concept only emerges through the juxtaposition of the two; life becomes absurd due to the incompatibility between human beings and the world they inhabit.<ref name=":0" /> This view constitutes one of the two interpretations of the absurd in existentialist literature. The second view, first elaborated by Søren Kierkegaard, holds that absurdity is limited to actions and choices of human beings. These are considered absurd since they issue from human freedom, undermining their foundation outside of themselves.<ref>{{Cite book\|title=The A to Z of Existentialism\|last=Michelman\|first=Stephen\|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.\|year=2010\|isbn=9780810875890\|location=Lanham, Maryland\|pages=27}}</ref>

	The absurd contrasts with the claim that "bad things don't happen to good people"; to the world, metaphorically speaking, there is no such thing as a good person or a bad person; what happens happens, and it may just as well happen to a "good" person as to a "bad" person.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Existentialism, [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/#AnxNotAbs 3.1 Anxiety, Nothingness, the Absurd].</ref> Because of the world's absurdity, anything can happen to anyone at any time and a tragic event could plummet someone into direct confrontation with the absurd. Many of the literary works of Kierkegaard, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Eugène Ionesco, Miguel de Unamuno, Luigi Pirandello,<ref name=luigitheatre>{{cite book\|last1=Bassnett\|first1=Susan\|last2=Lorch\|first2=Jennifer\|title=Luigi Pirandello in the Theatre\|date=March 18, 2014\|publisher=Routledge\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpwiAwAAQBAJ&q=existentialist&pg=PA182\|access-date=26 March 2015\|isbn=9781134351145}}</ref><ref name=understandex>{{cite book\|last1=Thompson\|first1=Mel\|last2=Rodgers\|first2=Nigel\|title=Understanding Existentialism: Teach Yourself\|date=2010\|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfczAgAAQBAJ&q=pirandello+existentialism&pg=PT105\|isbn=9781444134216}}</ref><ref name=crisisconsciousness>{{cite book\|last1=Caputi\|first1=Anthony Francis\|title=Pirandello and the Crisis of Modern Consciousness\|date=1988\|publisher=University of Illinois Press\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Qv2nuJF7yYC&q=pirandello+existentialist+absurdity&pg=PA80\|isbn=9780252014680}}</ref><ref name=masks>{{cite book\|last1=Mariani\|first1=Umberto\|title=Living Masks: The Achievement of Pirandello\|date=2010\|publisher=University of Toronto Press\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBviYn43H34C&q=pirandello+existential+absurd&pg=PT178\|access-date=26 March 2015\|isbn=9781442693142}}</ref> Sartre, Joseph Heller, and Camus contain descriptions of people who encounter the absurdity of the world.		The absurd contrasts with the claim that "bad things don't happen to good people"; to the world, metaphorically speaking, there is no such thing as a good person or a bad person; what happens happens, and it may just as well happen to a "good" person as to a "bad" person.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Existentialism, [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/#AnxNotAbs 3.1 Anxiety, Nothingness, the Absurd].</ref> Because of the world's absurdity, anything can happen to anyone at any time and a tragic event could plummet someone into direct confrontation with the absurd. Many of the literary works of Kierkegaard, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Eugène Ionesco, Miguel de Unamuno, Luigi Pirandello,<ref name=luigitheatre>{{cite book\|last1=Bassnett\|first1=Susan\|last2=Lorch\|first2=Jennifer\|title=Luigi Pirandello in the Theatre\|date=March 18, 2014\|publisher=Routledge\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpwiAwAAQBAJ&q=existentialist&pg=PA182\|access-date=26 March 2015\|isbn=9781134351145}}</ref><ref name=understandex>{{cite book\|last1=Thompson\|first1=Mel\|last2=Rodgers\|first2=Nigel\|title=Understanding Existentialism: Teach Yourself\|date=2010\|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfczAgAAQBAJ&q=pirandello+existentialism&pg=PT105\|isbn=9781444134216}}</ref><ref name=crisisconsciousness>{{cite book\|last1=Caputi\|first1=Anthony Francis\|title=Pirandello and the Crisis of Modern Consciousness\|date=1988\|publisher=University of Illinois Press\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Qv2nuJF7yYC&q=pirandello+existentialist+absurdity&pg=PA80\|isbn=9780252014680}}</ref><ref name=masks>{{cite book\|last1=Mariani\|first1=Umberto\|title=Living Masks: The Achievement of Pirandello\|date=2010\|publisher=University of Toronto Press\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBviYn43H34C&q=pirandello+existential+absurd&pg=PT178\|access-date=26 March 2015\|isbn=9781442693142}}</ref> Sartre, Joseph Heller, and Camus contain descriptions of people who encounter the absurdity of the world.

Bacchus: Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

2023-02-25T07:05:58Z

Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

Show changes

WikiSysop: Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

2023-02-22T18:23:53Z

Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

Show changes

WikiSysop: Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

2023-02-20T11:02:42Z

Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

Show changes

Bacchus: Text replacement - " reality " to " reality "

2023-02-19T19:35:47Z

Text replacement - " reality " to " reality "

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:35, 19 February 2023
Line 31:		Line 31:

	=== Facticity ===		=== Facticity ===
	Facticity is defined by Sartre in ''Being and Nothingness'' (1943) as tbe ''in-itself'', which delineates for humans tbe modalities of being and not being. This can be more easily understood when considering facticity in relation to tbe temporal dimension of our past: one's past is what one is, in that it co-constitutes oneself. However, to say that one is only one's past would ignore a significant part of reality (tbe present and tbe future), while saying that one's past is only what one was, would entirely detach it from oneself now. A denial of one's concrete past constitutes an inautbentic lifestyle, and also applies to otber kinds of facticity (having a human body—e.g., one that does not allow a person to run faster than tbe speed of sound—identity, values, etc.).<ref name="2.1 Facticity and Transcendence">''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', "Existentialism", [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/#FacTra 2.1 Facticity and Transcendence].</ref>		Facticity is defined by Sartre in ''Being and Nothingness'' (1943) as tbe ''in-itself'', which delineates for humans tbe modalities of being and not being. This can be more easily understood when considering facticity in relation to tbe temporal dimension of our past: one's past is what one is, in that it co-constitutes oneself. However, to say that one is only one's past would ignore a significant part of [[reality]] (tbe present and tbe future), while saying that one's past is only what one was, would entirely detach it from oneself now. A denial of one's concrete past constitutes an inautbentic lifestyle, and also applies to otber kinds of facticity (having a human body—e.g., one that does not allow a person to run faster than tbe speed of sound—identity, values, etc.).<ref name="2.1 Facticity and Transcendence">''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', "Existentialism", [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/#FacTra 2.1 Facticity and Transcendence].</ref>

	=== Autbenticity ===		=== Autbenticity ===

Bacchus: Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

2023-02-19T19:05:03Z

Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

Show changes

Bacchus: Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

2023-02-19T05:20:25Z

Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

Show changes

Bacchus: Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

2023-02-18T21:52:41Z

Text replacement - "the" to "tbe"

Show changes

Bacchus: Text replacement - "nature" to "nature"

2023-02-18T02:03:47Z

Text replacement - "nature" to "nature"

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:03, 17 February 2023
Line 13:		Line 13:
	{{Quote\|The subjective ''thinker’s form'', the form of his communication, is his ''style''. His form must be just as manifold as are the opposites that he holds together. The systematic ''eins, zwei, drei'' is an abstract form that also must inevitably run into trouble whenever it is to be applied to the concrete. To the same degree as the subjective thinker is concrete, to that same degree his form must also be concretely dialectical. But just as he himself is not a poet, not an ethicist, not a dialectician, so also his form is none of these directly. His form must first and last be related to existence, and in this regard, he must have at his disposal the poetic, the ethical, the dialectical, the religious. Subordinate character, setting, etc., which belong to the well-balanced character of the esthetic production, are in themselves breadth; the subjective thinker has only one setting—existence—and has nothing to do with localities and such things. The setting is not the fairyland of the imagination, where poetry produces consummation, nor is the setting laid in England, and historical accuracy is not a concern. The setting is inwardness in existing as a human being; the concretion is the relation of the existence-categories to one another. Historical accuracy and historical actuality are breadth.\|Søren Kierkegaard\| (''Concluding Postscript'', Hong pp. 357–358.)}}		{{Quote\|The subjective ''thinker’s form'', the form of his communication, is his ''style''. His form must be just as manifold as are the opposites that he holds together. The systematic ''eins, zwei, drei'' is an abstract form that also must inevitably run into trouble whenever it is to be applied to the concrete. To the same degree as the subjective thinker is concrete, to that same degree his form must also be concretely dialectical. But just as he himself is not a poet, not an ethicist, not a dialectician, so also his form is none of these directly. His form must first and last be related to existence, and in this regard, he must have at his disposal the poetic, the ethical, the dialectical, the religious. Subordinate character, setting, etc., which belong to the well-balanced character of the esthetic production, are in themselves breadth; the subjective thinker has only one setting—existence—and has nothing to do with localities and such things. The setting is not the fairyland of the imagination, where poetry produces consummation, nor is the setting laid in England, and historical accuracy is not a concern. The setting is inwardness in existing as a human being; the concretion is the relation of the existence-categories to one another. Historical accuracy and historical actuality are breadth.\|Søren Kierkegaard\| (''Concluding Postscript'', Hong pp. 357–358.)}}

	Some interpret the imperative to define oneself as meaning that anyone can wish to be anything. However, an existentialist philosopher would say such a wish constitutes an inauthentic existence – what Sartre would call "bad faith". Instead, the phrase should be taken to say that people are defined only insofar as they act and that they are responsible for their actions. Someone who acts cruelly towards other people is, by that act, defined as a cruel person. Such persons are themselves responsible for their new identity (cruel persons). This is opposed to their genes, or ''human nature'', bearing the blame.		Some interpret the imperative to define oneself as meaning that anyone can wish to be anything. However, an existentialist philosopher would say such a wish constitutes an inauthentic existence – what Sartre would call "bad faith". Instead, the phrase should be taken to say that people are defined only insofar as they act and that they are responsible for their actions. Someone who acts cruelly towards other people is, by that act, defined as a cruel person. Such persons are themselves responsible for their new identity (cruel persons). This is opposed to their genes, or ''human [[nature]]'', bearing the blame.

	As Sartre said in his lecture ''Existentialism is a Humanism'': "Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards." The more positive, therapeutic aspect of this is also implied: a person can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person instead of a cruel person.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Baird \|first=Forrest E. \|author2=Walter Kaufmann \|title=From Plato to Derrida \|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall \|year=2008 \|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey \|isbn=978-0-13-158591-1}}</ref>		As Sartre said in his lecture ''Existentialism is a Humanism'': "Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards." The more positive, therapeutic aspect of this is also implied: a person can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person instead of a cruel person.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Baird \|first=Forrest E. \|author2=Walter Kaufmann \|title=From Plato to Derrida \|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall \|year=2008 \|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey \|isbn=978-0-13-158591-1}}</ref>

Archangel: Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

2023-02-17T08:07:13Z

Text replacement - "tbe" to "the"

Show changes