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Existentialism: Philosophies
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Existentialism is the philosophy that places emphasis on individual existence, freedom, and choice. Existentialism stresses the individuality of existence, and the problems that arise with said existence. Because there is so much diversity in the philosophy of existentialism, a concrete definition is hard to put down. Certain themes are common to almost all existential writing, which helps mark the writing as such. The term itself suggests one major theme, the stress on concrete, individual existence, and on subjectivity, individual freedom and choice.
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Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views the individual, the self, the individual's experience, and the uniqueness therein as the basis for understanding the nature of human existence. The philosophy generally reflects a belief in freedom and accepts the consequences of individual actions, while acknowledging the responsibility attendant to the making of choices. Existentialists prefer subjectivity, and can view human beings as subjects in an indifferent and often ambiguous universe. ~ Wikipedia
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Existentialism, for most of its adherents, can be understood as atheistic. In order to see this, it helps to look at the philosophy of existentialism as it contrasts with that of theism. Theists generally believe in an ultimate transcendent reality. Existentialists believe each person’s experience is unique and truly known only by that person. In other words, theists point to an objective reality, while existentialists see only a subjective one.
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Existentialism in the 20th century reflects the loss of certainties in the post-modern world. If there are no clear philosophical answers to the question of existence, then each individual has to design their own life as a project. The choice and responsibility of that project falls entirely on them.
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Note: A more literal rendering of the title would be "Existentialism is a Humanism" (in French: Existentialisme est un Humanisme). By claiming that "existentialism is a humanism" Sartre does not want to say that existentialism is a kind of "Red Cross" (humanitarian) philosophy. He rather wishes to place his version of existentialism into the mainstream of the [L]ibertarian humanist tradition that could be traced back to the Renaissance and its stress on human creativity and freedom. In that sense the rendering "the humanism of existentialism" (Bernard Frechtman), though not absolutely faithful, hits the mark better than any literal translation of the title.
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Existentialism is an extremely diverse and varied philosophy. Even though it is so varied, there are some themes that can be found throughout it. (1) Existence precedes essence, in other words, you need existence to have essence. There is no predetermined "true" thing, it has to already exist inorder to become what it is. (2) Anxiety and anguish. The fear or dread which is not directed at any specific object, it's just there. Anguish is the dread of the nothingness of human existence, the meaningless of it. According to Kierkegaard, anguish is the underlying, all-pervasive, universal condition of man's existence. (3) Absurdity.
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