existentialism

plural existentialisms

1. uncountablehuman sciencesA 20th-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices; also (generally), a philosophy which emphasizes existence over essence.

   The heyday of existentialism occurred in the mid-twentieth century.

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   This [dialectal] theology takes sides against idealism and for ‘existentialism’, in other words, for a philosophy which makes being its starting-point. But in the idealists there are already highly significant elements of existentialism, as [Eduard] Spranger convincingly urges.

   1933 January, Arthur Liebert, translated by George H[olland] Sabine, “Contemporary German Philosophy”, in Frank Thilly, G. Watts Cunningham, George H. Sabine, editors, The Philosophical Review, volume XLII, number 1 (number 247 overall), Lancaster, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Company, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 32

   [page 288] [W]e can begin by saying that existentialism, in our sense of the word, is a doctrine that does render human life possible; a doctrine, also, which affirms that every truth and every action imply both an environment and a human subjectivity. […] [page 290] Atheistic existentialism, of which I am a representative, declares with greater consistency that if God does not exist there is at least one whose existence comes before its essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any conception of it. That being is man or, as [Martin] Heidegger has it, the human reality. What doe we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards.

   1956 September, Jean-Paul Sartre, “Sartre: Existentialism [4. Existentialism is a Humanism]”, in Walter Kaufmann, transl., Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre […], Cleveland, Oh.: Meridian Books, World Publishing Company, published November 1969, →OCLC, pages 288 and 290

   This is a matter of coincidence rather than historical continuity; there is, however, a link between Stirner and modern existentialism through Nietzsche, who had read Stirner's work though he nowhere expressly refers to it.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 163

   Antonyms: noumenalism

2. countablehuman sciencesThe philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.

   Sartre’s existentialism is atheistic, but the existentialism of Marcel is distinctly Christian.

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   In the "existentialisms" of [Martin] Heidegger, [Karl] Jaspers, [Jean-Paul] Sartre, [Gabriel] Marcel, etc., no less than in the "dialectal" or "crisis" theology of Karl Barth and his associates, [Søren] Kirkegaard's thought lives on as a challenge to the twentieth century.

   1952, Kurt F[rank] Reinhardt, “Introduction: The Crisis of Human Existence”, in The Existentialist Revolt: The Main Themes and Phases of Existentialism […], Milwaukee, Wis.: The Bruce Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 5

   Instead of Existentialism, we should speak of Existentialisms. […] [M]y contention is that to speak of Existentialism means something, but that every one of the so-called Existentialists treads now his own path in his own direction.

   1965 September, Mikel Dufrenne, “Existentialism and Existentialisms”, in Marvin Farber, editor, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume XXVI, number 1, Buffalo, N.Y.: [F]or the International Phenomenological Society by the University of Buffalo Foundation, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 51

3. historicaluncountablehuman sciencesSynonym of structuralism (“a school of thought that focuses on exploring the individual elements of consciousness, how they are organized into more complex experiences, and how these mental phenomena correlate with physical events”).

   [T]here was the argument of existentialism that the qualities of experience, or of the contents of gnomic mind, rather than acts constitute the subject matter of psychology.

   1943, Coleman R[oberts] Griffith, “The Principles of Experimental Method”, in Principles of Systematic Psychology, Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →OCLC, ¶ 339, page 438

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   I sought to 'psychologise' [Franz] Brentano's act as being, existentially, the temporal factor intrinsic to psychological subject-matter. […] My attempt sprang, indeed, from a rather desperate desire somehow to bring intentionalism and existentialism together at close quarters, and to transcend the mere calling of names.

   1922 January, E[dward] B[radford] Titchener, “Functional Psychology and the Psychology of Act: II”, in Edward Bradford Titchener, editor, The American Journal of Psychology, volume XXXIII, number 1, Ithaca, N.Y.: Morrill Hall, Cornell University, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, footnote 160, page 81

   Synonyms: structuralism