What is Existentialism?

cleanbluesky

cleanbluesky

cleanbluesky

Soldato
Joined
2 Nov 2004
Posts
24,654
I've been reading things about it today on the web, mostly various wiki articles on existential therapy, existentialism, Satre etc. etc. but I still don't quite understand the context or principle...

Anyone care to enlighten me?
 
Having just looked that up on Wiki, I have to say it's the most complicated thing I have ever read!

If you do figure out what it means, I would appreciate a laymans version, preferably with colourful pictures
 
According to the same website you mentioned, Existentialism is about the individual having full responsibility over their lifes...seems to be an awful lot of information on Wikipedia about it with the majority of the words being very long and complicated definitions. :o

cleanbluesky said:
No, we've only just learned proper use of apostrophes.
Click to expand...

:D
 
I came in to this thread not knowing if it would be worth it. I leave amused and humorously satisfied! :D I do appreciate that was not the intention of the thread however.
 
Visage said:
Didnt your course tell you?
Click to expand...

Im sorry but it appears you live a sad life. You seem to have a habit of doing this (reading over some thread). I bet you think your reponse is a threat to every thread. Well done OP for coming back with a good reponse.

As for the topic being discussed, I would like an explanation too. :)
 
cleanbluesky said:
I've been reading things about it today on the web, mostly various wiki articles on existential therapy, existentialism, Satre etc. etc. but I still don't quite understand the context or principle...

Anyone care to enlighten me?
Click to expand...

the idea of existentialism is very complicated to understand. you really need a dedicated lecturer to teach it to you. my lecturer said

"basically you wont understand any of this untill week 9 (of a 12 week semester) then it'll click and you life will change"

as soon as the lecture had finished i swapped to philosophy of religion......
 
This is what I gathered from the wiki article..

We do stuff because we want to, for a reason, not because it's rational. Rationality is something we do afterwords to dispell any feelings of regret or anxiety. Stuff we see, is real, and through interacting with reality we define our purpose and thus ourselves. Our fear of death compells us to act the way we do, as without death our time is worthless.
 
trojan698 said:
We do stuff because we want to, for a reason, not because it's rational. Rationality is something we do afterwords to dispell any feelings of regret or anxiety. Stuff we see, is real, and through interacting with reality we define our purpose and thus ourselves. Our fear of death compells us to act the way we do, as without death our time is worthless.
Click to expand...

That's quite a good summary, not sure it's 100% right but makes for interesting reading.

I think I've understood one of the principles of existentialism...




Existence precedes essence

Essence can be considered purpose, and existence can be considered the mere fact that something is THERE. If we look at a knife, it exists but only exists because we need it. It's essence is that it is needed for tasks.
If you look at a human, it's existence precedes it's essence because (unless you believe in God) we were never made with a purpose in mind. Hence our existential dilemma is to discover our own purpose, and through this purpose we create our own individual and social versions of 'essence' or purpose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom