existentialism

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ex·is·ten·tial·ism

(ĕg′zĭ-stĕn′shə-lĭz′əm, ĕk′sĭ-)

A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.

ex′is·ten′tial·ist adj. & n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

existentialism

(ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəˌlɪzəm)

(Philosophy) a modern philosophical movement stressing the importance of personal experience and responsibility and the demands that they make on the individual, who is seen as a free agent in a deterministic and seemingly meaningless universe

ˌexisˈtentialist adj, n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ex•is•ten•tial•ism

(ˌɛg zɪˈstɛn ʃəˌlɪz əm, ˌɛk sɪ-)

n.

a philosophical movement, esp. of the 20th century, that stresses the individual's position as a self-determining agent responsible for his or her own choices.

[1940–45; < German Existentialismus (1919)]

ex`is•ten′tial•ist, adj., n.

ex`is•ten`tial•is′tic, adj.

ex`is•ten`tial•is′ti•cal•ly, adv.

existentialism

1. the doctrine that man forms his essence in the course of the life resulting from his personal choices.
2. an emphasis upon man’s creating his own nature as well as the importance of personal freedom, decision, and commitment. Also called philosophical existentialism. Cf. essentialism. — existentialist, n., adj.

existentialism

A practical philosophical tendency centered on the concrete realities of human life, rather than generalized abstractions.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

existentialism - (philosophy) a 20th-century philosophical movement chiefly in Europe; assumes that people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves

existential philosophy, existentialist philosophy

philosophy - the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics

philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory - a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy

depersonalisation, depersonalization - (existentialism) a loss of personal identity; a feeling of being an anonymous cog in an impersonal social machine

Translations

وجودية

existencialismus

Existentialismus Existenzialismus

existencialismo

existentialisme

egzistencijalizam

esistenzialismo

実存主義

egzystencjalizm

экзистенциализм

existentialism

existentialism

[ˌegzɪsˈtenʃəlɪzəm] N → existencialismo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

existentialism

[ˌɛgzɪˈstɛnʃəlɪzəm] n → existentialisme m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

existentialism

n → Existenzialismus m, → Existentialismus m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

existentialism

[ˌɛgzɪsˈtɛnʃəˌlɪz/əm] n → esistenzialismo

References in periodicals archive ?

The world is constantly changing, speeding up even, and existentialism needs to keep up.

Dialogues on the Search for Meaning in Existential Therapy

He single-handedly rehabilitated Nietzsche's reputation after World War II and was enormously influential in introducing postwar American readers to existentialism. Until now, no book has examined his intellectual legacy.

What We Are Reading Today: Walter Kaufmann

Among his topics are dignity, freedom, and reason: from ancient Greece to early modernity; Marx's critique of morality: natural law, the state, and citizenship; the human face of dignity reflected in phenomenology and existentialism; notes sampling research and practice: making dignity work, making dignity care; and the slighting of dignity: the critic's charter.

Social Thought and Rival Claims to the Moral Ideal of Dignity

Having passion in philosophy, Mansour explained and clarified most of the philosophical movements and thoughts in his books about Existentialism, such as "El Wogodeyah" (Existentialism) and "El Wogood Wi El Aadam" (Existence and Nothingness).

Remembering legendary Egyptian author Anis Mansour

This study will hopefully open new doors in the sphere of existentialism, as the paper explores a new outlook, a new dimension in the form of optimism, which has long been neglected or given very little attention.

EXISTENTIALISM HAS INDEED A STRONG UNDERTONE OF POSITIVISM: THE REALITY HAS THE LAST WORD (HERBERT MARCUSE)

In this thorough, conversational history, British biographer Sarah Bakewell strives to define (sort of) the philosophy of existentialism, give it context, describe its characters and their ideas, and explain why these ideas are important, both to the world and the author.

At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

Working from his own translations of the original French texts, the author engages Fanon from dialectics, ethics, existentialism, and humanism to philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and political theory as well as psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Gordon, Lewis R.: What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought

The majority of educated people embrace mutually exclusive schools of thought: a vulgar sort of 19th-century determinism on one hand, and the existentialism of Camus and Sartre on the other.

Alan Mittleman's New Study of Jewish Philosophy

Existentialism is said to have begun in 1932 when three young philosophers sat in the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue du Montparnasse in Paris, getting caught up on each other's lives and drinking the house specialty, apricot cocktails.

At The Existentialist Cafe

The philosopher who lies at the heart of this work is Jean-Paul Aymand Sartre, a key figure in the philosophy of existence (existentialism) and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in the 20th century philosophy.

Implications of Sartre's humanistic existentialism

Mailer and Nabokov drew extensively on these contemporary discourses of psychopathy, criminality, and existentialism. Mailer saw the psychopath's juvenile, pleasure-seeking narcissism as an opportunity for self-knowledge and rebirth.