existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical and literary current centred on individual existence, free choice and responsibility for life's meaning, without ready-made essences.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- A philosophical current for which the starting point is concrete human existence rather than an abstract essence; freedom of decision and responsibility for one's own acts are basic concerns.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - A current in literature, theatre and the essay that shows a person facing absurdity, anxiety, death or freedom without ready guidance, often in a novel, a play or a philosophical essay.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In figurative use: an attitude or style of thought that stresses individual choice, authenticity and the weight of responsibility for one's own life, sometimes without ties to a named school.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Examples
- In the seminar students compared existentialism with phenomenology to show how a stress on existence differs from an analysis of consciousness.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The critic wrote of the novel's existentialism as a portrait of a hero who must decide alone who to become.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In public debate existentialism is often a shorthand for freedom without ready rules, though the term itself belongs to the history of ideas.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The student set atheistic existentialism beside a religious variant in order to separate different answers to the question of meaning.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Everyday talk often treats existentialism as a label for gloom, rebellion or a life without meaning. Academic prose is clearer when it states the register: a philosophical stress on existence and freedom, a literary picture of absurdity, or a figurative stance of authenticity. Critique that charges existentialism with individualism or pessimism forms its own register. State whether you mean a school, a writing style, or only a loose everyday shorthand. Without that frame the name collapses into nihilism or mere melancholy.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Webster 1913 records Existential as an archaic label meaning having existence, with the adverb existentially, and full entries for Exist, Existence and Existent; it leaves Existentialism unlisted as a philosophical doctrine headword. Skeat under EXIST derives Latin existere (variant spelling exsistere) from the prefix ex plus sistere (causal of stare) and notes the derivative exist-ence (OF). So the -ism lemma that names the twentieth-century current is absent from those older public domain lines, while the exist / existence / existential family is already attested.
source
Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open sourceCommon pairings include philosophy of existentialism, atheistic existentialism, Christian existentialism, critique of existentialism, and tradition of existentialism. Existential as an adjective and existentialist as a noun or adjective label a person or stance beside the -ism. Good usage keeps existentialism apart from ordinary talk of anxiety: the latter can name a mood, while the former marks a doctrine or literary current about existence, freedom and responsibility. Authors still draw that border in different places.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Morphologically the noun joins the exist / existence / existential family (Latin existere / exsistere, exist-ence) to the suffix -ism. Webster 1913 already records Existential in the archaic having-existence sense, yet not Existentialism as a school name. Skeat 1910 under EXIST lists exist-ence among derivatives, yet not the -ism lemma. Our senses rest on those public domain facts and on editorial definition of the later doctrinal name, rather than on a modern encyclopaedia paraphrase.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Word forms
Regular English noun, usually uncountable; the plural existentialisms is rare and refers to different kinds or national versions of the current.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| singular | existentialism |
| plural | existentialisms |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- philosophy of existentialism
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - atheistic existentialism
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - Christian existentialism
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - critique of existentialism
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - tradition of existentialism
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Etymology
source
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourcealso
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceRelated words
- existential , adjective: having existence (archaic in Webster 1913); later also of or relating to existentialism
- existence , related noun in Skeat's EXIST derivative line (OF exist-ence)
- exist , verb: to have being; from L. existere / exsistere (Skeat EXIST)
- existentialist , noun or adjective: adherent of existentialism; related form beside the -ism lemma (editorial)
- existere , etymologically related Latin verb: to come forth, to exist (Skeat EXIST)
Related entries
The same entry in Polish: egzystencjalizm
Questions and answers
What does existentialism mean?
It names a current that centres a person's lived being, free choice and duty for the meaning of one's own life, rather than ready-made essences. Sense one is philosophical; sense two a literary or dramatic picture of absurdity, anxiety or freedom; sense three a figurative stance of authenticity beyond a named school.
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Where does the word existentialism come from?
Its root runs through Latin existere / exsistere and exist-ence into the English exist / existence / existential family, plus the suffix -ism. Skeat under EXIST records exist-ence among derivatives, yet omits existentialism. Webster lists Existential (having existence, archaic.) but not Existentialism as a doctrine, so that school name is a later formation absent from those older public domain lines.
source
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourceHow is existentialism inflected in English?
As a regular English noun it is usually uncountable. A plural existentialisms shows up only when writers separate national or doctrinal strands. Nearby forms include existential, existence, exist, existentialist and Latin existere (Webster 1913; Skeat 1910).
source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)How is existentialism different from nihilism?
Nihilism often denies lasting values, meaning or certain knowledge. Existentialism stresses existence, freedom and responsibility, even when it holds that ready guarantees of meaning are absent. The two strands are often linked in talk of absurdity, yet their scopes do not match in every text.