Questions tagged [existentialism]
A loose title covering : the individual, the experience of choice, and the absence of rational understanding of the universe with a consequent dread or sense of absurdity in human life.
228
questions
0
votes
4
answers
106
views
Why care for anything in life? [closed]
Great philosopher friedrich Nietzsche in his Thus spoke Zarathustra told us a man should become a ‘ overman ‘ or ‘ ubermensch ‘ i.e someone who believes in nihilism of universe (Believing that life ...
- 170
15
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Do humans need some agency over the world around them for their lives to have some sense or purpose?
This is a follow up to this question I was told to revise: If all work is automated, what will humans be able to do? After consideration I think that the only way to salvage that question is to break ...
- 937
8
votes
10
answers
1k
views
What is the point of Human Existence?
I have no experience in formal philosophy, so I apologise for the crudeness and generalism of everything I say here.
The Issue-:
Every time I try to motivate myself by logically connecting the ...
2
votes
3
answers
167
views
Should one abstain from a behaviour because they know why they engage in it?
I'm 16, I don't study psychology in college, only biology, chemistry, physics and maths, but I find evolutionary psychology incredibly interesting, because it's the only psychological theory that ...
user63990
1
vote
0
answers
45
views
How should I contextualize this quote and understand its meaning? [closed]
Jean- Paul Sartre once said about Camus: "I would call his pessimism 'solar' if you remember how much black there is in the sun."
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
47
views
Is there any way existentialism can be compatible with the idea of free will being an illusion?
I just read another question from this website about free will, decided to ask my own rather than comment on another. I have no formal education in philosophy. I almost want to ask this question from ...
1
vote
4
answers
140
views
Is conscious thought ever necessary?
I have noticed that every time I end up "sitting down" and "thinking" about something as if it's some sort of exercise to plan out, I end up just repeating thoughts in my head or ...
- 2,562
1
vote
0
answers
65
views
Why is being yourself so highly valued among existentialist philosophers? [closed]
From the Disney movie Wreck-it-Ralph:
I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.
Is this sentiment wise? Is it truly good to be whoever ...
- 379
2
votes
1
answer
51
views
Question about Sartre's distinction between "self-consciousness", "subject", and "ego"
I am reading the Routledge Critical Thinkers series on Jacques Lacan, and I have come across this passage about Jean-Paul Sartre:
In an early work entitled Transcendence of the Ego (1934) Sartre
...
3
votes
5
answers
720
views
Where exactly does the value of an individual human lie?
I mean to ask where the value of a human lies, not within the context of the universe but within the room of humanity. What exactly makes a human important? And, is it always something she puts out ...
- 39
5
votes
1
answer
81
views
What is the meaning of nothingness in Sartre's ⟪Being and Nothingness⟫?
A head-up: I am from an analytic background, and I have only read continental philosophy via second sources.
I am confused about what 'nothingness' mean in Sartre's ⟪Being and Nothingness⟫. Some ...
- 341
1
vote
4
answers
100
views
Giving up or Moving on. What's the Difference?
I was struggling to decide whether to put this here or under Psychology, but here we are.
Usually when people face circumstances that are hard enough to be handled at a given moment of time. From ...
1
vote
3
answers
65
views
What is good for humanity? [closed]
I'm thinking of "1. solving problems (being helpful) for others and 2. having fun while doing that".
Solving problems requires one to learn, apply effort and become better at something.
...
- 111
6
votes
1
answer
158
views
What does Heidegger mean "the closedness of earth"?
What does Heidegger mean "the closedness of earth" in 'the origin of the work of art' aka 'Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes'?
- 61
0
votes
0
answers
213
views
What is the difference between romanticism and existentialism?
Both romanticism and existentialism may be considered as philosophy and literary movements. If I understand it correctly, both romanticism and existentialism see opposition between society and ...
- 101
3
votes
2
answers
138
views
Is throwness personal?
As Dasein, I ineluctably find myself in a world that matters to me in
some way or another. This is what Heidegger calls thrownness
(Geworfenheit), a having-been-thrown into the world.
https://plato....
user59394
0
votes
0
answers
41
views
Is Egoism of Max Stirner idealization of Free consciousness?
In more simple language when Stirner talks about having no fix ideas or not treating ideas as sacred somehow makes it (Egoism of Stirner) having a fix idea itself ? Is creative nothing an idea or ...
- 57
1
vote
1
answer
173
views
What does play of reflexions mean here?
A passage from Ñanavira's Notes on Dhamma from Atta:
The puthujjana confuses (as the arahat does not) the self-identity of simple reflexion—as with a mirror, where the same thing is seen from two ...
8
votes
6
answers
569
views
What are some philosophical works that explore constructing meaning in life from an agnostic or atheist view?
I've been deeply suicidal for years, but it's gotten worse recently. I grew up Mormon, and last year I realized I couldn't believe in it anymore. I just couldn't; it would take too long to explain.
I ...
- 81
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
Beauvoir on Hegel in her The Ethics of Ambiguity
So Beauvoir is writing in her Ethics of Ambiguity :
Nature asserts itself in the face of Spirit which denies it while assuming it; the individual is again found in the collectivity within which he is ...
0
votes
1
answer
216
views
From which book is this quote? - “Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”
I know it’s a quote of Camus, but could you refer to the book?
- 87
2
votes
1
answer
66
views
What secondary literature would you recommend to help me understand “The Sickness unto Death”?
I would like to know if there are any secondary literature that would help me understand main themes of this book and make it more understandable. So far I have read a few primary sources (Plato’s ...
- 87
0
votes
0
answers
88
views
From which book is this quote? - "I stick my finger in existence — it smells of nothing"
I'm looking for a work by Kierkgaard in which he wrote this quote.
- 87
3
votes
0
answers
129
views
Did Heidegger claim that his "inauthenticity" was to some extent unavoidable for the individual?
Did Heidegger claim that his "inauthenticity" was to some extent unavoidable for the individual? I think I know that Sartre's bad faith was a necessary feature of overcoming it.
Is the ...
user62233
0
votes
1
answer
175
views
Please help with suggestions for existential or philosophical inspired team names? [closed]
I imagine that this question will be frowned upon, but it's a bit of fun and hopefully, we can have some fun with this.
I am doing the Mongol Rally in 2023 in a red Suzuki Alto and need to come up ...
0
votes
1
answer
120
views
How does existence preceding essence not preclude the possibility of bad faith?
How does existence preceding essence not preclude the possibility of bad faith? In what sense is it possible to act inauthentically if there is no authenticity other than what we make for ourselves?
I ...
- 541
3
votes
1
answer
371
views
Does an Absurdist try to create his/her own meanings?
I was reading about Existentialism in Wikipedia and in The Absurd section there are two sentences that seem conflicting to me. First we have:
The notion of the absurd contains the idea that there is ...
- 131
3
votes
0
answers
190
views
What is Camus' criticism of Husserl's phenomology and of Kierkegaard's thought?
I have not been able to grasp these concepts. Specifically, I am referring to the third chapter of the Myth of Sisyphus: "The philosophical suicide".
I have understood that Camus's critic on ...
- 39
3
votes
1
answer
351
views
What are the "crimes of passion and crimes of logic"?
There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.
Albert Camus
What does Albert Camus mean by "crimes of passion and crimes of logic" in his
...
- 249
3
votes
4
answers
458
views
Can you choose the things you want?
As a person who is not well-versed in philosophy at all, I have no idea how to phrase this properly. But basically, we all want things. I want to read that book, you want to become (e.g.) an engineer, ...
- 39
2
votes
0
answers
50
views
Being vs beings [closed]
I'm reading a book of Martin Heidegger in which i found the term 'being' and 'beings'
I tried to know more about it but there is not much reference on internet.. Please explain both the term according ...
- 21
1
vote
1
answer
168
views
What sort of thought is nihilism?
The basic question for nihilism (as I understand) is "Why do I exist?" As they try to deny it.
I was wondering that this is not a well defined concept. The argument is as follows, I exist ...
- 41
6
votes
1
answer
8k
views
What does Albert Camus mean by two methods of thought, "of La Palisse and Don Quixote"?
In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus says that there are two methods of thought to conclude that the meaning of life is the most urgent of questions: those of La Palisse and Don Quixote:
Whether the earth ...
- 63
1
vote
0
answers
151
views
Differences between Being, Existing, Ontical and Existential in "Being and Time"
I am trying to understand the differences between Being, Ontical and Existential. What are they trying to imply by themselves, separately?
Ontical seems to mean "physical existence".
...
- 111
0
votes
2
answers
602
views
What does this quote by Albert Camus mean?
"...we fall into the ridiculous contradiction of a mind that asserts total unity and proves by its very assertion its own difference and the diversity it claimed to resolve." As written in ...
- 249
1
vote
1
answer
119
views
Heidegger's being-towards-death?
May I have misunderstood Heidegger philosophy, and I've melted up it with psycology, but isn't the being-towards-death, with the authentic Dasein, an anxious way of life?
I mean, in the moment in ...
- 11
2
votes
2
answers
231
views
Is there a philosophy of not-knowism?
I believe that we humans are forever trapped in our (conditional, limited, and flawed) perception which separates us from the reality. In simple words, I don't and will never know anything and never ...
- 21
0
votes
0
answers
50
views
hi. for those who read the book of albert camus "the stranger" in what perspective or theory it can be seen?
for those who read the book of albert camus "the stranger" in what perspective or theory it can be seen? it's a work of philosophy but i'm misselead. thanks for answering
1
vote
1
answer
79
views
Meaning of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Philosophy
What is the cultural and ideological branch that the classic Soviet book “Roadside Picnic”, of which the movie “Stalker” and game series, comes from?
It does not seem to be Russian Cosmism, and ...
- 111
0
votes
0
answers
48
views
Do you find commonalities between existentialism and transcendentalism?
As far as I can think of they both promote a sense of individualism but are they even comparable or do they overlap in any way?
- 101
3
votes
1
answer
387
views
Heidegger's "Dasein" vs. Sartre's "Being for itself"
I must admit, I am relatively new to existentialist philosophy. But I couldn't help notice the similarities between Heidegger's "Dasein" and Satre's "Being-for-itself". I was ...
- 153
0
votes
2
answers
7k
views
What is meant: "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
Does someone have some reliable source what was meant by quote by Søren Kierkegaard in the title? Can you elaborate?
Does it mean for example I shouldn't think how to solve some problem, rather say go ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
220
views
Notion of space and time
In Critique of pure reason, Kant mentions the theory of space and time, which is a priori. It will be used in Heidegger's Being and Time. However, In his second meditation, it seems that Descartes ...
- 21
-1
votes
1
answer
56
views
What was Beauvoirs example of meaningless freedom involving a harem?
I am looking up sources on Simone de Beauvoir's account of freedom and found this in an old issue of a philosophy magazine:
She had argued with him that freedom of any sort was pretty
meaningless for ...
- 119
2
votes
1
answer
525
views
Where to start reading about Existentialism
I've recently picked up reading and want to start learning about philosophy but more particularly existentialism. My first exposure to existentialism and philosophy as a whole was through reading ...
- 21
3
votes
0
answers
144
views
How to deal with nihilist approaches to live a productive life? [closed]
Right off the bat, I'm a high school science student with no academic background in philosophy, other than mere personal interest. I've read meditations (like everyone else), general articles and have ...
1
vote
0
answers
86
views
Are there any philosophers associated with phenomenology and existentialism that argue that death should not matter to an individual?
I have mainly been focussing upon Heidegger in relation to death and the way in which he believes it is of great importance because in order to live authentically one must 'be-towards-death'. surley ...
- 65
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
Why should Dasein be authentic when one knows that he/she will be responsible for his/her actions when he chooses authenticity over inauthenticity?
Answers except "to know about being yourself" are really appreciated because this is the question itself. What should I strive to know about myself when I am happy with my life right now, ...
1
vote
0
answers
60
views
Is my understanding of Ethics in Existentialism correct? I'm trying to get over how Sartre and de Beauvoir tackle the problem of anarchy
Please check my reasoning!
Existentialism says that man is what he wills himself to be, and needs to decide his own morality. There is no overarching maxim that can a priori guide his moral judgements,...
2
votes
0
answers
80
views
Can Zizek's big Other be seen as a collective form of "bad faith"?
I refer to this question to define the big Other for Zizek.
Couldn't the big Other be seen as what enforces the mauvaise foi (what makes us behave like we have no choice to avoid existential dread), ...
- 281