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.
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An Eternal Reward for Our Actions - Are There Strong Incentives to do Anything
I'm wondering:
Humans are mortal. Death seems to nullify any gains made by the self to the self.
Humans are subject to natural impulses towards actions (for example, we are compelled by natural ...
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Nietzsche's third metamorphosis: why is the Übermensch a child in spirit?
Three metamorphoses of the spirit do I designate to you: how the
spirit becometh a camel, the camel a lion, and the lion at last a
child... To create new values—that, even the lion cannot yet
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To what extent can one admit that language is an adequate outlet for explicit feelings and experiencings?
If I am sharing my thoughts and another person goes “oh, that’s relatable,” or “yeah, I totally get it,” and other variations like “I feel you on that one!” Do they, really? Is language ever enough, ...
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Who are some philosophers who explore the possibility/impossibility of the intimacy of understanding others?
Can one ever be understood? When people say “yeah, I feel you” do they really? Is language enough of an outlet to transmit feelings with enough exactitude?
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What is the anti-thesis of Existentialism?
Existentialism represents a turning away from systematic philosophy (with its emphasis on metaphysical absolutes and principles of rational certainty) and toward an emphasis on the concrete existence ...
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Are there secular philosophers who argue for predetermined and given meaning/value in life and essentialism?
In continental philosophy particularly existentialism, thinkers reject the idea that there are any predetermined or given meanings/values in life, and stresses that we must take up our freedom and ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Sartre on essence
Yesterday my professor said something that seemed rather strange. Roughly, it was
According to Sartre, humans are the only beings that don't have an essence.
Now I haven't read Sartre, and I'm not ...
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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 ...
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Origins of fear [closed]
I have a few questions about fear and loneliness
What is the fear?
Where does the fear come from?
Why a person is afraid of loneliness?
Why a lonely person tends to isolate themselves even more?
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How does Martin Heidegger want us to react to anxiety?
Introduction:
After the world of das Man loses its significance and becomes meaningless, one falls in anxiety and he's able to embrace other possibilities.
But this anxiety is converted automatically ...
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Does anyone consider Being a primitive, unanalyzable, term?
Does anyone say that Being is a primitive, unanalyzable, term?
That probably would make Being and Time the greatest work of nonsense of all time. I certainly feel able to imagine that Being is ...
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Questions about nothingness, existentialism, death
I have been feeling really oppressed recently and have been thinking constantly about my own death and what misery the death of a loved one would bring to me as I am stranger to that feeling. I don’t ...
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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 ...
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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
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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."
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What were the moral and aesthetic ideas that Camus was interested in?
I have read most of the books by Albert Camus thoroughly. I know that Camus' theory is absurdity but I want to know his take on morality. I mean, what were the moral and aesthetic ideas that Camus was ...
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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'?
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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.
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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 ...
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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".
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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....
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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.
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Is Nietzsche saying here that agnostics admire the unintelligible?
I need help understanding the last two paragraphs of the 25th section, third essay, which is provided below from the free link: http://home.sandiego.edu/~janderso/360/genealogy3.htm
Similarly who ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Isn't Nietzsche's Übermensch idea self-contradictory?
Doesn't Nietzsche's Übermensch contradicts itself in that understanding everything would enable propagation of that understanding?
Wouldn't Nietzsche's Übermensch eventually fully understand how the ...
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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 ...
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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
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Is Camus 'Outsider' an argument for, or a critique of existentialism?
I've read Camus 'Outsider' twice. And have seen it acted out in the theatre.
I do not think I understand it, though I can admire Camus prose style.
Its often taken as canonical in existentialist ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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