Existentialism meaning

ĕgzĭ-stĕnshə-lĭzəm, ĕksĭ-
A philosophical and literary movement, variously religious or atheistic, stemming from Kierkegaard and represented by Sartre, Heidegger, etc.: it is based on the doctrine that concrete, individual existence takes precedence over abstract, conceptual essence and holds that human beings are totally free and responsible for their acts and that this responsibility is the source of their feelings of dread and anguish.
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(philosophy, not countable) A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.

The heyday of existentialism occurred in the mid-twentieth century.

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(philosophy, countable) The philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.

Sartre's existentialism is atheistic, but the existentialism of Marcel is distinctly Christian.

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Existentialism is defined as a philosophical theory that focuses on free will and personal responsibility.

A philosophical theory focusing on free will is an example of existentialism.

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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.
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Origin of existentialism

Existentialism Sentence Examples

  • Thus he creates his religious existentialism as a philosophy of multiplicity and emancipation from knowledge, morality and rules of mind and action.

  • Since existentialism tries to remain truthful, the project of exploitation in any form must be wrong.

  • The play was a political revue sketch, padded with Existentialism to confuse the censors.

  • The movement of modern existentialism in visual art starts with Cézanne in France.

  • Sartre has the point of view that is called Atheistic existentialism, which puts the emphasis on the individual instead of society.

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Related articles

Words near existentialism in the Dictionary