Existentialism Wikis

Drew MurrellKelsey SawyerSahil ShahMcKenzie Cone

Jean-Paul Sartre

Summarization• Existentialism is like the terms rationalism and empiricism, they belong to

intellectual history and is one of historical convenience. Existentialism was adopted by Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialism became classified with cultural movement that thrived in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s. Major philosophers included Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Martin Buber, Jean Wahl, Gabriel Marcel, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Miguel de Unamuno, and the Russians Nikolai Berdyaev and Lev Shestov. In the nineteenth century, philosophers found existentialism to be a literary phenomenon as much as a philosophical one. By the middle of the 1970s, the literary image of existentialism had become a cliché because of the infinite books and movies produced by Woody Allen. Because of this, existentialism was suggested to be a bygone cultural movement opposed to an individual philosophical point. In other words, they believed that the term existentialism should only be subjected to Sartre’s philosophy. However, the notion of existentialism does choose an idiosyncratic group of philosophical obstacles and helpfully categorizes a relatively distinct current of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophical investigation. This has had major impacts of theology and psychology. Ultimately, human beings cannot be fully understood through a series of sciences including physics, biology, psychology, and others. Subjects such as, blame, responsibility, character, duty, and virtue do capture essential features of the human condition but moral or scientific thinking are not adequate enough. Finally, existentialism is essential in grasping human subsistence. There is a need to find a new framework for the themes of dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom, commitment, and nothingness to discover their philosophical importance.

Definition

• Existentialism is the difference between human existence and non-living objects. Some elements of existentialism are dread, boredom, alienation, absurdity, freedom, commitment, and nothingness

Elements and Examples of Existentialism

• Human existence and nonliving objects

• Dread

• Boredom

• Alienation

• Absurdity

• Freedom

• Commitment

Bibliography for Existentialism Evans, Cam . "The Patriot." The Movies That Move Us. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://stamp-search.com/images/tad0110the9patriot.jpg>. "Movie Banners." Movie Banners. Popular Movies. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/the-notebook-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/failure-to launch-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/the-invisable-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/Elf-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/Halloween-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/Step-brothers-1.jpg, http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/Thirteen-Ghosts->.http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/Beowulf-1.jpg Cuse, Carlton . "Lost." Lost Plymouth Staff Choices. 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://andromeda.plymouthlibrary.org/blog/libchoice/2009/02/lost_1.html>. "Jean-Paul Sartre." File:Jean-Paul Sartre. Jan. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Paul_Sartre_FP.JPG>. Cogswell, David. "Existentialism For Beginners." Steerforth Press. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.steerforth.com/books/display.pperl?isbn=9781934389218>. Hess, Jared. "Napoleon Dynamite." Film Listings. The Austin Chroncile, 2004. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3A212727>.