/lit/ - Literature

[None !!zMxXd0f/eLz No.559340]

what's existentialism?

someone told me it is another fancy name for nihilism.

another person told it's what crazed russians have in common with french people who have sex.

a third, very wise man, told it's what you do if a great philosopher is inpronouncibly Danish rather than German. But I still do not know what it is! Maybe you do?

inb4 read this read that

you also must post ITT if you, too, wanna know

[Anonymous No.559352]

Isn't it to do with materialism and money = good?

[Anonymous No.559359]

[Anonymous No.559365]

>>559340
>someone told me it is another fancy name for nihilism.

This person is an idiot. Never listen to anything they say.

[Anonymous No.559367]

existentialism is bullshit, don't get reeled into that twaddle

[Anonymous No.559369]

> read Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Existentialism if you want to know
> http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/

[Anonymous No.559363]

[Anonymous No.559373]

Nihilism reports that there is no inherent meaning to life.

Existentialism prescribes the answer: make your own meaning.

[Anonymous No.559380]

>>559369
>inb4 read this read that

[Anonymous No.559381]

>>559340
>trying to find meaning and fulfillment in your life through outside means such as religion or following some leader, so create your own meaning from within

that's existentialism

[Anonymous No.559393]

>>559373
That's Nietzsche, friend. His zarathustra wanted co-creators.

[Anonymous No.559406]

>>559363

>referencing The Will to Power

[Anonymous No.559407]

>>559373

pretty much this; Webelieve life is completely meaning less (not in the goth kid way, just that there is no moral authority and no ultimate purpose) So we just make our own destiny.

[Anonymous No.559408]

>>559373
so existentialism is just nihilism with a splash of narcissism added

[Anonymous No.559410]

>>559359
Without trolling life is bland. I daresay all philosophy is trolling. Aside from analytical philosophy. It's mastertrolling.

[Anonymous No.559418]

Existentialism represents a trend in continental philosophy that opposed the Kantian determination of identity in essence, instead posititing an ontology of sense which preceeds essence, essence being a determined moment of difference, an abstract potentiality.

[Anonymous No.559425]

>>559408
>>559373

No, This is an oversimplification. What can you expect from a) 4chan b) a two sentence differentiation?

[Anonymous No.559430]

>>559408
that. It's nihilism with moralism (!) and sex.

[Anonymous No.559437]

>>559425
isn't every paraphrase an oversimplification?

[Anonymous No.559451]

>>559340
>a third, very wise man, told it's what you do if a great philosopher is inpronouncibly Danish rather than German.

He was clearly referring the the father of existentialism, and arguably the greatest existentialist (vying with Nietzsche for that title) Soren Kierkegaard.

The roughest generalization accompanying all of the spectrum of thinkers is that existentialism concerns itself with embodiment and authenticity. The existentialists felt that the metaphysical systems of Leibniz or Hegel were essentially inadequate in getting at the most important elements of human life: our agency. Agency involves the negotiation between our values and ideas and the world. The fulfilled human existence, in some way or another, authentically enacts said values in the world (instead of simply rationally holding them or talking about them) while still understanding themselves as the agent responsible for their enaction.

Thus the idea that existentialism requires creating one's own values is technically inaccurate. Kierkegaard and Heidegger thought that one could take an existing value as one's meaning and be fulfilled so long as one had a true authentic relation to it as an individual.

[Anonymous No.559469]

>>559451
This. The concept of Being as a difference, as a potential of becoming, only figures into existentialism in the works of Camus. Camus was a phenomenologist, and rarely did he coincide with existentialism in thought or identity. Camus, although popularly called an existentialist, would not refer to himself as such. And rightly so, Camus posits a conflict-based value system on a world without inherent, essential values. He challenges us to go beyond the dialectic, to surpass philosophy and ultimately to acheive a materialistic essence of self.

[Anonymous No.559474]

existentialism is much blather about not very much. It's only a few steps up from self-help books in the Mind, Body and Spirit section of your local bookstore. And you won't need a Master's degree in the subject to be able to make sense of them.

Avoid.

[Anonymous No.559483]

>>559474
> And you won't need a Master's degree in the subject to be able to make sense of them.

Heidegger would beg to differ, but I'm not sure why this is desirable. I mean what's the point of writing something about the human condition that no one except a bunch of academics can get anything out of?

[Anonymous No.559484]

>>559474
right it is a purely synthetic, academic consideration. The self-help element came after it's development philosophically when it became a popular term in public discourse. An analogy would be the rise in popularity of dream interpretation books as a result of the awareness of Freud and psychoanalysis.

[Anonymous No.559489]

LOL i just have to say--ITT EXISTENTIALISM IS MEANINGLESS

[Anonymous No.559497]

>>559489
So what? I don't care. You don't exist.

[Anonymous No.559498]

>>559484
>The self-help element came after it's development philosophically when it became a popular term in public discourse.

I disagree. While I wouldn't call Kierkegaard's pseudonymous project self-help, it was certainly directed at the populous of Denmark (as well as Regina, of course) or more specifically the individual human beings composing said populous. While some of his texts were a bit too philosophically technical to reach that audience, I think that Either/Or and Stages on Life's way were accessible.

[Anonymous No.559509]

Nietzsche would have been proud about those various self-help books.

[Anonymous No.559514]

>>559474
>It's only a few steps up from self-help books in the Mind, Body and Spirit section of your local bookstore.

[Anonymous No.559520]

>>559483
>>559498
>>559484
>>559483

>philosophy fags

[Anonymous No.559526]

>>559520
In a thread about philosophy?!

This is totally unexpected!

[Anonymous No.559541]

>>559526
it shows how dumb a lot of smart people actually are, that they take a flippant point seriously.

[Anonymous No.559562]

>Existentialism represents a trend in continental philosophy that opposed the Kantian determination of identity in essence, instead posititing an ontology of sense which preceeds essence, essence being a determined moment of difference, an abstract potentiality.
it's like the joke where a Jew is asked to define an Yiddish insult to a judge and he does with two more Yiddish words and it goes on and once the judge does understand him, he begs him to differenciate.

[Anonymous No.559563]

>>559498
That's true, even though Kierkegaard was not 100 percent of existentialism--just as jesus was no christian.

[Anonymous No.559576]

What boggles me is why Nabokov hates the nihilists so much. Humbert's mockery is, no doubt, the voice of the author.

[Anonymous No.559581]

>>559576
>nihilists
or existentialists if you wish

[Anonymous No.559595]

>>559562
dont call ME a jew, you jew

[Anonymous No.559596]

>abstract potentiality

[Anonymous No.559628]

>>559596
maybe it's an abstraction of potential

[Anonymous No.559629]

>>559562
Yeah, the opening chapter in Being and Nothingness was pure bullshit. It's ridiculously hard to explain due to the semantics involved, and all it really said was just that one thing.

[Anonymous No.559633]

sure smells Sokal in this thread ...

[Anonymous No.559638]

Like humanism, modernism, and postmodernism, existentialism is a term so vague and fluid, that it could essentially apply to anything. Sartre and Camus hated getting lumped together, and for good reason.

[Anonymous No.559639]

>>559629
it's not bullshit but it's not the kind of thing that will make you feel actualized like everyone assumes it must because it's existentialist..it is neither a confirmation nor denial of life's meaninglessness.

[Anonymous No.559644]

>>559638
true. Existentialism can be separated and grouped into four categories:
1. French Existentialist
2. German (eastern european) existentialist
3. Atheistic Existentialism
4. Theistic Existentialism

and still all those categories have produced incredibly different thoughts on the subject.

For everyone, the best understanding will come from Sartre, who pretty much coined the term.

[Anonymous No.559684]

>>559418
>>559562
>>559596
>>559629
Previous thinkers (mostly Enlightenment dudes) believed that when you perceived something, you were revealed an imperfect and partial view of its 'essence', its true or original nature, filtered through by flawed senses. Philosophers might have variously described themselves as trying to reach the 'essence' of a thing through a more perfect understanding through logic (or whatever).

Existentialism basically says that 'essence' is really a property that humans attribute to something, and not an intrinsic property of the thing itself. The 'essence' of something for an existentialist is then the sum of all possible perceptions of through the senses of the viewers, and that there is no other 'essence' beyond these perceptions.

Sartre writes about this at length in Being and Nothingness, which you shouldn't read. The most important part of this concept is that it has a lot of implications in human relationships, and there's a quick summary of this in ... Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 26 (TV series).

[Anonymous No.559695]

>>559684

Actually, to be fair, existentialism doesn't say that so much as Sartre.

[Anonymous No.561268]

>>559684
so ayn rand was actually an existentialist? dear lord! do spread the word through cafees of the country.

[Anonymous No.561306]

>>559644
True, although equally interesting is that the man under [Sartre]'s tutelage, Camus, who seems to sell more existentialist novels in america, also broke with what was as they coined it 'existentialism' in order to fend against the reoccurring racism of his own country(Camus himself being 1/4 Arabic). And furthermore, looking into the involvement of Sartre's later life you will see that he himself became deeply involved in the political feuds of his surroundings.
In the lamen, existentialism simply means that you exist, nothing more. Enjoy the life that's around you, because trust me, you have very little left in yours.

[Anonymous No.561307]

>>561306
Lurk moar.

[Anonymous No.561382]

is every humanism an existentialism?

[Anonymous No.561401]

>>561382
Christian humanism wouldn't be considered existentialism, as it relies on the existence of heaven, which directly the contradicts the core principles of any branch of existentialism.

[ran No.561421]

>>561382
Sartre disagrees
Gabriel Marcel disagrees

lurk forever.

[Anonymous No.561442]

>>559684
This would seem to imply that every existentialist philosophy is also an idealist philosophy since the onlyobjectivity of the object intended would then have to come from it being constituted as such into the subject by the subjective intention...
This is where existentialism fails I think, as does idealism and other philosophies that fail to reckon with objectivity...

[Anonymous No.561443]

>>561442
samefag here, sorry, I meant to say: constituted as such into the object...

[Anonymous No.561480]

Existentialism in its purest form is any philosophy which states that existence precedes essence; that is to say, that there is no inherent purpose in life (though normally this is not carried through to nihilism.). It also states that the physical world does not necessarily precede the conscious state, as a conscious mind must find itself in a world to attain consciousness in any meaningful state.
Nihilism is an extreme version of existentialism, as are most forms of solipsism.

[Anonymous No.561497]

The 'existence before essence' thing is a big part of it, at least Sartre's strand. It basically says that man exists first, then he must define himself, through choices of free will, continually, every moment of his existence. Acts of 'bad faith' are when, for instance, a builder defines himself at once and forever, by the relatively arbitrary qualities associated with his profession - itself an arbitrary thing in an arbitrary world - and simply says 'I am a builder', or 'I am a christian' or 'I am a man', 'I am an existentialist' etc., or when people follow out pre-determined matrices of 'choices' which have been laid out by society, usually for the benefit of society rather than the individual; frameworks like the institutionalised education system etc. (I think it's in Sartre's Nausea where there's that guy who determines his entire education by just reading the library alphabetically, he represents this kind of bad faith). This is why existentialism is often associated with like, crazy beatniks who drop out of uni and live the boho lifestyle of threesomes and hemp smoking and wacky art and such.

Existentialism essentially just formalises with big words and introduces free will as a central concept into what Nietzsche had already pretty much said; that we are entirely alone in the world and the only thing which gives meaning to anything is the differentiations made by the choices we make of our own freedom of volition. The key differences are the phenomenological basis existentialism builds on, and the fact Nietzsche thought free will was a complex illusion which he didn't put much emphasis on.

[Anonymous No.561590]

would an existetationalist troll lit? there is an existentialist novel about an inmate mastertroll.

[Anonymous No.561599]

what is love?