LibGuides: Philosophy: Existentialism

Books

Existentialism by George Myerson
Call Number: B819.M94 2000
ISBN: 9780658012099
Publication Date: 2001
Existentialism and Human Existence by Thomas R. Koenig The author has brought together, in one source, an interpretation of five primary sources for existential philosophy in the twentieth century, from Edmund Husserl to Martin Heidegger. The text reveals the continuity present in a century of existential writings and reaffirms the importance of this philosophical movement for a contemporary understanding of philosophy and its role in communicating the ongoing wisdom that comes from the human need for self-understanding.
Call Number: B819.K594 1992
ISBN: 9780894644733
Publication Date: 1992
Introducing Existentialism by Richard Appignanesi; Oscar Zarate Richard Appignanesi goes on a personal quest of Existentialism in its original state. He begins with Camus' question of suicide: 'Must life have a meaning to be lived?' Is absurdity at the heart of Existentialism? Or is Sartre right: is Existentialism 'the least scandalous, most technically austere' of all teachings? This brilliant Graphic Guide explores Existentialism in a unique comic book-style.
Call Number: B819.A67 2002
ISBN: 9781840462661
Publication Date: 2001
Jean-Paul Sartre by Jean-Paul Sartre; Stephen Priest (Editor) Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the most famous philosophers of the twentieth century. The principle founder of existentialism, a political thinker and famous novelist and dramatist, his work has exerted enormous influence in philosophy, literature, politics and cultural studies. Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings is the first collection of Sartre's key philosophical writings and provides an indispensable resource for all students and readers of his work. Stephen Priest's clear and helpful introductions set each reading in context, making the volume an ideal companion to those coming to Sartre's writings for the first time
Call Number: B2430.S31P75 2001
ISBN: 9780415213677
Publication Date: 2000
At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell Sir, what a horror, existentialism! -- To the things themselves -- The magician from Messkirch -- The they, the call -- To crunch flowering almonds -- I don't want to eat my manuscripts -- Occupation, liberation -- Devastation -- Life studies -- The dancing philosopher -- Croisés comme ça -- The eyes of the least favoured -- Having once tasted phenomenology -- The imponderable bloom.
Call Number: B819.B35 2016
ISBN: 9781590514887
Publication Date: 2016

Overview

Video

Existentialism: Crash Course Philosophy #16

Terms & Concepts

Angst From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy German term for a special form of anxiety, an emotion seen by existentialists as both constituting and revealing the human condition.
Anxiety: Topic Page Anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unconscious threat.
Authenticity From The Encyclopedia of Ethics The term, introduced into existentialist philosophy by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), was popularized by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980).
Being From A Dictionary of Philosophy Usually equivalent in the verbal sense to 'existence' (see is). As the most general property of all reality this is often considered to be the defining subject of metaphysical enquiry.
Consciousness: Topic Page The state of being aware of oneself and one's surroundings, without hindrance from sleep, illness, drugs, or hypnotism. This awareness is not purely of external events or phenomena, but also of one's own feelings, beliefs, and mental events.
Essence: Topic Page Since Plato and Aristotle the term “essence” and the closely related term “idea” have been key terms in Western PHILOSOPHY.
Facticity From The Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis A term utilized by Heidegger to characterize the matter-of-fact, concretely individual aspect of human life as it is experientially lived.
Lebenswelt From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms The prescientific life-world, or the concrete world of everyday life prior to all theorizing, science and philosophy.
Nothingness From The Encyclopedia of Postmodernism Nothingness is a term denoting the absence of essence or inherent existence in things. Every world philosophy eventually deals with the subject of nothingness.
The Absurd From A Dictionary of Philosophy, Macmillan That which has no meaning, reason, or purpose despite a human need or prima facie appearance to the contrary.

Related Schools of Thought

Humanism From The Columbia Encyclopedia Philosophical and literary movement in which man and his capabilities are the central concern.
Nihilism From The Columbia Encyclopedia Derived from the Latin nihil, “nothing,” nihilism in ethical discourse is generally defined as the absolute denial or negation of values.
Phenomenology From The Columbia Encyclopedia Modern school of philosophy founded by Edmund Husserl. Its influence extended throughout Europe and was particularly important to the early development of existentialism.
Postmodernism: Topic Page Term used to designate a multitude of trends—in the arts, philosophy, religion, technology, and many other areas—that come after and deviate from the many 20th-cent. movements that constituted modernism.

19th Century Existentialists

Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855): Topic Page Danish philosopher and religious thinker. Kierkegaard's outwardly uneventful life in Copenhagen contrasted with his intensive inner examination of self and society, which resulted in various profound writings.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900): Topic Page German philosopher; put forward the concepts of the superman and the death of God in Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-85); one of the precursors of existentialism.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881): Topic Page Russian novelist. Remarkable for their profound psychological insight, Dostoevsky's novels have greatly influenced Russian writers, and since the beginning of the 20th century have been increasingly influential abroad.
Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924): Topic Page Czech novelist writing in German. In his two main novels The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926), published posthumously against his wishes, he portrays man's fear, isolation, and bewilderment in a nightmarish dehumanized world.

20th Century Existentialists

Albert Camus (1913 - 1960): Topic Page French novelist, dramatist, and essayist, noted for his pessimistic portrayal of man's condition of isolation in an absurd world.
Andre Gide (1869 - 1951): Topic Page French writer noted for his diaries and novels, such as The Immoralist (1902) and Lafcadio's Adventures (1914), which examine alienation and the drive for individuality in an often disapproving society.
Gabriel Marcel (1889 - 1973): Topic Page French philosopher and playwright, a major representative of French existential thought.
Karl Jaspers (1883 - 1969): Topic Page German psychiatrist, philosopher, and theologian. A founder of modern existentialism, he was concerned with human reactions to extreme situations.
Lev Shestov (1866 - 1938): Topic Page From Dictionary of Existentialism Lev Shestov was the son of a wealthy Kiev textile manufacturer. After studying mathematics and law at the universities of Moscow and Kiev, he worked in his father's company.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864 - 1936): Topic Page Spanish philosopher and writer. His novels, poetry, and philosophical studies, such as The Tragic Sense of Life (1913) often address the conflict between reason and faith and the solitary nature of human existence.
Nicolai Berdyaev (1874 - 1948) From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy Russian religious thinker. He began as a “Kantian Marxist” in epistemology, ethical theory, and philosophy of history, but soon turned away from Marxism (although he continued to accept Marx’s critique of capitalism) toward a theistic philosophy of existence.
Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989): Topic Page Samuel Beckett achieved worldwide fame in 1953 with his play Waiting for Godot. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and was a hugely influential figure in twentieth-century drama.
Sartre, Jean-Paul (1905-1980)

Existential Theologians

John Macquarrie (1919 - 2007): Topic Page Theologian and philosopher of religion, born in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, W Scotland, UK.
Karl Barth (1886 - 1968): Topic Page Swiss Protestant theologian who advocated a return to the principles of the Reformation and the teachings of the Bible.
Martin Buber (1878-1965): Topic Page Jewish theologian, existentialist philosopher, and scholar of Hasidism, born in Austria, whose works include I and Thou (1923), Between Man and Man (1946), and Eclipse of God (1952).
Paul Tillich (1886 - 1965): Topic Page American philosopher and theologian, b. Germany, educated at the universities of Berlin, Tübingen, Halle, and Breslau. In 1912 he was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He taught theology at the universities of Berlin, Marburg, Dresden, and Leipzig and philosophy at the Univ. of Frankfurt until he was dismissed in 1933 because of his opposition to the Nazi regime.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 - 1971): Topic Page American religious and social thinker. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he served as pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, where he became deeply interested in social problems.
Rudolf Bultmann (1884 - 1976): Topic Page German Lutheran theologian and New Testament scholar. He was a professor at Marburg University 1921-51, and during the Third Reich played a leading role in the Confessing Church, a Protestant anti-Nazi movement.
Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855): Topic Page Danish philosopher and religious thinker. Kierkegaard's outwardly uneventful life in Copenhagen contrasted with his intensive inner examination of self and society, which resulted in various profound writings.

Existential Theology

Demythologizing From Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology The term ‘demythologization’ (Entmy-thologisierung), with which R. Bultmann is identified, first appeared in a 1930 Marburg dissertation by his student H. Jonas (1903–93), although whether Jonas or Bultmann originally coined the term is debated.
Existence From The Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Ethics To be, or not to be’ is, for philosophers, not the question at all. For existence seems to be only a second-level property, behind things like being hot, or yellow, or soft. But not, it should be mentioned, for Existentialists.
Free will: Topic Page The power of making choices without the constraint of fate or some other uncontrollable force, regarded as a human characteristic.
God From Dictionary of World Philosophy There are many conceptions of God and the gods. In the singular, the concept can be found in monotheistic religions ranging from the Egyptian sun god Ra, through the Indian Brahman, to the Jewish Yahweh, and the Arabic ALLĀH.
Immanence From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy A term most often used in contrast to ‘transcendence’ to express the way in which God is thought to be present in the world.
Responsibility From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy A condition that relates an agent to actions of, and consequences connected to, that agent, and is always necessary and sometimes sufficient for the appropriateness of certain kinds of appraisals of that agent.
Teleology From Political Philosophy A-Z A theory is a teleology if it posits an entity with a proper or natural purpose (telos) or end.
Transcendence From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy A being, such as God, may be said to be transcendent in the sense of being not merely superior, but incomparably superior, to other things, in any sort of perfection.
Truth From Philosophy of Science, A-Z There are two strands in our thinking about truth. The first is to say that truth is an objective property of our beliefs in virtue of which they correspond to the world.