Existentialism - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ex·is·ten·tial·ism

Audio Help [eg-zi-sten-shuh-liz-uh

m, ek-si-] Pronunciation Key

–noun Philosophy.

a philosophical attitude associated esp. with Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, and opposed to rationalism and empiricism, that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices.

[Origin: 1940–45; < G Existentialismus (1919); see existential, -ism

]

—Related forms

ex·is·ten·tial·ist, adjective, noun

ex·is·ten·tial·is·tic, adjective

ex·is·ten·tial·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Existentialism

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ex·is·ten·tial·ism Audio Help (ěg'zĭ-stěn'shə-lĭz'əm, ěk'sĭ-) Pronunciation Key
n. 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.

ex'is·ten'tial·ist adj. & n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

existentialism
noun
(philosophy) a 20th-century philosophical movement chiefly in Europe; assumes that people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
existentialism

A movement in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, with some forerunners in earlier centuries. Existentialism stresses that people are entirely free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves. With this responsibility comes a profound anguish or dread. Søren Kierkegaard and Feodor Dostoevsky in the nineteenth century, and Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Camus in the twentieth century, were existentialist writers.

[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion

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