Key existentialist thinkers and concepts such as authenticity, absurdity, and radical freedom from Kierkegaard to Camus.
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- Søren Kierkegaard's role in philosophy
- Danish philosopher considered a precursor to existentialism; explored subjectivity, anxiety, and the leap of faith
- Martin Heidegger's major work
- Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), which introduced existential phenomenology and the concept of Dasein
- Jean-Paul Sartre's central existentialist claim
- Existence precedes essence, meaning humans exist first and create their essence through their choices
- Albert Camus's philosophical movement
- Absurdism, the view that life has no inherent meaning but humans should embrace living anyway
- Simone de Beauvoir's contribution to existentialism
- Feminist existentialism; applied existential thought to gender and female identity in The Second Sex
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophical focus
- Embodied consciousness, emphasizing that all consciousness is situated in and through the body
- Friedrich Nietzsche's relevance to existentialism
- Precursor to existentialism through concepts like will to power, perspectivism, and individual creation of values
- What is authenticity in existentialism?
- Living in accordance with one's freely chosen values rather than conforming to social norms or self-deception
- What is bad faith?
- Self-deception about one's freedom and responsibility, denying that one has power to choose one's essence
- What is facticity?
- The given, unchosen circumstances of existence, such as one's birth, body, historical period, and physical limitations
- What is existential anguish or anxiety?
- The distress arising from the recognition of one's absolute freedom and responsibility for creating oneself
- What role does nothingness play in existentialism?
- Nothingness represents human freedom and consciousness, which is defined by what it is not rather than fixed essence
- What is radical freedom?
- The existentialist view that humans are fundamentally free to create their own nature and values within factical constraints
- What is the absurd?
- The conflict between the human desire for meaning and the universe's apparent meaninglessness and indifference
- What does Sisyphus represent in Camus's philosophy?
- The symbol of the absurd human condition, eternally pushing a boulder uphill without hope or meaning