different between existentialism vs existential

English

Etymology

From existential +? -ism; borrowed from German Existentialismus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???z??st?n??l?z?m/

Noun

existentialism (countable and uncountable, plural existentialisms)

1. (philosophy, not countable) A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.

   The heyday of existentialism occurred in the mid-twentieth century.

2. (philosophy, countable) The philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.

   Sartre's existentialism is atheistic, but the existentialism of Marcel is distinctly Christian.

   • 1965, Mikel Dufrenne, "Existentialism and Existentialisms," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol 26 no 1 (Sep), p. 51.

     Instead of Existentialism, we should speak of Existentialisms.

Antonyms

• noumenalism

Related terms

• exist
• existence
• existential
• existentialist

Translations

Swedish

Noun

existentialism c

1. (philosophy) existentialism

Declension

English

Etymology

Late Latin existentialis, from existentia.

Adjective

existential (not comparable)

1. Of, or relating to existence.
2. Concerning the very existence of, especially with regard to extinction.
3. Based on experience; empirical.
   • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture I:

     In recent books on logic, distinction is made between two orders of inquiry concerning anything. First, what is the nature of it? how did it come about? what is its constitution, origin, and history? And second, What is its importance, meaning, or significance, now that it is once here? The answer to the one question is given in an existential judgment or proposition. The answer to the other is a proposition of value, what the Germans call a Werthurtheil ...

4. (philosophy) Of, or relating to existentialism.
5. (linguistics) Relating to part of a clause that indicates existence, e.g. "there is".

Antonyms

• non-phenomenal
• noumenal
• non-metaphysical

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

existential (plural existentials)

1. (linguistics) Ellipsis of existential clause
   • 2014, Silvia Luraghi, Tuomas Huumo, Partitive Cases and Related Categories, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG (?ISBN), page 153:

     We argue that existentials form a radial category, with a prototype and less canonical instances, where the prototype is clearly definable but the actual borderline between existentials and other clause types is fuzzy.

2. (programming) Ellipsis of existential type

   Coordinate term: generic

Further reading

• "existential" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 123.

References