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Existentialism ()〔Oxford University Press, ("Oxford Dictionary: 'existentialism'" ), ''Oxford English Dictionary'', Retrieved 22 August 2014.〕 is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences,〔John Macquarrie, ''Existentialism'', New York (1972), pp. 18–21.〕〔''Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', ed. Ted Honderich, New York (1995), p. 259.〕 shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.〔John Macquarrie, ''Existentialism'', New York (1972), pp. 14–15.〕 While the supreme value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity. In the view of the existentialist, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.〔Robert C. Solomon, ''Existentialism'' (McGraw-Hill, 1974, pp. 1–2).〕 Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.〔Ernst Breisach, ''Introduction to Modern Existentialism'', New York (1962), p. 5.〕〔Walter Kaufmann, ''Existentialism: From Dostoyevesky to Sartre'', New York (1956) p. 12.〕 Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher,〔〔Marino, Gordon. ''Basic Writings of Existentialism'' (Modern Library, 2004, p. ix, 3).〕 though he did not use the term existentialism.〔However he did title his 1846 book ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments'', (Subtitle) A Mimical-Pathetic-Dialectical Compilation an Existential Contribution, and mentioned the term on pages 121-122, 191, 350-351, 387ff of that book. and he did, in fact, use it like this: "All skepticism is a kind of idealism. Hence when the sceptic Zeno pursued the study of skepticism by endeavoring existentially to keep himself unaffected by whatever happened, so that when once he had gone out of his way to avoid a mad dog, he shamefacedly admitted that even a skeptical philosopher is also sometimes a man, I find nothing ridiculous in this. There is no contradiction, and the comical always lies in a contradiction. On the other hand, when one thinks of all the miserable idealistic lecture-witticisms, the jesting and coquetry in connection with playing the idealist while in the professorial chair, so that the lecturer is not really an idealist, but only plays the fashionable game of being an idealist; when one remembers the lecture-phrase about doubting everything, while occupying the lecture platform, aye, then it is impossible not to write a satire merely by recounting the facts. Through an existential attempt to be an idealist, one would learn in the course of half a year something very different from this game of hide-and-seek on the lecture platform. There is no special difficulty connected with being an idealist in the imagination; but to exist as an idealist is an extremely strenuous task, because existence itself constitutes a hindrance and an objection. To express existentially what one has understood about oneself, and in this manner to understand oneself, is in no way comical. But to understand everything except one’s own self is very comical." Soren Kierkegaard, ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments'' 1846 p. 315-316 translated by David F. Swenson and Walter Lowrie 1941 Fifth Printing Princeton University Press〕 He proposed that each individual—not society or religion—is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely ("authentically").〔Watts, Michael. ''Kierkegaard'' (Oneworld, 2003, pp.4-6).〕〔Lowrie, Walter. ''Kierkegaard's attack upon "Christendom"'' (Princeton, 1969, pp. 37-40).〕 Existentialism became popular in the years following World War II, and strongly influenced many disciplines besides philosophy, including theology, drama, art, literature, and psychology. ==Definitional issues and background== There has never been general agreement on the definition of existentialism. The term is often seen as a historical convenience as it was first applied to many philosophers in hindsight, long after they had died. In fact, while existentialism is generally considered to have originated with Kierkegaard, the first prominent existentialist philosopher to adopt the term as a self-description was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre posits the idea that "what all existentialists have in common is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence", as scholar Frederick Copleston explains. According to philosopher Steven Crowell, defining existentialism has been relatively difficult, and he argues that it is better understood as a general approach used to reject certain systematic philosophies rather than as a systematic philosophy itself.〔 Sartre himself, in a lecture delivered in 1945, described existentialism as "the attempt to draw all the consequences from a position of consistent atheism."〔See James Wood's introduction to Quote on p. (vii ).〕 Although many outside Scandinavia consider the term existentialism to have originated from Kierkegaard himself, it is more likely that Kierkegaard adopted this term (or at least the term "existential" as a description of his philosophy) from the Norwegian poet and literary critic Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven.〔Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening, Vol 45, nummer 10, 2008, side 1298-1304, (Welhaven og psykologien: Del 2. Welhaven peker fremover ) (in Norwegian)〕 This assertion comes from two sources. The Norwegian philosopher Erik Lundestad refers to the Danish philosopher Fredrik Christian Sibbern. Sibbern is supposed to have had two conversations in 1841, the first with Welhaven and the second with Kierkegaard. It is in the first conversation that it is believed that Welhaven came up with "a word that he said covered a certain thinking, which had a close and positive attitude to life, a relationship he described as existential".〔Lundestad, 1998, pp. 169〕 This was then brought to Kierkegaard by Sibbern. The second claim comes from the Norwegian historian Rune Slagstad, who claims to prove that Kierkegaard himself said the term "existential" was borrowed from the poet. He strongly believes that it was Kierkegaard himself who said that "Hegelians do not study philosophy 'existentially'; to use a phrase by Welhaven from one time when I spoke with him about philosophy".〔Slagstad, 2001, p 89〕 On the other hand, the Norwegian historian Anne-Lise Seip is critical of Slagstad, and believes the statement in fact stems from the Norwegian literary historian Cathrinus Bang.〔Seip, 2007, p 352〕 There also exists the belief that meaninglessness and absurdity create a behavior pattern that is not consistent with that which is considered "normal". In other words, existentialism "jars you out of your habits." Like war, sexual disease, and the like, the individual consciousness is paramount to the societal impact one may have and it is your reality that dictates your actions, not anybody else's. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Existentialism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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