Existential Lexicon

Defining Existentialism

Though existentialism is a term applied loosely to a
range of philosophies, there are unifying themes in the writings of the
existentialists. Dictionaries and first-year philosophy texts offer simple
definitions of existentialism:

The doctrine that existence takes precedence over essence and holding
that man is totally free and responsible for his acts. This responsibility
is the source of dread and anguish that encompass mankind.
— Webster’s New World
Dictionary, Second College Edition; William Collins Publishers, Inc.; Cleveland, Ohio; 1979

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.
— American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, Third Edition © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation.

Jean-Paul Sartre, Viktor
Frankl, and other European philosophers were affected by World War II deeply. The war left many Europeans disillusioned with traditional philosophies, science, and faith.

Existentialism is largely a revolt against traditional
European philosophy, which reached its climax during the late 1700s and
early 1800s in the impressive systems of the German philosophers Immanuel
Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Traditional philosophers tended to consider philosophy as a science. They tried to produce principles of knowledge that would be objective, universally true, and certain. The existentialists reject the methods and ideals of science as being improper for philosophy. They argue that objective, universal, and certain knowledge is an unattainable ideal.

Existentialism became influential in the mid-1900s.
World War II (1939–1945) gave rise to widespread feelings of despair
and of separation from the established order. These feelings led to the
idea that people have to create their own values in a world in which
traditional values no longer govern. Existentialism insists that choices
have to be made arbitrarily by individuals, who thus create themselves,
because there are no objective standards to determine choice. The most
famous of the Existentialist philosophers is the French author Jean-Paul
Sartre.
– World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia © 2001 by World Book, Inc.
Ivan Soll, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Phenomenology

Existentialism as defined by Jean-Paul
Sartre can be traced to phenomenology. Simplistic definitions of phenomenology imply philosophers have no interest in “reality” and science as we have come to know the universe in the last century.

Phenomenology was developed by the German philosopher Edmund
Husserl. Husserl conceived the task of Phenomenology, hence the task of philosophy, as describing phenomena — the objects of experience — accurately and independently of all assumptions derived from science. He thought that this activity would provide philosophic knowledge of reality.
— World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia © 2001 by World Book, Inc.

More accurately, phenomenology is less a rejection of
science, which undoubtedly improved life as much as it threatened to destroy
it, than it is an embracing of the human emotional experience of life.
Phenomenologists suggest what we experience matters more to our decisions
than how the experience can be scientifically analyzed.

Phenomenology: modern school of philosophy founded by Edmund
Husserl. Its influence extended throughout Europe and was particularly important to the early development of existentialism. Husserl attempted to develop a universal philosophic method, devoid of presuppositions, by focusing purely on phenomena and describing them; anything that could not be seen, and thus was not immediately given to the consciousness, was excluded. The concern was with what is known, not how it is known. The phenomenological method is thus neither the deductive method of logic nor the empirical method of the natural sciences; instead it consists in realizing the presence of an object and elucidating its meaning through intuition.
— The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. © 2002 by Columbia University Press

Continental philosophy

Existentialism and phenomenology are known as “Continental
philosophies” by students of philosophy. The “continent” refers to Western
Europe, to the exclusion of the United Kingdom. Philosophical studies conducted
in the United States of America and the United Kingdom are “analytic philosophies,”
featuring a focus on logic, linguistics, and science. Continental philosophies
tend to be more metaphysical, emotional, and political.

Continental philosophy: A cluster of 20th-century European philosophical
movements that view themselves as continuing the legacy of Hegel, Husserl, and Heidegger and include phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, structuralism, and deconstructionism, especially as contrasted with analytic philosophy.
— The American
Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Theological / Christian Existentialism

Theological Existentialism, dominated in literature by Christian Existentialism, is not concerned with proving the religious beliefs of any particular faith. Instead, existential theologians concentrate on how individuals choose religion.

Existential theologians do not try to base religion on rational demonstration.
They argue that the problem of religious belief is not a problem involving
proof or disproof, but a decision, which, like other human decisions,
must be made separately by each individual in the absence of conclusive
evidence. The existentialist’s interest in religion is primarily an interest
in human religious experience.
— World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia © 2001 by World Book, Inc.

The Existential Lexion

This lexicon is based upon several
works. On 22 June 2003, I located a copy of the out-of-print text, The
New Dictionary of Existentialism, by St. Elmo Nauman, Jr. I want to thank The Book Haven in Monterey, Calif., for being such a wonderful store. Nauman’s work was discontinued in 1972. It was the third text I purchased at Book Haven while on vacation — because textbooks are light reading.

Use of NDE indicates definitions from Nauman’s work. As the work is unlikely to return to print, I am being somewhat liberal in my interpretation of “fair use” while giving credit to the author. Minor errors from the dictionary are recreated; I minimized editing to preserve the text.

– A –

abandonment – The consequence of individualism. A metaphysical isolation according to which each individual must ultimately fall back upon his or her own resources.

abstraction – (from NDE) (Latin ab: from + trahere: to remove; to remove from) Existentialists criticize idealistic philosophy for its abstract character, for having abstracted thought from life. Believing that no definition of reality can substitute reality for itself, existentialists seek to avoid abstraction. Existential thinkers recommend abstraction as a kind of synonym for “reflection,” that is, as the opposite of an entirely unreflective life, a life lived on the sensual level of pleasure.

Karl Jaspers writes that the correct degree of abstraction is necessary to prevent blind attachment to hedonism or utopianism. When the correct degree of abstraction is attained, the individual will engage himself in the tasks of the world, accepting life without illusion, accepting conflict, suffering, death, and be able to go forward with hope.

absurd – (from NDE) (Latin absurdus: unheard of) The absurd is viewed either (as with Kierkegaard) as the positive basis for the acceptance of authentic reality, or (as with Sartre) as the negative basis for the rejection of a religious view of the world.

God’s passion is to be found in the absurd; where this sign is to be
seen, there God is present… — Kierkegaard, The
Last Years

Combinations of logically compatible words become absurd when they contradict
the meaningful order of reality. — Paul Tillich, Systemic
Theology, II

Karl Jaspers rejects the absurd as defined and celebrated by Kierkegaard. Such absurdity is an indication of the bankruptcy of modern Christianity, Protestant and Catholic.

Albert Camus began with the declaration that the world was absurd and meaningless. Refusing to be defeated by such a reality, he celebrated the joy of what he called “the invincible summer” within.

absurdism – The belief nothing can explain or rationalize human existence. There is no answer to “Why am I?” Human beings exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and that any search for order by them will bring them into direct conflict with this universe.

Actaeon Complex – (from NDE) (Greek Aktaion: mythological character who watched Artemis bathe. He was changed into a stag, then killed by his own dogs.) The term used by Sartre in Being
and Nothingness to indicate the totality of images which show that knowing is a form of appropriative volition with overtones of sexuality.

aesthetical – (from NDE) (Greek aisthetikos: sensitive) Kierkegaard used “aesthetical” in a technical way in his thought. The aesthetical is the first “stage on life’s way,” or “sphere of existence.” The aesthetical is that sphere of existence in which a person lives rather aimlessly, seeking pleasure.

Aesthetics, literature, poetics, drama, and music were important to the
existentialists. Drama is a common subject, thanks to Hegel (existentialists critique Hegel frequently) and Nietzsche’s The
Birth of Tragedy. Camus and Sartre were playwrights, recognizing that art reaches more people than dry philosophy.

agnosticism – The uncertain beliefs of many existentialists, agnostics claim one cannot prove or disprove the existence of a deity. Existential agnostics tend to claim they do not care if there is or is not a supreme deity.

alienation – A state of divided selfhood in which one is distanced from one’s true being and confronts the self as an alien being.

anarchy – Absence of any form of political authority. Most existentialists consider all individuals equal politically. Notice political equality is not equated with any other form of measure. Inequities are inevitable, but existentialists believe politics should not produce these differences. Anarchy is not chaos, but the result of social evolution.

anguish – (from NDE) (Latin angere to tighten, choke) One of the key terms in existential philosophy, anguish (or dread) reveals the character of human life and illuminates the nature of the world. In Kierkegaard’s conception, dread (Angest) is not fear, caused by some external threat. Rather, dread is an inward passion, either a continuous melancholy or a sudden and terrifying emotion.

Sartre treats anguish (angoises) as the reflective apprehension of the Self as freedom. Anguish is the realization that a nothingness slips in between my Self and my past and future so that nothing relieves me from the necessity of continually choosing myself and nothing guarantees the validity of the values which I choose.

Jaspers, differing from Sartre, defines anguish (Angst) as “the dizziness and shudder of freedom confronting the necessity of making a choice.” As he develops his thought, anguish is experienced in those ultimate situations, such as before death, in which Existenz faces its most extreme limits.

As one of Dasein’s possibilities of Being, anxiety — together with Dasein
itself as disclosed in it — provides the phenomenal basis for explicitly
grasping Dasein’s primordial totality of Being. — Heidegger, Being
and Time

The normal, existential anxiety of guilt drives the person toward attempts
to avoid this anxiety (usually called the uneasy conscience) by avoiding
guilt. … The moralistic self-defense of the neurotic makes him see guilt
where there is no guilt or where one is guilty in a very indirect way.
— Tillich, The
Courage to Be

amoral – To reject the ethical system of a community; to develop an independent ethical system. Do not confuse “amoral” in existentialism for “without morality.” Much like anarchy, the concept is misunderstood and misapplied to existentialists.

atheism – Possessing no belief in an omnipotent deity, or finding no need to ponder the existence of a deity. For some, atheism implies the denial a deity exists, as opposed to non-belief. Existential atheism is an active debate, not to be confused with agnosticism.

authentic – To be true. If something is “authentic” it is exactly as named or described. According to some thinkers, nothing is authentic. Because people evolve and alter their essence, people cannot be authentic for more than an instant, frozen in time.

– B –

Bad Faith – A lie, especially to the self. Self-deception, the paradox of lying to the self, usually in an attempt to escape the responsibility of being an individual. The extreme example cited by existentialists is, “I was only following orders.” Any denial of free will is an example of bad faith. Sartre believed all moments of Bad Faith (Mauvaise Foi) were self-evident, contradicting many psychologists.

being (from NDE) In general philosophical usage, being is that which “is,” without qualification. According to Spinoza, being is both the source and the ultimate subject of all distinctions. According to Hegel, being contains non-being within itself and is the source of the cosmic process which leads to the synthetic union of being and non-being in becoming.

If being… is understood as empirical being, truth is at once transformed
into a desideratum, and everything must be understood in terms of becoming;
for the empirical object is unfinished and the existing cognitive spirit
is itself in process of becoming. — Kierkegaard (Johannes Climacus), Concluding
Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments

Being is not produced by us; it is not mere interpretation… Rather,
by its own impetus, it causes us to interpret and will not permit our
interpretation ever to be satisfied. — Jaspers, The
Philosophy of Karl Jaspers

Being, as the basic theme of philosophy, is no class or genus of entities;
yet it pertains to every entity. — Heidegger, Being
and Time

Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is. — Sartre, Being
and Nothingness

Being has nonbeing “within” itself as that which is eternally present
and eternally overcome in the process of the divine life. — Tillich, The
Courage to Be

[CSW: I find these self-referencing definitions problematic. Definitions
should not form loops, otherwise dictionaries are useless.]

Being-for-Itself – Sartre’s terms for sentient existence, namely human existence. A form of consciousness that entertains itself as possibility rather than as terminal fact. The recognition that a being can change itself.

Being-for-Others – The act of existing as an object external to other beings. We all exist in a state of being-for-others at various moments.

Being-in-Itself – Reality prior to human intervention. What is, without mankind.

Being-in-Itself-for-Itself – An impossible form of being attributed to God. A completely realized existence while at the same time a void waiting to be filled… complete freedom.

Being-in-the-Midst – A form of bad faith in which one chooses the self merely as an inert presence, as a thing. In other words, the treatment of the self as without the ability to change freely.

Being-in-the-World – Choosing the self as a sentient, real being as manifested by thoughts, actions, and meaning. This is the existential existence, recognizing that at least in humans existence does precede essence. Being-in-the-World is a contrast to Being-in-the-Midst.

– C –

collective – Any organized set of human relationship, however temporary. According to Sartre, any collective exists only for brief instants. “We” is not the natural state of humans, who think in terms of individuality.

concepts – General ideas that represent a “class” of objects with common traits. (Object-oriented thinking, in programming terms.) Any descendent object inherits traits of previous members, therefore a concept applying to previous members applies to the new object.

conscience – (from NDE) (Latin conscientia: feeling, knowledge) Existentialists are divided in their view of conscience. Some consider conscience to be the moral voice within the individual, helpful and necessary. Others believe conscience to be the product of society and thus completely relative.

You and conscience are one. It knows all that you know, and it knows
that you know it. — Kierkegaard, Purity
of the Heart Is to Will One Thing

If we train our conscience, it kisses us while it hurts us. — Nietzsche, Beyond
Good and Evil

conscious – All choices are conscious choices, according to Sartre. In existentialism, every choice is made aware of the consequences. There is no “subconscious” for in Sartre’s early works on psychology. Choices are made and denying a memory is an act of Bad Faith — a lie to the self.

– D –

Dasein – (from NDE) (German Dasein: being there) Dasein literally means “Being there,” or, in other words, being in a particular place. Hence Dasein is used to mean human existence.

In traditional German philosophy, Dasein was used in a general way to
stand for almost any kind of Being or existence which something has, for
example, the existence of God. In common usage, Dasein was used to stand
for the kind of existence which belongs to persons.

Understanding of Being is itself a definitive characteristic of Dasein’s
Being. Dasein is ontically distinctive in that it is ontological. — Heidegger, Being
and Time

death – (from NDE) (Indo-European dheu: to become senseless) One of the preoccupations of existential philosophy, death for Sartre proves the absurdity of life. Existential thinkers on the whole are concerned to define and interpret death properly so that man is encouraged to face death with reckless freedom, embracing its absurdity yet not permitting death to rob life of all meaning and freedom.

When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life; but when one
becomes acquainted with an even more dreadful danger, one hopes for death.
— Kierkegaard, The
Sickness Unto Death

The thought of death can give rise to the fear of not living authentically.
One glimpse of the void within and without, and we take refuge in ceaseless
activity, eschewing reflection. But the secret restlessness remains.
The life force delivers us from it only in appearance; only the sheer
force of the thought of death itself frees us in truth. It affirms that
other than merely vital significance of man: the eternal weight of his
love. Peace in the face of death springs from the awareness of what no
death can take away. — Jaspers, Philosophy
Is for Everyman

When Heidegger speaks about the anticipation of one’s own death it is not the question of immortality which concerns him but the questions of what the anticipation of death means for the human situation. — Tillich, The
Courage to Be

Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. — Frankl, From
Death Camp to Existentialism

despair – (from NDE) (Latin de + spes: without hope) For existential thinkers, particularly Kierkegaard, despair is one of the most significant human emotions which provides the spur to fruitful thought about the nature of the human condition. Tillich later repeats the same estimate, adding the qualification that the emotion of despair itself is not necessarily experienced by all or even the majority of people.

Not to be one’s own self is despair. … To despair is to lose the eternal.
— Kierkegaard, The
Sickness Unto Death

All human life can be interpreted as a continuous attempt to avoid despair.
And this attempt is mostly successful. Extreme situations are not reached
frequently and perhaps they are never reached by some people. — Tillich, The
Courage to Be

dialectic – Process associated with Hegel of discovering truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis. The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction.

– E –

ego – Used by Sartre to describe self-acknowledgment. This is not the Freudian ego, but rather a consciousness of self in the world.

epistemology – A branch of philosophy dedicated to scientific studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity.

epoché – The act of suspending interpretation and judgment in order to better study the actual structure and content of an object or phenomena. A term from phenomenology.

essence – The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something. The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things. Phenomenology and existentialism aim to observe the essence of objects. In existentialism, one’s essence is his or her role in the universe. This essence changes constantly with each decision made.

ethics – In existential works, ethics refers to a system, a formalized method for determining “right and wrong” in any situation. Morals are practices dictated by probability, producing a conformity of behavior among a community.

existence – The state of being, usually in the material, scientific sense. In existentialism, the existence of a person does not define the individual; the individual is defined by his or her actions and thoughts.

(from NDE) (Latin existere: to stand forth) Existential thinkers write of existence as it is in its factuality as opposed to idealistic philosophy (such as Hegelianism) which equated essence with existence to the detriment of existence. Passion and responsibility are two of the most significant aspects of existence as viewed by Kierkegaard and Sartre.

existentialism – (You skipped the introduction, didn’t you? Scroll back and read this page completely.) The doctrine that among sentient beings, especially humanity, existence takes precedence over essence and holding that man is totally free and responsible for his acts. This responsibility is the source of dread and anguish that encompass mankind.

An existential system is impossible. An existential system cannot be
formulated. Does this mean that no such system exists? By no means; nor
is this implied in our assertion. Reality itself is a system — for God;
but it cannot be a system for any existing spirit. System and finality
correspond to one another, but existence is precisely the opposite of
finality. — Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific
Postscript

Existential Vacuum – (from NDE) The psychological condition in which a person doubts that life has any meaning. This new neurosis is characterized by loss of interest and lack of initiative. According to Viktor
Frankl, the existential vacuum is apparently a concomitant of industrialization. When neither instinct nor social tradition direct man toward what he ought to do, soon he will not even know what he wants to do, and the existential vacuum results.

Because of social pressure, individualism is rejected by most people
in favor of conformity. Thus the individual relies mainly upon the actions
of others and neglects the meaning of his own personal life. Hence he
sees his own life as meaningless and falls into the “existential vacuum”
feeling inner void. Progressive automation causes increasing alcoholism,
juvenile delinquency, and suicide. — Frankl speaking.

– F –

facticity – Those features of reality that cannot be transformed. Many things are not controlled by anyone, especially in nature and science. Sartre recognized these external factors, to which sentient beings can only respond.

freedom – The condition leading to both human accomplishment and anguish. I differ from existentialists in that I support the “freedom to” while Sartre and his socialist colleagues supported a “freedom from” certain conditions. I worry that we sacrifice our freedom to do things and express thoughts in return for “freedoms from” various concerns.

(from NDE) (Anglo-Saxon freo: not in bondage, noble) Man is essentially free and not determined by any external factor whatever, according to existential thought. Jean-Paul Sartre has formulated the most radical doctrine of freedom in the history of western thought. Accordingly, no limit to human freedom is admitted, neither temporal nor divine.

Sartre wants men to accept their own absolute responsibility for their
lives. Thus he opposes any reliance upon the divine. All of man’s alibis
are unacceptable: no gods are responsible for man’s condition, no original
sin, no heredity or environment, no race, no caste, no father, no mother,
no wrong-headed education, no impulse or disposition, no complex, no childhood
trauma. Man is completely free. Man is condemned to be free.

Our description of freedom, since it does not distinguish between choosing
and doing, compels us to abandon at once the distinction between the
intention and the act. The intention can no more be separated from the
act than thought can be separated from the language which expresses it.
— Sartre, Being and Nothingness

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand
those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom
of speech. — Kierkegaard (Victor Eremita), Either/Or

Freedom wills itself, because it already possesses a grasp of its possibility.
— Jaspers, The Philosophy
of Karl Jaspers

Freedom, however, is only in the choice of one possibility — that is,
in tolerating one’s not having chosen the others and one’s not being
able to choose them. — Heidegger, Being
and Time
[CSW: Can anyone untangle Heidegger? His writings are as clear as a legal filing.]

fused group – A collective formed by a spontaneous common social goal or aspiration. Unfortunately, most fused groups are merely mobs.

future – Existentialists focus their lives on the future, always attempting to become more, to learn more, to experience more of life. Life, being, is the process of becoming; this means the future is how men define themselves. We act and think looking forward. The future is why we do things.

– G –

god / God – (from NDE) (Unknown origin, goth or guth: to call out) Existential philosophers are divided into atheistic and theistic schools of thought, according to Sartre. The atheistic existentialists are Nietzsche, Sartre and the French school of existentialism, and Heidegger. The theistic existentialists are Kierkegaard, Jaspers, and Tillich. More important than this formal division is each thinker’s conception of God and the place assigned to God within his thought.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote of the “death of God,” by which he meant the loss of the culture’s base values.

Jean-Paul Sartre, who also speaks of the death of God, means that it is
necessary for man to invent his own values, to freely choose oneself as
an image of man for all men.

Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in
consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either
within or outside himself. He discovers forthwith, that he is without
excuse.

Existentialism is not atheistic in the sense that it would exhaust itself
in demonstrations of the non-existence of God. It declares, rather, that
even if God existed that it would make no difference from its point of
view. — Sartre, essay: “Existentialism”

The best proof of the soul’s immortality, that God exists, etc., actually
is the impression once received thereof in childhood, namely the proof
which, differing from the many learned and grandiloquent proofs, could
be summarized thus: It is absolutely true, because my father told me
so. — Kierkegaard, The
Diary

God does not exist. He is being-itself beyond essence and existence.
Therefore, to argue that God exists is to deny him. — Tillich, Systematic
Theology

good – (from NDE) (Sanskrit gadh: to hold fast, fit) The individual is the only center for the choice of the good. No rules or commandments or laws have any ethical significance unless they are chosen by the individual. This choice is completely free. Man is free to choose his own nature. Man alone is responsible to choose what he is to become, and this is his choice alone. Objective advice on moral matters cannot be given, as choice and value are subjective.

Nobody, up to now, has doubted that the “good” man represents a higher
value than the “evil,” in terms of promoting and benefiting mankind generally,
even taking the long view. But suppose the exact opposite were true.
What if the “good” man represents not merely a retrogression but even
a danger, a temptation, a narcotic drug enabling the present to live
at the expense of the future? More comfortable, less hazardous, perhaps,
but also baser, more petty — so that morality itself would be responsible
for man, as a species, failing to reach the peak of magnificence of which
he is capable? What if morality should turn out to be the danger of dangers?
— Nietzsche, The Genealogy
of Morals

Sartre’s definition of the good vary with his three major works. [CSW: What is good to Sartre and the French movement is that which preserves freedom. Unfortunately, preserving freedom is not a clear matter. Sartre was not bothered by inconsistency. He shifted his beliefs and arguments throughout his life.] In the first, Being
and Nothingness (1943), he argues that one man’s freedom represents a hopeless obstacle to another’s. In the second, Existentialism
is a Humanism (1946), he argues that it is impossible for one to choose one’s own freedom without thereby choosing freedom for others as well. In the third, Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), the viewpoint is that experience shows each individual that he is capable of inventing the world in “praxis,” which proceeds by means of a dialectical struggle to replace the present by a future which is foreseen.

– H –

Historical Materialism – (from NDE) Jean-Paul
Sartre’s term explaining part of his attitude toward Marxism. The only view of dialectical materialism which makes sense is historical materialism, that is, materialism viewed from inside the history of man’s relation with matter.

history – (from NDE) History, according to existential thinking, is the precondition of human knowledge.

Sartre used the term historicize: (from NDE) To have a history, in the sense of becoming involved as a person in the actual world. Sartre seems to say that the individual can choose to have a history.

All the Existential philosophers agree on the historical character of
immediate personal experience. But the fact that man has a fundamentally
“historical Existence” does not mean merely that he has a theoretical
interest in the past; his Existence is not directed toward the past at
all. It is the attitude not of the detached spectator, but of the actor
who must face the future and make personal decisions. — Tillich, Theology
of Culture

hope – (from NDE) Kierkegaard, in recounting the Abraham story, says that it was necessary for Abraham to have renounced everything, to have given up all hope that things were going to turn out all right in the end, before anything divine could happen to him.

[CSW: I’m sure Isaac would have appreciated a bit of hope. But hope is
not the same as loyalty and faith. What God asks of us, no matter how odd,
is what we must do in Kierkegaard’s view.]

Human Nature – (from NDE) There is no settled human nature, according to existentialism. Because the will is more basic than the reason, the choice the individual makes of his own nature is more basic than the rational analysis of that nature.

– I –

ideal – (from NDE) An important concept for Kierkegaard’s later thought. As he sought to apply his concepts to social and religious conditions, he made extensive use of the category of the ideal. Not defined, it was considered a self-evident idea, the ideal being contrasted with the actual.

The ideal means hatred of man. What man naturally loves is finitude.
To face him with the ideal is the most dreadful torture. Certainly, when
the ideal is produced in the most exalted poetic fashion, like an enchanting
vision of the imagination, he accepts this pleasure. … (¶) But when
the ideal is produces as the ethico-religious demand, it is the most
dreadful torture of man. — Kierkegaard, The
Last Years

All ideals of man are impossible, because man’s potentialities are infinite.
There can be no perfect man. This has important philosophical consequences.

Conscious of his freedom, man desires to become what he can and should
be. He conceives an ideal of his nature. As on the plane of cognition,
the idea of man as an object of scientific inquiry may lead to a falsely
definitive image of him, so on the plane of freedom he may falsely choose
a path leading to an absolute ideal. From helpless questioning and bewilderment,
he thus aspires to take refuge in a universal that he can imitate in
its concrete forms. — Jaspers, The
Perennial Scope of Philosophy

immortality – (from NDE) This topic, of tremendous interest to the history of western philosophy in general, if of little interest to Existentialism. … Most Existentialists prefer to discuss and analyze the present and the immediate future rather than the transcendent reality of a supernatural world-view.

The philosophical idea of the natural immortality of the soul deduced
from its substantiality leads nowhere. It ignores the fact of death and
denies the tragedy of it. — Nicolas Berdyaev, The
Destiny of Man

We are mortal as mere empirical beings, immortal when we appear in time
as that which is eternal. We are mortal when we are loveless, immortal
as lovers. We are mortal in indecision, immortal in resolution. We are
mortal as natural processes, immortal when given to ourselves in freedom.
— Jaspers, Philosophy
Is for Everyman

individual – (from NDE) One of the key Existential themes, originating with Kierkegaard, expressing the opposition to idealism, to any tyranny whether rational or legal over the right of the existing person to choose the course and nature of his own life.

The individual is opposed to universal laws, norms, necessities; untragically,
he represents mere willfulness opposing the law; tragically, he represents
the genuine exception which, though opposing the law, yet has truth on
his side. — Jaspers, Tragedy
Is Not Enough

The very term “individual” points to the interdependence of self-relatedness
and individualization. A self-centered being cannot be divided. It can
be destroyed, or it can be deprived of certain parts out of which new
self-centered beings emerge… Man not only is completely self-centered;
he also is completely individualized. — Tillich, Systematic
Theology

The first effect of existentialism is that it puts every man in possession
of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence
squarely upon his own shoulders. — Sartre, Existentialism
is a Humanism

in-itself – (from NDE) (French en-soi) Sartre’s term for non-conscious reality, as contrasted with conscious reality, or the being of the human person (being-for-itself).

– K –

knowledge – (from NDE) For Kierkegaard, the term knowledge was ambiguous. If it meant the Hegelian attempt to understand the world and man in completely rational terms, then it represented the idealistic system which Existential thinking completely opposed.

Knowledge demolishes Jesus Christ. … From history one can learn nothing
about Christ. — Kierkegaard, Training
in Christianity

That is, Kierkegaard believed that it is impossible to base faith upon knowledge, especially knowledge about historical events. Knowledge cannot provide certainty, not for the existing individual, and it is a fatal distraction for the individual to attempt to ground his faith in knowledge.

Knowledge and Becoming exclude each other. Consequently knowledge must
signify something different. A “will to make recognizable” must precede
it; a special kind of becoming, man, must have created the deception
of Being. — Nietzsche, Will
to Power

Man… lost the power of knowing real being… lost access to reality and
was reduced to studying knowledge. One cannot arrive at being — one can
only start with it. — Nicolas Berdyaev, Solitude
and Society

Knowing is a form of union. In every act of knowledge the knower and
that which is known are united; the gap between subject and object is
overcome. The subject “grasps” the object, adapts it to itself, and,
at the same time, adapts itself to the object. But the union of knowledge
is a peculiar one; it is a union through separation. Detachment is the
condition of cognitive union. In order to know, one must “look” at a
thing, and, in order to look at a thing, one must be “at a distance.”
— Tillich, Systematic
Theology

– L –

law – (from NDE) (Norman laq: due place) Every law is a tyranny over the living man. As an objective and universal thing, law seeks to control the individual and impair his freedom. The particular view taken of law by the various Existential thinkers will depend on their view of the more general term, “good.”

The ethics of law is the expression of herd morality. It organizes the
life of the average man, of the human herd, and leaves altogether out
of account the creative human personality which rises above the common
level. It deals with personality in the abstract; the concrete person
does not exist for it. — Nicolas Berdyaev, The
Destiny of Man

[CSW: Complying with laws is a choice. Ideally, the existentialist tries
to balance the need for individual freedom with order in a society.]

With us, law is no longer custom, it can only command and be compulsion; none of us any longer possesses a traditional sense of justice; we must therefore content ourselves with arbitrary laws, which are the expressions of the necessity that there must be law. The most logical is then in any case the most acceptable, because it is the most impartial, granting even that in every case the smallest unit of measure in the relation of crime and punishment is arbitrarily fixed. — Nietzsche, Human,
All-Too-Human

Logotherapy – (from NDE) In Existential psychology, the term for Dr. Viktor Frankl’s therapy. The theory states that the spiritual aspects of the distressed individuals require treatment rather than the physical symptoms. Thus it is names Logotherapy, from the Greek word “logos,” which is “word,” “meanings,” or “spiritual.”

“Logos” being the meaning — and, beyond that, something pertaining to the noetic, and not the psychic, dimension of man. — Frankl, From
Death Camp to Existentialism

According to logotherapy, the striving to a meaning in one’s own life
is the primary motivational force in man. — Frankl, Man’s
Search for Meaning

It is, of course, not the aim of logotherapy to take the place of existing
psycho-therapy, but only to complement it… which includes the spiritual
dimension. — Frankl, Doctor
of the Soul

Thus, logotherapy is a personalistic psychotherapy which does not concern
itself primarily with symptoms, but rather tries to bring about a change
in orientation with respect to the symptoms. The therapeutic aim of logotherapy
is to make the individual aware of him purpose in life and to bring him
to a fuller understanding of it.

Logotherapy is based on the observation that uncertainty about life’s
meaning is one of the most important causes of emotional problems in the
world today.

love – (from NDE) (Old English lëof: dear, or Latin lubere) Jaspers writes that one of the elements of philosophical faith is “love as the fundamental actualization of the eternal man.” To this end, a sympathy must be maintained even for those forms of knowledge, such as myths, which have been rejected by philosophy.

Mythological categories contain a truth that strikes us with irresistible
evidence when the chaff is separated from the grain. To ignore this truth
is to impoverish one’s soul, to create a vacuum. A man who has lost his
ear for such language seems no longer capable of love. For if the transcendent
has become entirely nonsensuous, it no longer holds for him an object
of love. — Jaspers, The
Perennial Scope of Philosophy

Love is always love; that is its static and absolute side. But love
is always dependent on that which is loved, and therefore it is unable
to force finite elements on finite existence in the name of an assumed
absolute. The absoluteness of love is its power to go into the concrete
situation, to discover what is demanded by the predicament of the concrete
to which it turns. Therefore, love can never become fanatical in a fight
with an absolute, or cynical under the impact of the relative. — Tillich, Systematic
Theology

Love is a conflict. … Why does the lover want to be loved? If Love were
in fact a pure desire for the physical possession, it could in many ways
be satisfied. — Sartre, Being
and Nothingness

– M –

man – (from NDE) (Sanscrit manu) Existentialists form their view of man by beginning with the fact that the individual is always the existent-in-the-world, already in encounter. Generally speaking, they hold that there is no such thing as a pure subject. [CSW: Man, in this view, is whatever he chooses to be, not merely a physical entity, but a collection of actions and interactions.]

Kierkegaard’s view of man can be viewed as similar to that of the classical Greek philosophers. Man is a unit composed of three parts: the soul, the body, and the spirit, or self. By “soul” he means the intellect or reason. By “body” he means sense-perceptions or sensuousness, the Danish masking an ambiguity. By “spirit” or “self” he means the self-consciousness or will.

To know what man is, is the only knowledge that is possible for us,
for we are men ourselves — and that alone is essential — for man is the
measure of all things. — Jaspers, The
Perennial Scope of Philosophy

Marxism – (from NDE) In his later thought, Sartre tends to see the ethical and political completion of existentialism in Marxism. This Marxism is a Marxism of a special kind, namely one which is purged of such “nineteenth-century anachronisms” as determinism, and one which incorporates the humanizing influences of existentialism with its regard for the existing individual. The conflict between individuals, rather than being due to the nature of the universe, is instead due to economic scarcity. When scarcity is overcome, conflict will also, in principle, be cured.

[CSW: Marxism is a return to German Idealism or even the Enlightenment
notion that mankind could achieve peace and some form of utopia. This idealism
is counter to existentialism, in that it removes the challenges of life
from existence.]

morality – Doing as the powerful in a society or social system dictate. If one believes in a deity, that deity is the most powerful entity in existence, so its rules must be followed in order to be moral.

– N –

nausea – (from NDE) (Greek nausia: illness) The title of Sartre’s famous novel of solipsistic despair, and the name Sartre uses for man’s reaction in experiencing the absurd world. Both the physical world and the realization of their own uselessness give men the feeling of revulsion which Sartre calls nausea.

Necessary Being – The rationalistic explanation of a deity; a being that cannot not exist due to the paradox created. Many existentialists have faith, therefore they believe in a being or intellect preceding all other existence. Sartre viewed the paradox as evidence there was no Creator.

nihilism – Often viewed as “amoral” by some, nihilism is amoral in the existential sense. Nihilism is the rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief. Politically, nihilism is the belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.

Nihilism is associated with Nietzsche, who was not a nihilist according to most scholars.

– O –

objectivity – The ability to study events or objects dispassionately, without any prejudice or bias. Existentialists consider claims of objectivity bad faith, since human objectivity is impossible.

ontology – The theory of existence; the idea there is a reality.

original project – The fundamental choice of being that each sentient being makes in every action performed.

– P –

Paradoxical Intention – (from NDE) Frankl’s term for one of the procedural methods in treatment of mental illness on existential-psychoanalytic principles. It refers to the paradoxical wish which the patient may use to take the place of his fears

As soon as the patient stops fighting his obsessions and instead tries
to ridicule them by dealing with them in an ironical way, by applying
paradoxical intention, the vicious circle is out. — Frankl, Man’s
Search for Meaning

phenomenology – The long definitions are at the top of this Web page, so scroll on back if you want to read the long-winded discussion. The simplified version: A movement originated by Edmund
Husserl, meaning the study of appearances. The study of all possible appearances in human experience, during which considerations of objective reality and of purely subjective response are left out of account. It should be noted Hegel published essays on phenomenology, but Husserl organized a formalized system recognized as the “phenomenological method” of philosophical study.

Philosophical Anthropology – (from NDE) Sartre’s term for the new science which he believes is needed to properly understand man. The existing tools and methods of the sciences — natural science, traditional sociology, anthropology — are not adequate for the task.

positivism – The philosophy contending that sense perceptions are the only admissible basis of human knowledge and precise thought. Phenomenology, epistemology, and other schools of thought reflect some positivistic influences.

praxis – (from NDE) (Greek: deed or action) Sartre uses this Greek word to refer to any purposeful human activity. The whole structure of the Critique of Dialectical Reason depends on the notion of praxis, that is, man’s action in the world, his work, and his rational intention in the material universe.

[CSW: An action, as defined by Karl Marx, leading to a definitive chain of events. Existentialists view every decision as a “defining moment” but a praxis represents a revolution in the essence of an individual or community.]

psychology – (from NDE) Existential interest in the theory of man has led to its formulation of a psychological theory which is distinctive. Sartre, Jaspers, and others of the philosophical Existentialists have written a great deal on the topic.

In Europe there are four explicitly Existential psycho-therapists, who
are (1) Viktor Frankl, the Viennese neuropsychiatrist, founder of “Logotherapy,” (2) Ludwig Binswanger, the Swiss psychiatrist, founder of “Existential Analysis,” (3) Medard Boss, also a Swiss psychiatrist, who calls his therapy “Daseinanalysis,” and (4) Hans Trüb, Swiss, who calls his therapy “anthropological.”

Existential psychoanalysis is going to reveal to man the real goal of
his pursuit, which is being as a synthetic fusion of the in-itself with
the for-itself; existential psychoanalysis is going to acquaint man with
his passion. — Sartre, Being
and Nothingness

– R –

radical conversion – The responsibility and possibility that each being has in each moment of life. At any moment a sentient being can reject his or her original project and select another course in life.

rationalism – The theory all events are logically linked.

reason – (from NDE) (Latin ratio: computation, calculation) Kierkegaard uses reason in two senses: (1) discursively, as in the normal, everyday type of reasoning, reasoning for the sake of a definite conclusion, and (2) as it is in a faith-philosophy, as a term for all the creative processes of the mind, including imagination and esthetic judgment.

reflected consciousness – Thoughts about thoughts. Sartre found thinking about how and why we think quite interesting. The moment one ponders other thoughts, he or she is acting as a philosopher.

– S –

society – (from NDE) The reason for the existential rejection of society lies in the failure of existential philosophy to provide for a clearly non-repressive social organization, one which allows the individual freedom to develop.

Freedom for the individual is possible only by becoming free from the
restrictions of society, which is the animal organization of man at any
rate — “the herd,” or “the crowd.” This is a theme which Nietzsche also developed, in speaking of the “transvaluation of values,” by which the true individual would be freed from the restrictions of society.

subjective – How everything is viewed by existentialism: nothing is certain, it is all opinion, bias, and prejudice.

– T –

totalization – Sartre’s theory that every historical moment is a product of and contains traces of all the moments leading up to it.

transcendence – The mental act of projecting a consciousness beyond itself, referring to and establishing new relations with entities that are external to the self.

– U –

unreflected consciousness – Thoughts of external objects and concepts, without any consideration as to the nature of the thoughts. This form of consciousness is the “practical” mode of thought used at most times by sentient beings, as compared to reflected consciousness.

Cooper, David E. Existentialism:
A Reconstruction. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK; Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. [0631213228 (hc), 0631213236 (pbk)]

Earnshaw, Steven. Existentialism:
A Guide for the Perplexed. London; New York: Continuum International Pub. Group, 2006. [0826485294, 9780826485298 (hc); 0826485308, 9780826485304 (pbk)]

Nauman, St Elmo. The New Dictionary
of Existentialism. New York: Philosophical Library, 1971. [080222346X]

Olson, Robert G. An
Introduction to Existentialism. New York: Dover Publications, 1962.

Complete Bibliography