— Ch. 1 · Origins And Etymology —
Existentialism.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
The word existentialism did not exist in the 19th century. Gabriel Marcel, a French Catholic philosopher, coined the term in the mid-1940s to describe a specific philosophical approach. He first applied this label to Jean-Paul Sartre during a colloquium held in 1945. Sartre initially rejected the name entirely. He changed his mind later that same year on the 29th of October 1945. On that date, he publicly adopted the label in a lecture delivered to the Club Maintenant in Paris. This event marked the birth of existentialism as a public movement. The lecture was published shortly after as Existentialism Is a Humanism. That short book helped popularize the thought across Europe and America. Marcel eventually rejected the label himself. He preferred Neo-Socratic philosophy instead. His choice honored Kierkegaard's essay On the Concept of Irony.
Core Philosophical Concepts
Jean-Paul Sartre argued that existence precedes essence for human beings. Individuals shape themselves by existing rather than being defined by preconceived categories. A person creates their own values through consciousness. This view contradicts Aristotle and Aquinas who taught that essence precedes individual existence. Facticity defines the facts of one's personal life. It includes things like birthplace or physical limitations. These are unchosen elements of reality. Yet facticity does not determine a person completely. One can choose how much value to assign to these conditions. Freedom produces angst when limited by facticity. Anxiety arises from the experience of radical free will. Standing on a cliff illustrates this feeling. Fear involves falling off the edge. Dread comes from the possibility of throwing oneself off. Nothing holds you back. You feel your own freedom in that moment. Despair is a loss of hope regarding identity. If a singer loses her voice, she may despair if nothing else defines her. Existentialists oppose defining humans as primarily rational. People make decisions based on subjective meaning. Reason has boundaries according to Søren Kierkegaard. Human reason cannot solve all existential problems.