Best Definition of Existentialism?

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Diogenes
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Re: the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist

Post by Diogenes » 11-15-2011 01:49 AM

bobbo wrote: "How's that Enlightenment thing working out for you?" /// You mean after 500 years and 70% of Americans believe in ghosts, fairies, and angels? I wouldn't say we are ahead of schedule, but I'm known to be pessimistic.


You left out Santa and the Great Pumpkin. :D
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Post by cybrwurm » 11-15-2011 11:32 PM

.
] bobbo say: I wouldn't say we are ahead of schedule,
] but I'm known to be pessimistic.
.
ha! good one, b. hey, we might even be falling behind
shedule, but at least we can make the people laugh, eh? :crazyjump
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Re: the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist

Post by megman » 11-16-2011 01:51 AM

bobbo wrote: "How's that Enlightenment thing working out for you?" /// You mean after 500 years and 70% of Americans believe in ghosts, fairies, and angels? I wouldn't say we are ahead of schedule, but I'm known to be pessimistic.
Its all good. Sometimes my sense of humor takes some getting used to, but you will.......... :cool:
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of course I meant it, AND I was joking

Post by bobbo » 11-16-2011 04:22 AM

Meg--while miscommunication/misperception is a potential for every keystroke, In my own mind I have been responding to your humor in kind. Why would you think otherwise?

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Post by megman » 11-17-2011 01:54 AM

Just wasn't 100% we were on the same plane but it appears we are......:coolhat:
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the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist

Post by bobbo » 11-17-2011 02:14 AM

Megman--fun huh? Communications and ambiguity. Humor. Irony--saying the opposite of what you mean and the context makes the intended meaning clear? What is the context of a blank page? Of two people with no history? Should the evaluation be done on faith, assumption, or evidence?

You did what only good people do--you couldn't tell, so you asked. And I answered. And now we will see if I told the truth.

Maybe I'll change my mind and become insulted? People are like that. Imagine being insulted because of the limitations of other people? Strangers Even?

What Hubris this?

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Post by cybrwurm » 11-17-2011 03:23 PM

] bobbo say: ... What Hubris this?
.
wurm say: This Hubris be not existentialism, for Existentialism is a fairly recent philosophical innovation that is very interested in human beings and what makes them tick. Bertrand Russell didn't much care for existentialism because he thought it gave undue emphasis to human beings and their place in the cosmos. He wanted philosophy to focus much more upon the external universe, and thought that placing attention upon humanity was a wasted effort. Of course existentialists disagree to the Nth degree. If we cannot understand ourselves, how can we possibly understand the cosmos? For man is indeed the measure of all things.
.
So the core idea of existentialism is that 'existence precedes essence', which is a very radical idea in direct contradiction to almost the entire philosophical tradition going all the way back to Plato. Before existentialism it was a given "fact" that essence precedes existence, and it only took two thousand years to overcome this delusion. For this reason alone, existentialism is by far the most important development in modern philosophy. Two of the most important existentialists of the 20th century are Karl Jaspers and Colin Wilson.
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the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist

Post by bobbo » 11-17-2011 03:52 PM

wurm==well said but a bit confusing still. Existentialism is the study of what makes men tick? What else is Hubris? Is there none in you? I see it in me, I hear its gasping yawp, not snapping at me but always ready to swallow me up. Hubris. To deny it is to be completely caught up in it.

I flunked essence. completely satisfied that a chair is anything you sit on. Not enough words.

Imagine that?

PS--maybe you have a word or two about essence? I take its ancient meaning, its philosophical meaning, to match todays definition(s)? Seems mostly an artificial concept when applied to the real world, and mostly definitional when applied to the cognitive/immaterial.

More Hubris?

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