Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Analytic Philosophy
- Part II Continental Philosophy
- Section Five Central Movements and Issues
- 26 Existentialism
- 27 Sartre and Merleau-Ponty on Freedom
- 28 Heidegger, Critical Theory, and the Critique of Technology
- 29 Authenticity and Social Critique
- 30 Hermeneutics in Post-War Continental European Philosophy
- 31 Feminist Philosophy since 1945
- 32 Philosophies of Difference
- Section Six Continental Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy
- Section Seven Continental Aesthetics and Philosophy of Religion
- Part III Bridge Builders, Border Crossers, Synthesizers, and Comparative Philosophy
- Part IV Epilogue: On the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy
- References
- Index
26 - Existentialism
from Section Five - Central Movements and Issues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2019
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Analytic Philosophy
- Part II Continental Philosophy
- Section Five Central Movements and Issues
- 26 Existentialism
- 27 Sartre and Merleau-Ponty on Freedom
- 28 Heidegger, Critical Theory, and the Critique of Technology
- 29 Authenticity and Social Critique
- 30 Hermeneutics in Post-War Continental European Philosophy
- 31 Feminist Philosophy since 1945
- 32 Philosophies of Difference
- Section Six Continental Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy
- Section Seven Continental Aesthetics and Philosophy of Religion
- Part III Bridge Builders, Border Crossers, Synthesizers, and Comparative Philosophy
- Part IV Epilogue: On the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy
- References
- Index
Summary
Discussing existentialism in a volume on the history of philosophy from 1945 to 2015 poses some unique challenges. The first concerns the extension of the term. While it was customary for writers on existentialism in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1950s to include a core set of philosophers under this rubric (Sartre, Camus, Marcel, Jaspers, and Heidegger), all but Sartre (and Beauvoir)1 denied being existentialists. Further, these same writers often expanded the list to include supposed precursors such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and even Socrates, Pascal, and Dostoevsky, who would have found the term quite alien. Mention of Dostoevsky suggests a second challenge: the fact that Sartre and Beauvoir were as well known for their literary output as for their more philosophical work meant that “existentialism” came to designate a peculiarly philosophically inflected cultural movement into which a great number of writers, visual artists, filmmakers, and others were conscripted.2
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- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015 , pp. 351 - 364Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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