existentialism
/ɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃ(ə)lɪz(ə)m
/noun [mass noun]
A philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.As a philosopher she reacted to existentialism and logical positivism with a deep belief that philosophy should be about freedom and morality and love and God....
- He published On Humanism, a letter to Beaufret in which he distanced his own philosophy from French existentialism.
- The philosophy of existentialism affected and changed the attitude of the Western community to suicide greatly.
Origin
Translating Danish existents-forhold 'condition of existence' (frequently used by Kierkegaard), from existential.