existentialism

E188040

intellectual tradition philosophical doctrine philosophical movement

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and responsibility in a world often seen as inherently meaningless or absurd.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Existentialism	5
existentialism canonical	5
French existentialism	3

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1668069 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: existentialism
Context triple: [Martin Heidegger, movement, existentialism]

A. existential psychotherapy
Existential psychotherapy is a form of therapy that focuses on helping individuals confront fundamental questions of existence—such as meaning, freedom, isolation, and mortality—to live more authentically and purposefully.
B. Lebensphilosophie
Lebensphilosophie is a philosophical movement that emphasizes lived experience, vitality, and the historical life-world over abstract rationalism and systematic metaphysics.
C. Christian existentialism
Christian existentialism is a philosophical and theological movement that combines Christian faith with existentialist themes such as individual freedom, personal responsibility, and the search for meaning before God.
D. analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a 20th-century philosophical tradition, strongly associated with figures like Bertrand Russell, that emphasizes logical analysis, clarity of language, and rigorous argumentation in addressing philosophical problems.
E. Spinozism
Spinozism is the philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza, characterized by a strict monism in which God and Nature are identified as a single infinite substance governed by rational, necessary laws.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: existentialism
Target entity description: Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and responsibility in a world often seen as inherently meaningless or absurd.

A. existential psychotherapy
Existential psychotherapy is a form of therapy that focuses on helping individuals confront fundamental questions of existence—such as meaning, freedom, isolation, and mortality—to live more authentically and purposefully.
B. Lebensphilosophie
Lebensphilosophie is a philosophical movement that emphasizes lived experience, vitality, and the historical life-world over abstract rationalism and systematic metaphysics.
C. Christian existentialism
Christian existentialism is a philosophical and theological movement that combines Christian faith with existentialist themes such as individual freedom, personal responsibility, and the search for meaning before God.
D. analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a 20th-century philosophical tradition, strongly associated with figures like Bertrand Russell, that emphasizes logical analysis, clarity of language, and rigorous argumentation in addressing philosophical problems.
E. Spinozism
Spinozism is the philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza, characterized by a strict monism in which God and Nature are identified as a single infinite substance governed by rational, necessary laws.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (60)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	intellectual tradition ⓘ philosophical doctrine ⓘ philosophical movement ⓘ
addresses	absurdity of the world ⓘ human condition ⓘ meaning of life ⓘ
associatedWith	Albert Camus ⓘ Friedrich Nietzsche ⓘ Gabriel Marcel ⓘ Jean-Paul Sartre ⓘ Karl Jaspers ⓘ Martin Heidegger ⓘ Maurice Merleau-Ponty ⓘ Simone de Beauvoir ⓘ Søren Kierkegaard ⓘ
claims	humans are radically free ⓘ individuals are responsible for their choices ⓘ meaning must be created by the individual ⓘ values are not given a priori ⓘ
emphasizes	alienation ⓘ anxiety ⓘ authenticity ⓘ confrontation with death ⓘ finitude ⓘ individual choice ⓘ subjective experience ⓘ
hasReligiousForms	true ⓘ
hasSecularForms	true ⓘ
historicalPeriod	19th century ⓘ 20th century ⓘ
influenced	literature ⓘ political theory ⓘ psychology ⓘ theatre ⓘ theology ⓘ
influencedBy	Friedrich Nietzsche’s critique of morality ⓘ German idealism ⓘ Søren Kierkegaard’s critique of Christendom ⓘ phenomenology ⓘ
keyConcept	anguish ⓘ authentic existence ⓘ bad faith ⓘ despair ⓘ existence precedes essence ⓘ nothingness ⓘ the absurd ⓘ
mainFocus	human freedom ⓘ individual existence ⓘ personal responsibility ⓘ
majorWorkAssociated	Being and Nothingness ⓘ Being and Time ⓘ The Myth of Sisyphus ⓘ The Sickness Unto Death ⓘ Thus Spoke Zarathustra ⓘ
oftenContrastedWith	essentialism ⓘ rationalism ⓘ traditional theistic metaphysics ⓘ
originatedIn	Europe ⓘ
viewsWorldAs	absurd ⓘ inherently meaningless ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (13)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Martin Heidegger → movement → existentialism ⓘ

Albert Camus → movement → existentialism ⓘ

Maurice Merleau-Ponty → philosophicalSchool → existentialism ⓘ

this entity surface form: French existentialism

Rollo May → movement → existentialism ⓘ

French literature → hasMovement → existentialism ⓘ