Some Common Properties of Existentialist Philosophies

Abstract

If existentialism be understood in a very broad sense as a philosophy which emphasizes some of such well-known common themes as human freedom, death and anxiety taken place in modern existentialist philosophies, then there will be strong justification for the view that many philosophers from Socrates to Kant are existentalists. But the term “existentialist” does not connote only some common themes. It also needs that those themes should have been considered in terms of some common existentialist principles. For that reason, this paper primarily tries to establish these common principles or properties held by modern existentialist philosophers like Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Marcel, Merlau Ponty, Sartre and Heidegger. The paper claims that there are at least five common properties shared by these philosophers and that they can be used in deciding whether any philosophy be counted as an existentialist: (1) centrality of man; (2) considering man as a particular, concrete entity, namely an individual; (3) priority of existence over esence; (4) subjectivity of truth; (5) philosophizing from the standpoint of an actor. Yet, all these principles or properties, should not be considered equally applicable to every philosophers mentioned. In addition to this general outline, the paper indicates on one hand that the principle of subjectivity in existentialism is not identical to subjectivism in the sense of arbitrariness, and on the other that the meaning of Sartre’s claim ‘existence precedes esence’ is not the same for all existentialists.

Keywords

• existentialism, subjectivity, individual, priority of existence, philosophizing from the standpoint

Varoluşcu Felsefelerdeki Bazı Özellikler

Abstract

Varolusçuluk, insan özgürlügü, ölüm ve kaygı gibi modern varolusçu felsefelerde yer alan bazı iyi bilinen ortak temaları vurgulayan bir felsefe olarak genis anlamda anlasılırsa eger, bu, Sokrates’den Kant’a kadar birçok filozofun varolusçu oldugu örüsü için güçlü bir haklı çıkarım olacaktır. Fakat, ‘varolusçu’ terimi, yalnızca bazı ortak temalara isaret etmez. Varolusçuluk, aynı zamanda bu temaların bazı ortak varolusçu ilkeler açısından islenmesini de gerektirir. Bu yüzden, bu makalede, öncelikle, Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Marcel, Merlau Ponty, Sartre, Heidegger gibi modern varolusçu filozoflarca paylasılan bu ortak ilke ya da özellikler tespit edilmeye çalısılmakta ve herhangi bir felsefenin varolusçu olarak kabul edilip edilemeyecegine karar vermek için kullanılabilecek en az bes özellik oldugu ileri sürülmektedir: (1) insanın merkeziligi, (2) insanın tikel, somut bir varlık, bir birey olarak alınması; (3) varolusun öze Önceligi; (4)hakikatın öznelligi; ve (5) felsefenin aktörün bakıs açısından yapılması. Ancak tüm bu ilkelerin sözkonusu her filozof için ‘esit ölçüde’ geçerli oldugu düsünülmemelidir. Bu genel çerçeveye ek olarak, makalede, ayrıca, hem varolusçuluktaki öznelligin keyfilik anlamındaki bir öznelcilikle özdes olmadıgına hem de Sartre’ın ‘varolus özden önce gelir’ iddiasının tüm varolusçular için aynı anlama gelmedigine dikkat çekilmektedir.

Keywords

• varolusçuluk, öznellik, birey, varolusun önceligi, aktörün bakıs açısından felsefe yapmak

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