Are you an existentialist?

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I can't really back myself up, because I'm to dang stupid for this thread, but I would consider myself to be one. Ever since I introduced myself to it, it struck a chord. To me, the philosophy is inspiring; it compels people to live their lives sincerely and with a passion, regardless of the roadblocks on the highway of life.

I don't know much about existentialism but I am very interested in it.
I think existentialism changed through time because the existentialism of, say, soren keirkegaard is very very different that the existentialist views of Jean Paul Sartre.
What existential views do you have?

I'm an odd mixture of Kierkegaard and Sartre; despite my mentioning of those two, I am an agnostic.

I can't answer that poll. My position is not any of the four options.

I'm not an existentialist. I do know what you're talking about, and I don't think that it's infantile - in fact, I probably wouldn't label any term as wide as 'existentialism' as being an infantile way of looking at the world. It's not an approach I take myself, though.

I understand what existentialism is, and I think it is a reasonable way to view the world and life in general. I guess I have very strong leanings toward existentialism.

I was an existentialist even before I discovered existentialism. I've recently decided to finally learn more about all the great existential philosophers.

waaayyy above my pay grade. i never could comprehend the concept of "free will." i never found any evidence of "free will" in my own life or of any of the people in my life. why would i be a social reject if there really were such thing as "free will" on my part? anybody who would say that it is my "free will" to be a social reject is just a self-righteous hemorrhoid, IMHO. i have always just been blown about, stumbling from one situation to another, with no real control on my part, no matter how hard i tried. maybe i am just not smart enough/tough-minded enough to have free will.

An unaffected will would have to be a random will to the same extent in which it is unaffected. The only sensical meaning of "free will" I can discern is that of a will with the power and opportunity to fulfill itself when it is already formed.

On Topic, I do not know what existentialist means.

I was a believer in some of what existentialism explored, however at the moment the jury in my mind is out on it.

Just trying to summarize my personal understanding of existentialism here. I understand it as a reaction against very complicated, remote and abstract philosophy (as in Hegel and Kant). Almost inhumanly difficult to read and use. Existentialism wants us rather to be real than right. Be a "real person". As in being honest about, and not hiding, one's own personal imperfections. Trying to honestly better oneself rather than telling others that they are wrong and stupid

Edit: Yes, I like existentialism a lot.

I'm a Nietzschean existentialist.

Actually, it's rather selfish to have all that ability to better one's self and to correct one's imperfections without trying to be generous and help ignorant and stupid people better themselves by making them acquainted with their predicament. It only takes a little effort and it betters the world and theoretically makes everybody happier.

Selfishness is a survival characteristic. If people were not selfish they would not build houses for themselves and their families nor would they go out and hunt for food. We are all selfish for we must be so to live. The question is how selfish and how rationally selfish we are.

ruveyn

Obviously, ruveyn, you have no problems at all in that quarter

One way of looking at it is how I understand Jung, for instance .. I understand him to separate between the ego and the Self. And to say that approaching and realizing one's Self is a very good thing. And as one approaches one's own Self one is somehow also approaching others' Selves. Like the collective unconscious thing. The deeper the more connected and less separate ..

So, no; only nurturing one's own ego will take away from others. Caring for one's own Self is to also care for others.

Another image: say you got a garden. You make it grow fruit trees. Then you can either eat the fruit yourself. Or you can share with others. But say you ignore your garden. It's a mess and you never go there .. then there won't be too much to share .. and if there were one wouldn't know so anyway .. IOW, how can you give what you haven't got in the first place? Only the person rich on the inside will happily share of themselves. Knowing that the more you give the more you have

Practice makes perfect. I don't live for the sake of anyone else and I don't expect anyone else to live for my sake.

ruveyn