existentialism

Etymology

Borrowed from French existentialisme.

noun

1. (philosophy, not countable) A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.
   The heyday of existentialism occurred in the mid-twentieth century.
2. (philosophy, countable) The philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.
   Sartre's existentialism is atheistic, but the existentialism of Marcel is distinctly Christian.
   Instead of Existentialism, we should speak of Existentialisms. 1965 Sep, Mikel Dufrenne, “Existentialism and Existentialisms”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 26, number 1, page 51