American Existentialism Undercover
The ambition of this essay is to illuminate the foundations of a prototypical form of Existentialism that emerged in the midst of the nineteenth century in North America, and which is consubstantial to the cultural history of the US. The rudiments of this form of Existentialism – ahead of its time –...
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| Τόπος έκδοσης: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ejpap, |
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| Κύριος συγγραφέας: | |
| Μορφή: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Γλώσσα: | Anglais |
| Έκδοση: |
European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy
2025
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| Θέματα: | |
| Διαθέσιμο Online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Περίληψη: | The ambition of this essay is to illuminate the foundations of a prototypical form of Existentialism that emerged in the midst of the nineteenth century in North America, and which is consubstantial to the cultural history of the US. The rudiments of this form of Existentialism – ahead of its time – will be distinguished by interconnecting a number of precepts emanating from the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson with the Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. While their respective philosophical models will be held as thoroughly distinct, the essay will aim to show a certain similarity to existentialist figurations of thought in the wider sense, enabling a reinterpretation of key Emersonian principles from the prospective viewpoint of Sartrean Existentialism. The re-evaluation will give insight into a singular ontological modulation, Romantic in essence, that surfaced in the philosophical culture of mid-nineteenth-century America, and which typifies a radical quest for individual liberty that singularly echoes – and yet predates – that of Sartrean Existentialism. In so doing, this quest generates a form of existential authenticity that is highly distinctive: one that thwarts the ethics of social responsibility through the triumphant individualism that it funnels, catalyzing a form of being which borders on solipsism and which risks becoming counterproductive for the self. |
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