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Post by shelbygraham on Jun 2, 2024 23:00:45 GMT
It’s taking me a minute to wrap my brain around this topic as I read and re-read the readings, but I think I’m starting to grasp it. It makes sense to me that America would have its own “flavor” of Existentialism. I think there is universal existentialism but as different places/countries/regions around the world have different histories/cultures/traditions/etc. the image is going to take its own form. Europe and the Americas each faced their own set of circumstances as they grew and developed (and continue to grow and develop), but pondering and discussing the complexities of life is going to happen anywhere and with anyone.
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Post by mjunious on Jun 3, 2024 15:36:17 GMT
To add on to this, it makes sense, in a way, that America and Europe would both be influenced by similar philosophical thought (but would have their own respective "flavor" as Shelby says) given their similar history leading to the rise of Existentialism in the early to mid 20th century. The two shared almost, but not quite, parallel landmarks in the, say, 100 or so years prior: Denmark (Kierkegaard) and America both dealing with slavery in the mid 1800s, The German Empire's (Nietzsche) unification of a national state after wars in the late 1800s similar to America's reconstruction period, and rapid economic growth at the turn of the century in France (Merleau-Ponty) due to the industrial revolution. At the turn of the century, we see an intersecting of history between the groups with the World Wars. Many of these points of interest revolve around individual rights and prosperity, which is more than likely why the concept of the individual explored in Existentialism appealed to these writers in their respective search for meaning.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 3, 2024 15:48:52 GMT
Good, Shelby-- and yes, that's the idea that we're trying to explore here. The sort of European existentialism that most people have heard about is at the core of Existentialism, but the United States (and the particular decades in question) will have a different "flavor," as you mention. One of the big differences is the ravages of the World Wars, which were primarily focused on the European continent and allowed the United States to emerge unscathed, albeit with some baggage from its participation in those conflicts.
In this class, we're moving beyond even what is commonly known about American Existentialism to take a look at a "multi-ethnic" approach to the discipline. More on this to come!
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