My Take On Existentialism

Existentialism is not philosophy -- it is basically coupling the classic conceptof cynicism (which is philosophy) with thought-provoking literature critical of how we live our lives.

I think that existentialism is not in any way properly a philosophy -- it is the act of saying, "we know nothing and I am disappointed with the emptiness of life." By that regard anyone with any intellectual integrity and a slightly depressed outlook is an existentialist.

I remember hearing about existentialismand taking an interest in this philosophy -- however, I merely feel like I discovered a new genre of literature, not a new area of profound human thought.

It is not profound or amazing, it is not some giant movement -- it is a really neat way of writing literature, and I do really appreciate existentialism for the great novels that were written, but treating it as a philosophy more than it is a literature genre is foolish.

Sure, Kierkegaard,Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, etc. pretended to expand on these in non-fictional pieces, but I was never impressed -- it was a slightly better version of reading a MySpace blogger saying "Today I found out my girlfriend cheated onme, and I noted there is no evidence that there is a God (or Kierkegaard: God exists but we are alone to suffer). I do not feel like I have a soul-mate. <emo>I do do not even feel like a human.</emo>"

Existentialism = depressing literature bent on criticism of life and cynicism, vaguely philosophical beacause too many 18-25 year olds after reading it were inspired to write their own cynical, depressing stories and/or non-fictional essays, hereby convincing people that this was somehow a philosophy.

If you meet someone and discuss philosophy, and their favorite philosophers and thinkers were better regarded for being 19th and 20th century playwrights and/or novelists, they are actually into literature, not philosophy.

I do not pretend to be in philosophy -- I read some of the most major political, philosophical works and got the most general overviews of philosophers, read some St. Augustine on the side, etc. but when I was interested in learning about this giant phrase people toss around, I ended up reading this new genre of literature called philosophy, or reading non-fictional critical essays that sounded just a few steps above MySpace bloggers on bad days.

I see what you are saying but the title of a philosophy or even a school of philosophy should be linked far more than that -- there really is very little that existentialists stand by -- their desperate, angsty emotions are far more uniting than any concepts of philosophy.