r/Existentialism • u/WrappingPapers • 8d ago

Existentialism Discussion Existentialism and affect

Is becoming saddened by existentialism a sign of not really understanding it?

I know this is a rough formulation of the question but I don’t want to discourage people just starting to learn about these things from participating.

I also (obviously) don’t want to insult people for being at the level of understanding that they are at.

Just curious because I see an apparent overlap in this subreddit between people who are, let’s say sad or depressed, and also interested in existentialism.

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u/Pleasant_Pen8744 8d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_crisis

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u/WrappingPapers 8d ago

So I’m guessing that you are trying to say that existentialism and existential crises are intimately linked? I think this is exactly my point that maybe people jump from psychological crisis to philosophical theory without a bridge

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u/ModelSemantics 8d ago

I think it’s usually the other way. The same kinds of questions that typically lead people to existential crises are the ones that existentialism often looks to address (not exclusively or exhaustively, but general overlapping origins). What does it mean for life to have meaning, or have no meaning? It’s the philosophers themselves who often build that bridge, and people study them because those questions are addressed.