What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Existentialism vs Humanism - What's the difference?

existentialism | humanism |

As nouns the difference between existentialism and humanism

is that existentialism is a twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices while humanism is the study of the humanities or the liberal arts; literary (especially classical) scholarship.

existentialism

Noun

(en noun)
  • (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.
  • (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.
  • * 1965 , Mikel Dufrenne, "Existentialism and Existentialisms," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research , vol 26 no 1 (Sep), p. 51.
  • Instead of Existentialism', we should speak of ' Existentialisms .

    Antonyms

    * noumenalism

    humanism

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • The study of the humanities or the liberal arts; literary (especially classical) scholarship.
  • (historical, often capitalized) Specifically, a cultural and intellectual movement in 14th-16th century Europe characterised by attention to Classical culture and a promotion of vernacular texts, notably during the Renaissance.
  • * 2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, p. 575:
  • There were good reasons for humanism and the Renaissance to take their origins from fourteenth-century Italy.
  • An ethical system that centers on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity and freedom; especially used for a secular one which rejects theistic religion and superstition.
  • Humanitarianism, philanthropy.
  • Derived terms

    * humanist * humanistic