Pros and Cons of Proving God Exists?

[Elok]

He was an existentialist because he knew himself and no one else knew their ownselves. You can see the result of this in his dialogues. He told told people what they didn't want to hear even until it costed him his life. He never conformed to society. He questioned everything. If you don't think that's thinking and behaving existentially then you don't know what it means.

1. They're Plato's dialogues, not Socrates's.
2. None of what you have described is particular to existentialism. It's just a list of traits you find admirable.
3. Few of those are applicable to Abraham, who on at least one occasion told a lie out of fear for his life, was dutiful and obedient to God under the most extreme circumstances, is not recorded as questioning much at all, and refrained from conforming to society to the extent that he followed God's orders. Almost all of Abraham's virtues are those of obedience, patience and faithfulness; Socrates's are those of disobedience, social disorder, and skepticism. If both are embodiments of your idea of existentialism, your idea of existentialism is so broad as to be meaningless.

So what?

It's kind of hard for Nietzsche or Kierkegaard to identify someone else as "existentialist" when they never used the term even to describe themselves--the term dates to sometime around 1930.

[Elok]

Which of the values you attributed to Socrates would not have been equally admired by, say, Voltaire or Diderot?

[giblets]

It's kind of hard for Nietzsche or Kierkegaard to identify someone else as "existentialist" when they never used the term even to describe themselves--the term dates to sometime around 1930.

Or maybe the 1940's.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=existentialist&searchmode=none

[Kidlicious]

It says a lot that you say he wasn't existentialist and Kierkegaard regarded him as the ultimate existentialist besides maybe Abraham. You're really just getting very annoying. My post was for plomp anyway

[Elok]

It says a lot that you say he wasn't existentialist and Kierkegaard regarded him as the ultimate existentialist besides maybe Abraham. You're really just getting very annoying. My post was for plomp anyway

Please quote a single line of Kierkegaard using the word "existentialist" to describe anything at all. It'd also be good if you could identify how people as radically different as Abraham and Socrates could be examples of the same thing.

Oh, and you've replied to me plenty of times when I wasn't addressing you (not that I have a problem with such things, generally speaking).

[Kidlicious]

You're a total idiot. It counts for nothing that he didn't use a word that didn't exist.

[loinburger]

I'm wondering how Kidicious finds the time (not to mention the mental capability) to read Kierkegaard and Nietzsche when he can't even be arsed to read (let alone comprehend) the Bible.

Oh wait, I think I know the answer:

[Elok]

So, he called Socrates...the most my-philosophy-ish person? What did he call him, then?

[loinburger]

Could somebody who isn't on Kidicious's ignore list please quote this post? Even if he can't find the time to read the Bible he ought to be able to find the time to read this:

[giblets]

I'm wondering how Kidicious finds the time (not to mention the mental capability) to read Kierkegaard and Nietzsche when he can't even be arsed to read (let alone comprehend) the Bible.

Oh wait, I think I know the answer:

Wasn't he a Communist? Maybe he read it back then when he couldn't find the time to read anything written by Marx.

[Kidlicious]

Obviously existentialists can be very different people with very different beliefs. You don't know the very basics of what you are talking about.

[giblets]

I'm an existentialist. Not sure what that means but I'm pretty sure I can fake it by being evasive and calling other people idiots and making unsupported claims about Nietzsche and Kierkegaard.

[Elok]

Obviously existentialists can be very different people with very different beliefs. You don't know the very basics of what you are talking about.

So, what is the core factor Abraham and Socrates had in common which makes both of them highly existentialist?

[Kidlicious]

Their thinking began with themselves, and what they knew, and was independent of the absurdity in the world.

[Elok]

Or maybe the 1940's.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?...earchmode=none

I think Wiki's entry noted a recorded use of the word, or rather a very similar French analog, in the thirties.

EDIT: Nope, German.

and Karl Jaspers had called his philosophy "Existenzphilosophie" in the 1930s

But it does say that the exact word "existentialism" was coined by Marcel in the 40s, so yeah, you're right.