Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Existential despair
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The original article was just incorrect. I rewrote it, but now I'm thinking there isn't enough to work with to make it a separate article. What information is there currently is basically the same as what is on the existentialism page. -Seth Mahoney 03:47, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)
- 'Keep: This is very relevant to existentialist philosophy, in fact it could be argued that it is the very essence of existentialist philosophy.lordbetterthanyou
- Delete. Ocon | Talk 04:57, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Keep: No offense, but the current article only cover Sartre, and the man to see when it comes to existential despair is Kierkegaard & Sickness Unto Death. I think this particular subtopic of existentialism is worthy of a break out, myself, since it has been consistently referred to by outsiders (non-philosophers). Geogre 13:58, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- You're absolutely right, the current article does only cover Sartre, and if it is to be kept it should cover Kierkegaard as well, but if I remember correctly, Kierkegaard doesn't really give a solid (read: long and meandering) definition of despair, other than to say that we are in it and a relationship with God is the way out of it. Even if we added Kierkegaard's definition along with the permutations of Camus and Beauvoir its still going to be a very short article. I think that the existentialism article (along with the Kierkegaard article! Its all about his life, not his philosophy!) could use more content and Wikipedia could use fewer very short articles. Still, if you think it warrants its own article, great! I hope that means you're willing to write it. ;) -Seth Mahoney 17:33, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)
- I'll take a stab at it. My focus will be probably as Kierkegaardian as it was previously Sartrean, and I'll lean heavily on the concept as understood in pop culture -- which is really where I think the breakout is deserved. I.e. it's not so much that this element of existentialism is concisely discussed as it is that "existentialist literature" and film have gone whole hog for this part of the elaborate (and distinct) philosophy, without necessarily the rest. I ask folks to vote slowly, as that's how I write. Geogre 18:47, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Then again, I seem to be selfless just now, so I understand losing the article. It is a vague search term. Geogre 00:36, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- For the most part I like what you've written a lot. I'm still wondering if we would be better served by including the appropriate information in the Kierkegaard article (which, as far as philosophy goes is nearly blank) and in articles on the appropriate books. Its looking now like the two versions of despair (Sartrean and Kierkegaardian) are so divergent it may be confusing. If the vote is still to delete, I think we should merge the appropriate information into the articles on Kierkegaard and his books. -Seth Mahoney 20:34, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
- Then again, I seem to be selfless just now, so I understand losing the article. It is a vague search term. Geogre 00:36, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Merge and redirect. If someone later adds something useful, it can be broken out again. Gdr 14:27, 2004 Jul 22 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what we could redirect to. -Seth Mahoney 20:35, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
- Merge Arevich 13:43, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Where? To existentialism or to component parts of Jean-Paul Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard and Albert Camus? Geogre 21:10, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- I'd say yeah, merge the Kierkegaard parts to existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard, and the articles on his books, as appropriate, and the Sartre part is pretty much already in the existentialism article. -Seth Mahoney 21:45, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
- Where? To existentialism or to component parts of Jean-Paul Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard and Albert Camus? Geogre 21:10, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Keep. This definitely deserves breakout. It's an important concept in Frankl, Kafka wrote about it, and it's important to the Existential Psychologists.--Samuel J. Howard 21:47, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
- If you want to write about despair as it relates to the concepts in existential psychology, by all means, go for it! I think on the pure philosophy end there just isn't enough to it to make a separate article worthwhile. -Seth Mahoney 22:14, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
- I copied the section on Kierkegaard to the Soren Kierkegaard article, and the section on existentialism's later cultural importance to the existentialism article. I also did a little editing of the existential despair article. -Seth Mahoney 22:05, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
THIS DEBATE IS NOW CLOSED.
Results: 2 keep, 2 delete, several merge. Considered a consensus not to delete. DJ Clayworth 18:30, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
