PHI/105
September 12, 2013

Comparison Essay
Existentialism starting in the 19th century philosophers focused on the individual, and the actions they use. Using many exaggerated concepts such as the world being so absurd that no explanation can be made, with why and what. This seems a little farfetched for me to believe, as everything has a explanation, and a specific perception in the eye of those affected. One major point made is that without taking on problems honestly and avoiding confrontation, our life will only deteriorate. Existentialism is the farthest from the act of truly thinking, yet doing, confronting, and acknowledging the existence of a problem we will struggle to find a point to our life’s(Pg. 152).
Pragmatism starting in the mid to late 19th century by a few philosophers such as C.S. Pierce, William James, and John Dewey. They focused on a still very debatable topic still now, being that there is no absolute truth. The truth is ever changing as data is constantly being collected (Pg. 206). This doesn’t mean that no one person can accept a truth, but that they are to accept the truth presented to them at the moment, knowing that later on it will change because of new data.
Analytic Philosophy seems to be the hardest to explain as there is no set rules for how this is used, it seems as if analytic philosophy is the combination of different philosophy teachings. I wish I understood the exact meaning more, that analysis of language and uses, but after reading this over, and over again. I still have no more of a clear vision on this teaching, yet this is most commonly taught from what I understand.
The teachings of Existentialism are easily understandable for most to relate to, as we verify our existence by the known individual problems we face, and justify why we choose to confront these. Pragmatism is a new term to me, but this has been brought up much over the past 10 years for me. How can we define truth such as seat belts save lives, when every year the statistics change, and slowly lean towards airbags saving lives at a much higher rate because of new found data.

Moore, B. N., & Bruder, K. (2011) Philosophy: The Power of Ideas. (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.