Last post, we defined existentialism as the epistemology of all that exists. By way of this, existentiality–“existential reality”–was also introduced.

What is existential reality?

This new term may strike the reader as being redundant. All that exists, it may be reasoned, is all that comprises reality. But this is only to conflate metaphysics (the study of reality) with ontology (which is concerned with being).

Existentiality should be thought of as a hybrid between these two philosophical pillars. It might be naive to think that all we know to exist exhausts reality; and, conversely, what is real need not be all that was or will be.

What could it be that makes existentialism and existentiality humanistic? Our focus will turn to this question, next.