“No Excuses”: Existentialism, the Philosophy of Responsibility, and Leisure

Existentialism has been described as a philosophy, a school of thought, a social movement, and none of the above. For some, it is too malleable to be compartmentalized, too diverse to be ascribed core tenets. Equally so, existentialism, or perhaps more specifically, references to a person as an ‘existentialist’ or regarding the plight of an ‘existential’ condition, have become passé or trite monikers, mindsets, or descriptors, so overused that they have lost their conceptual value or intellectual weight. Misuses and misattributions aside, existentialism as an approach to life has a lot to offer the pursuit of leisure, but also the field of leisure studies itself. In this short essay, I work through some of the cornerstone principles to highlight the essential properties of an existentialist worldview and its relevance to leisure.