Russell T. wonders why existential has jumped the rails from referring simply to what it’s “supposed to” — matters relating to existence — to referring to something that threatens existence itself, in an expression like existential threat. That is, you would think we’d only use existential to refer to the relevant philosophy, which is about existence and not a menace to it (well, depending how you look at it!).
The issue here is that a descriptor can refer to things other than description. One of them is support, or approval: We don’t assume that nativism refers to the study of that which is native, but to support for people considered original to, for example, a nation. To be a communist is not to be someone who lives in a commune but who supports a political philosophy.
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