The philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are considered fundamental to the existentialist movement, though neither used the term "existentialism". They predated existentialism by a century.

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. It emerged as a movement in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, though it had forerunners in earlier centuries. Existentialism generally postulates that the absence of a transcendent force (such as God) means that the individual is entirely free, and, therefore, ultimately responsible. It is up to humans to create an ethos of personal responsibility outside any branded belief system. In existentialist views, personal articulation of being is the only way to rise above humanity's absurd condition of much suffering and inevitable death. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Nietzsche. ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: , but usually Anglicized as ;  ) 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... A philosophical movement is either the appearance or increased popularity of a specific school of philosophy, or a fairly broad but identifiable sea-change in philosophical thought on a particular subject. ... Ethos (ἦθος) (plurals: ethe, ethea) is a Greek word originally meaning the place of living that can be translated into English in different ways. ...

Existentialism is a reaction against traditional philosophies, such as rationalism and empiricism, that seek to discover an ultimate order in metaphysical principles or in the structure of the observed world, and thereby seek to discover universal meaning. Existentialism originated with the nineteenth-century philosophers Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. It became prevalent in Continental philosophy, and literary writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky also contributed to the movement. In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher, has achieved general recognition as the first existentialist philosopher, though some new research shows this may be a more difficult connection than previously thought. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Continental philosophy is a term used in philosophy to designate one of two major traditions of modern Western philosophy. ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, pronounced , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821–February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian novelist and writer of fiction whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have had a profound and lasting effect...

In the 1940s and 1950s, French existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir, wrote scholarly and fictional works that popularized existential themes such as "dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom, commitment, and nothingness".^[1] Walter Kaufmann described existentialism as "The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems, and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial, academic, and remote from life".^[2] Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... For other uses, see Camus. ... La Beauvoir redirects here; also see: Beauvoir (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Angst (disambiguation). ... Boring and Bored redirect here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and, hence, are absurd) because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to humanity. ... Look up freedom in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the mathematics of nothing, see zero. ... Walter Arnold Kaufmann (July 1, 1921 - September 4, 1980) was a 20th-century Jewish German philosopher, scholar, and poet. ...

Although there are some common tendencies amongst "existentialist" thinkers, there are major differences and disagreements among them; not all of them accept the validity of the term^{[citation needed]}.

Major concepts

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. WikiProject Philosophy or the Philosophy Portal may be able to help recruit one. If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...

A focus on existence

Existentialism tends to focus on the question of human existence — the feeling that there is no purpose, indeed nothing, at the core of existence. Finding a way to counter this nothingness, by embracing existence, is the fundamental theme of existentialism, and the root of the philosophy's name. Given that someone who believes in reality might be called a "realist", and someone who believes in a deity might be called a "theist", therefore someone who believes fundamentally only in existence, and seeks to find meaning in his or her life solely by embracing existence, is an existentialist.

Existence precedes consciousness

Existentialism differentiates itself from the modern Western rationalist tradition of philosophers such as Descartes in rejecting the idea that the most certain and primary reality is consciousness. Descartes argues in his Meditations on First Philosophy that humans can be certain of their consciousness (which is therefore the only truth ("Cogito ergo sum")), even though humans can doubt almost all aspects of reality as illusions. René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ... The title page of the Meditations Meditations on First Philosophy (subtitled In which the existence of God and the real distinction of mind and body, are demonstrated) is a philosophical treatise written by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641 . ... René Descartes (1596–1650) Cogito, ergo sum (Latin: I think, therefore I am) or Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (Latin: I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am) is a philosophical statement used by René Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western philosophy. ...

In opposition, existentialism asserts that a human finds oneself already in a world and prior context that the human cannot think away. In other words, the ultimate and unquestionable reality is not consciousness but existence ("being in the world", in the words of Heidegger). (This asserted precedence of existence vis-a-vis consciousness is a radicalization of the notion of intentionality that comes from Brentano and Husserl and that asserts that all consciousness is always a consciousness of something.) Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) (IPA ) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Intentionality, originally a concept from scholastic philosophy, was reintroduced in contemporary philosophy by the philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano in his work Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkte. ... There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano: Bernard von Brentano, novelist Clemens Brentano, poet and novelist, brother of Bettina von Arnim (b. ... Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 - April 26, 1938), philosopher, was born into a Jewish family in Prossnitz, Moravia (Prostejov, Czech Republic), Empire of Austria-Hungary. ...

Existence precedes essence

A central proposition of existentialism is that humans define their own meaning in life. Such a view might be phrased technically by philosophers as existence precedes essence; i.e. a human's existence precedes and is more fundamental than the essence or meaning that may be ascribed to the life. In philosophy, “existence precedes essence”, at the most basic level of understanding, is based on the idea of existence without essence. ... For the philosophical movement, see Existentialism. ... For other uses, see Essence (disambiguation). ...

An older view was that essence precedes existence, so that "being human" might bind a person to such phrase's a priori definitions and connotations, and determining such meanings was seen as a central project of philosophy. This older view was widely accepted from ancient Greek philosophy to Hegel's philosophy, which would focus on questions like "what is a human being?" or "what is the human essence?", and use the answer to seek to derive how human beings should behave. A priori is originally a Latin phrase meaning from the former or from what comes before. However, several different uses of the term have developed in English: A priori (law) - adj. ... Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ...

Something like such two views -- ancient Greek and existential -- is also perceived in Islamic and Arabic thought. "Essence precedes existence" might be seen in Avicenna^[3] and Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi.^[4] As a reaction, the newer, converse idea of "existence precedes essence" can be found implicitly in the works of Averroes^[3] and Mulla Sadra.^[5] Early Muslim philosophy is considered influential in the rise of modern philosophy. ... (Persian: ابن سينا) (c. ... Shahab al-Din Yahya as-Suhrawardi (from the Arabicشهاب الدين يحيى سهروردى, also known as Sohrevardi) (born 1153 in North-West-Iran; died 1191 in Aleppo) was a persian philosopher and Sufi, founder of School of Illumination, one of the most important islamic doctrine in Philosophy. ... Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes (1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics, and medicine. ... ملاصدرا or Mulla Sadra (aka Molla Sadra or Mollasadra) also called Sadr Ad-Din Ash- Shirazi (c. ...

Existence preceding essence is seen in Kierkegaard's Repetition, where his literary character Young Man laments: Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher, has achieved general recognition as the first existentialist philosopher, though some new research shows this may be a more difficult connection than previously thought. ... Repetition (Danish:Gjentagelsen) is a book by the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and published on October 16, 1843 under the pseudonym Constantin Constantius. ...

How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it and why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?^[6]

Heidegger coined the term "thrownness" (also used by Sartre) to describe this idea that human beings are "thrown" into existence without having chosen it. Existentialists consider being thrown into existence as prior to, and the horizon or context of, any other thoughts or ideas that humans have or definitions of themselves that they create. Thrownness is a concept by Heidegger used to describe the interactions with our surroundings in the everyday life, that causes us to act upon instincts, immediate reactions to other peoples language and actions, flow with the situation, immediate interpretations etc. ... Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21, 1905–April 15, 1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic. ...

Sartre, in Essays in Existentialism, further highlights this consciousness of being thrown into existence in the following fashion: "If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be."

Reason as a problematic defense against anxiety

Emphasizing action, freedom, and decision as fundamental, existentialists oppose themselves to rationalism and positivism. That is, they argue against definitions of human beings as primarily rational. Rather, existentialists look at where people find meaning. Existentialism asserts that people actually make decisions based on what has meaning to them rather than what is rational. In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... Positivism is a philosophy developed by Auguste Comte in the beginning of the 19th century, which stated that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge. ...

The rejection of reason as the source of meaning is a common theme of existentialist thought, as is the focus on the feelings of anxiety and dread that we feel in the face of our own radical freedom and our awareness of death. Kierkegaard saw rationality as a mechanism humans use to counter their existential anxiety, their fear of being in the world. "If I can believe that I am rational and everyone else is rational then I have nothing to fear and no reason to feel anxious about being free." Anxiety is a physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components (Seligman, Walker & Rosenhan, 2001). ... For other uses, see Angst (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Freedom. ... For other uses, see Death (disambiguation), Dead (disambiguation), or Death (band). ... For other uses, see Angst (disambiguation). ...

Like Kierkegaard, Sartre saw problems with rationality, calling it a form of "bad faith", an attempt by the self to impose structure on a world of phenomena — "the other" — that is fundamentally irrational and random. According to Sartre, rationality and other forms of bad faith hinder us from finding meaning in freedom. To try to suppress our feelings of anxiety and dread, we confine ourselves within everyday experience, Sartre asserts, thereby relinquishing our freedom and acquiescing to being possessed in one form or another by "the look" of "the other".

In a similar vein, Camus believed that society and religion falsely teach humans that "the other" has order and structure.^[7] For Camus, when an individual's "consciousness", longing for order, collides with "the other's" lack of order, a third element is born: "absurdity".

The absurd

It then follows that existentialism tends to view human beings as subjects in an indifferent, objective, often ambiguous, and "absurd" universe, in which meaning is not provided by the natural order, but rather can be created, however provisionally and unstably, by human beings' actions and interpretations. Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and, hence, are absurd) because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to humanity. ...

During the literary modernist movement in the 1900s, authors began describing dystopian societies and surreal and absurd situations in a parallel universe, a trend that paralleled the existentialist movement. In Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, a man awakes to the realization that he has turned into a creature known only as a "vermin". This story, which is certainly "absurd" and surreal, is one of many modernist literary works that influenced and were influenced by existentialist philosophy. Kafka redirects here. ... The Metamorphosis (German: ) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915, and arguably the most famous of his works along with the longer works The Trial and The Castle. ...

Arguably, the most extensive existentialist study of "the absurd" was done by Albert Camus in his classic essay The Myth of Sisyphus. With a concluding analogy with the Greek mythology character, Sisyphus, he explains that the absurd is born out of the confrontation between human need and want for logic and order and the reality of an illogical and random world. He explains thus that absurdity contains in itself man’s rationality. Sisyphus by Titian, 1549 The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. ... For the genus of dung beetle, see Sisyphus (beetle). ...

Perspectives on God

Some existentialists accept Nietzsche's proclamation that "God is dead"; they believe that the concept of God is obsolete. For the novel, see God is Dead (novel). ...

Some existentialists, like Kierkegaard, conceive the fundamental existentialist question as man's relationship to God.

Theological existentialism, as advocated by philosophers and theologians (including Paul Tillich, Gabriel Marcel, and Martin Buber), shares tenets and themes that are central to atheistic existentialism. Just as atheistic existentialists can freely choose not to believe in God, theistic existentialists can freely choose to believe in God and, despite doubt, have faith that God exists. Belief in God is a personal choice made on the basis of a passion, faith, an observation, or experience. Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. ... Gabriel Honoré Marcel (December 7, 1889 Paris – October 8, 1973 Paris) was a French philosopher, a leading Christian existentialist, and the author of about 30 plays. ... Martin Buber (8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli-Jewish philosopher, translator, and educator, whose work centered on theistic ideals of religious consciousness, interpersonal relations, and community. ... For other uses, see Faith (disambiguation). ...

A further type of existentialist is agnostic existentialists, who make no claim to know whether or not there is a "greater picture"; rather, they simply assert that the greatest truth is that which the individual chooses to act upon. They feel that to know the greater picture, whether there is one or not, is impossible, or impossible so far, or of little value. Like the Christian existentialists, the agnostic believes existence is subjective. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Sartrean existentialism

Some of the features associated with the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre include: Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ...

Existence precedes essence 

See earlier.

Values are subjective 

Sartre accepts the premise that an individual's "facticity" (i.e. the properties of an object or person as traditionally conceived and experienced), or a component, is valuable because the individual chooses to value it. But Sartre denies that there are any objective standards on which to base values. (However, this should not be confused with post-modernism.) Sartre clearly believed that systems of consciousness followed clear and solid rules.

Bad faith 

See earlier.

The Gaze 

Sartre believed that beings possess the power to look at themselves and at another or an object, which is to use one's mind to look at the person in static. This concept of "looking" and the power to look are referred to as The Gaze. This destroys an object's subjectivity. The thing becomes a "thing in itself" (see Noumenon) or a non-subjective object. Sartre stated that this form of consciousness was used quite often in inter-personal relationships. People place meaning onto what other people think of them rather than what they think of themselves. This process of radically re-aligning this meaning from The Gaze onto one's own being is what leads to periods of so-called "existential angst".^{[citation needed]}

Being for others 

Sartre believed that a person "A" who cannot embrace their freedom to confront existential absurdity and define their life seeks in effect to be "looked at", that is, to be made an object of another's subjectivity. This creates a clash of freedoms whereby person A's being or sense of identity is controlled by person B's thoughts about A.

Responsibility for choices 

The individual is condemned to be responsible for his free choices, regardless of the consequences, because the choices belonged to that individual alone.

Specialized vocabulary 

Being in-itself is an object that is not free and cannot change its essence. In philosophy, “existence precedes essence”, at the most basic level of understanding, is based on the idea of existence without essence. ... Facticity (French: facticité, German: faktizität) is the contingent conditions of an individual human life. ... Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Jean Paul Sartre Bad faith (from French, mauvaise foi) is a philosophical concept first coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to describe the phenomenon wherein one denies ones total freedom, instead choosing to behave as an inert object. ... The noumenon (plural: noumena) classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition. ...

Being for-itself is free; it does not need to be what it is and can change. Consciousness is usually considered being for-itself.

Non-positional consciousness is being merely conscious of one's surroundings.

Positional consciousness puts consciousness into relation of one's surroundings and entails an explicit awareness of being conscious of one's surroundings.

Identity is constructed by this explicit awareness of consciousness.

Historical background

The Søren Kierkegaard Statue in Copenhagen.

ImageMetadata File history File links Søren-Kirkegaard-Statue. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Søren-Kirkegaard-Statue. ...

Generally

Existential themes have been hinted at throughout history. Examples include the Buddha's teachings, the Bible in the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job, Saint Augustine in his Confessions, Saint Thomas Aquinas' writings, and Mulla Sadra's writings. Individualist political theories, such as those advanced by John Locke, advocated individual autonomy and self-determination rather than state rule over the individual. This kind of political philosophy, although not existential per se, provided a welcoming climate for existentialism. Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE. Gautama Buddha was a South Asian spiritual leader who lived between approximately 563 BCE and 483 BCE. Born Siddhartha Gautama in Sanskrit, a name meaning descendant of Gotama whose aims are achieved/who is efficacious in achieving aims, he... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Ecclesiastes, Qohelet in Hebrew, is a book of the Hebrew Bible. ... The Book of Job (איוב) is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. ... St. ... Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen autobiographical books by St. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P.(also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. ... ملاصدرا or Mulla Sadra (aka Molla Sadra or Mollasadra) also called Sadr Ad-Din Ash- Shirazi (c. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ...

In 1670, Blaise Pascal's unfinished notes were published under the title of Pensées ("Thoughts"). He described many fundamental themes common to what would be known as existentialism two and three centuries later. Pascal argued that without a God, life would be meaningless and miserable. People would only be able to create obstacles and overcome them in an attempt to escape boredom. These token-victories would ultimately become meaningless, since people would eventually die. This was good enough reason not to choose to become an atheist, according to Pascal. Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 20 [[1624 // ]] – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... The Pensées (literally, thoughts) represented an apology for the Christian religion by Blaise Pascal, the renowned 17th century philosopher and mathematician. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ...

Existentialism, in its currently recognizable 20th century form, was inspired by Søren Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky and the German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger. It became popular in the mid-20th century through the works of the French writer-philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, whose versions of it were set out in a popular form in Sartre's 1946 Existentialism is a Humanism and Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: , but usually Anglicized as ;  ) 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, pronounced , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821–February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian novelist and writer of fiction whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have had a profound and lasting effect... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 – April 26, 1938) was a German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology. ... Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) (IPA ) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... La Beauvoir redirects here; also see: Beauvoir (disambiguation). ... Existentialism is a Humanism (Lexistentialisme est un humanisme) is a 1946 philosophical work by Jean-Paul Sartre. ... The Ethics of Ambiguity (French title: Pour une morale de lambiguïté) is Simone de Beauvoirs second major essay, nearly twice as long as her first, Pyrrhus and Cineas. ...

Gabriel Marcel pursued theological versions of existentialism, most notably Christian existentialism. Other theological existentialists include Paul Tillich, Rudolf Bultmann, Miguel de Unamuno, Thomas Hora and Martin Buber. Moreover, one-time Marxist Nikolai Berdyaev developed a philosophy of Christian existentialism in his native Russia, and later in France, in the decades preceding World War II. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer are also important influences on the development of existentialism (although not precursors), because the philosophies of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were written in response or opposition to Hegel and Schopenhauer, respectively. Gabriel Honoré Marcel (December 7, 1889 Paris – October 8, 1973 Paris) was a French philosopher, a leading Christian existentialist, and the author of about 30 plays. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. ... Rudolf Karl Bultmann (August 20, 1884 - July 30, 1976) was a German theologian of Lutheran background, who was for three decades professor of New Testament studies at the University of Marburg. ... Don Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (September 29, 1864–December 31, 1936) was an essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher from Spain. ... Thomas Hora (January 25, 1914 - October 30, 1995) is considered the founder of the discipline of metapsychiatry, an attempt to integrate principles from metaphysics, spirituality, and psychology. ... Martin Buber (8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli-Jewish philosopher, translator, and educator, whose work centered on theistic ideals of religious consciousness, interpersonal relations, and community. ... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Nikolai Berdyaev Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (Николай Александрович Бердяев) (March 18 [O.S. March 6] 1874 – March 24, 1948) was a Russian-Ukrainian religious and political philosopher. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (IPA: ) (August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher and, with Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, one of the representatives of German idealism. ... Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation. ...

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

Main article: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche comparisons

The first philosophers considered fundamental to the existentialist movement were Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, though neither used the term "existentialism" and it is unclear whether they would have supported the existentialism of the 20th century. Their focus was on human experience, rather than the objective truths of math and science that are too detached or observational to truly get at human experience. Like Pascal, they were interested in people's concealment of the meaninglessness of life and the use of diversion to escape from boredom. But Pascal did not consider the role of making free choices, particularly regarding fundamental values and beliefs: such choices change the nature and identity of the chooser, in the view of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.^[8][9] Kierkegaard's knight of faith and Nietzsche's Übermensch are examples of those who define the nature of their own existence. Great individuals invent their own values and create the very terms under which they excel. Many philosophers believe that Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) knew little of the 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: , but usually Anglicized as ;  ) 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... The knight of faith is an individual who has placed complete faith in himself and in God. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were also precursors to other intellectual movements, including postmodernism, nihilism, and various strands of psychology. Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... This article is about the philosophical position. ... Psychological science redirects here. ...

Heidegger and the German existentialists

Main article: Existential phenomenology

One of the first German existentialists was Karl Jaspers, who recognized the importance of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and attempted to build an "Existenz" philosophy around the two. Heidegger, who was influenced by Jaspers and the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl, wrote his most influential work Being and Time which postulates Dasein (dah-zine), translated as, all at once, "being here", "being there", and "being-in-the-world"—a being that is constituted by its temporality, illuminates and interprets the meaning of being in time. Dasein is sometimes considered the human subject, but Heidegger denied the Cartesian dualism of subject-object/mind-body. [paragraph needs citations and clarifications] Existential phenomenology is a method of psychological observation based on the works of Martin Heidegger,Jean-Paul Sartre and W. Van Dusen. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) was a German philosopher. ... Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 – April 26, 1938) was a German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology. ... // Being and Time (German Sein und Zeit, 1927) is the most important work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger. ... Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. ...

Although existentialists view Heidegger to be an important philosopher in the movement, he vehemently denied being an existentialist in the Sartrean sense, in his "Letter on Humanism".

Sartre, Camus, and the French existentialists

Jean-Paul Sartre is perhaps the most well-known existentialist and is one of the few to have accepted being called an "existentialist". Sartre developed his version of existentialist philosophy under the influence of Husserl and Heidegger. Being and Nothingness is perhaps his most important work about existentialism. Sartre was also talented in his ability to espouse his ideas in different media, including philosophical essays, lectures, novels, plays, and the theater. No Exit and Nausea are two of his celebrated works. In the 1960s, he attempted to reconcile existentialism and Marxism in his work Critique of Dialectical Reason. Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology (1943) is a philosophical treatise by Jean-Paul Sartre that is regarded as the beginning of the growth of existentialism in the 20th century. ... For other uses, see No Exit (disambiguation). ... La Nausée is a novel by Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, written in 1938 while he was a college professor. ... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Critique of Dialectical Reason, originally Critique de la raison dialectique (1960), was one of Sartres major works that loosely tried to reconcile Marxism and Existentialism. ...

Albert Camus was a friend of Sartre, until their falling-out, and wrote several works with existential themes including The Rebel, The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, and Summer in Algiers. Camus, like many others, rejected the existentialist label, and considered his works to be concerned with man facing the absurd. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus uses the analogy of the Greek myth to demonstrate the futility of existence. In the myth, Sisyphus is condemned for eternity to roll a rock up a hill, but when he reaches the summit, the rock will roll to the bottom again. Camus believes that this existence is pointless but that Sisyphus ultimately finds meaning and purpose in his task, simply by continually applying himself to it. For other uses, see Camus. ... Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21, 1905–April 15, 1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Stranger, or The Outsider, (from the French L’Étranger, 1942) is a novel by Albert Camus. ... Sisyphus by Titian, 1549 The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. ... For the genus of dung beetle, see Sisyphus (beetle). ...

Critic Martin Esslin in his book Theatre of the Absurd pointed out how many contemporary playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov wove into their plays the existential belief that man is an absurd creature loose in a universe empty of real meaning. Esslin noted that many of these playwrights demonstrated the philosophy better than did the plays by Sartre and Camus. Though most of such playwrights, subsequently labeled "Absurdist" (based on Esslin's book), denied affiliations with existentialism and were often staunchly anti-philosophical (for example Ionesco often claimed he identified more with 'Pataphysics or with Surrealism than with existentialism), the playwrights are often linked to existentialism based on Esslin's observation.^[10] Martin Julius Esslin (born Julius Pereszlenyi on June 6, 1918–died February 24, 2002) was a Hungarian born English playwright and critic best known for coining the term the theatre of the absurd in his work of that name (1962). ... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... Eugène Ionesco (Romanian spelling: Eugen Ionescu) (November 26, 1912 - March 28, 1994) was one of the foremost playwrights of the theater of the absurd. ... Jean Genet (French IPA: ) (December 19, 1910) – April 15, 1986), was a prominent, controversial French writer and later political activist. ... Arthur Adamov (1908 - 1970) was a playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. ... Pataphysics, a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. ... Max Ernst. ...

Simone de Beauvoir, an important existentialist who spent much of her life alongside Sartre, wrote about feminist and existential ethics in her works, including The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity. Although often overlooked due to her relationship with Sartre, de Beauvoir integrated existentialism with other forms of thinking such as feminism, unheard of at the time, resulting in alienation from fellow writers such as Camus. La Beauvoir redirects here; also see: Beauvoir (disambiguation). ... The Second Sex (French: Le Deuxième Sexe, 1949) is the best known work of Simone de Beauvoir and a seminal text in twentieth-century feminism. ... The Ethics of Ambiguity (French title: Pour une morale de lambiguïté) is Simone de Beauvoirs second major essay, nearly twice as long as her first, Pyrrhus and Cineas. ...

Frantz Fanon, a Martiniquan-born critic of colonialism, has been considered an important existentialist.^[11] Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961) was an author from Martinique, essayist, psychoanalyst, and revolutionary. ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ...

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, an often overlooked existentialist, was for a time a companion of Sartre. His understanding of Husserl's phenomenology was far greater than that of Merleau-Ponty's fellow existentialists. It has been said that his work, Humanism and Terror, greatly influenced Sartre. However, in later years they were to disagree irreparably, dividing many existentialists such as de Beauvoir, who sided with Sartre. Michel Foucault would also be considered an existentialist through his use of history to reveal the constant alterations of created meaning, thus proving history's failure to produce a cohesive version of reality. Maurice Merleau-Ponty (March 14, 1908 – May 4, 1961) was a French phenomenologist philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl. ... Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 - April 26, 1938), philosopher, was born into a Jewish family in Prossnitz, Moravia (Prostejov, Czech Republic), Empire of Austria-Hungary. ... This article is about the philosophical movement. ... Michel Foucault (pronounced ) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher, historian and sociologist. ...

Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and the literary existentialists

Many writers who are not usually considered philosophers have also had a major influence on existentialism. Among them, Czech author Franz Kafka and Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky are most prominent. Kafka created often surreal and alienated characters who struggle with hopelessness and absurdity, notably in his most famous novella, The Metamorphosis, or in his master novel, The Trial. Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground details the story of a man who is unable to fit into society and unhappy with the identities he creates for himself. Kafka redirects here. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... The Metamorphosis (German: ) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915, and arguably the most famous of his works along with the longer works The Trial and The Castle. ... This article is about the novel by Kafka. ... This article is about the short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

Many of Dostoyevsky's novels, such as Crime and Punishment, covered issues pertinent to existential philosophy while offering storylines divergent from secular existentialism: for example in Crime and Punishment one sees the protagonist, Raskolnikov, experience existential crises and move toward a worldview similar to Christian Existentialism, which Dostoyevsky had come to advocate. For other uses, see Crime and Punishment (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In the 20th century, existentialism experienced a resurgence in popular art forms. In fiction, Hermann Hesse's 1928 novel Steppenwolf, based on an idea in Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843),^[specify] sold well in the West. Jack Kerouac and the Beat poets adopted existentialist themes. "Arthouse" films began quoting and alluding to existentialist thought and thinkers. Hermann Hesse (pronounced ) (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. ... For other uses, see Steppenwolf. ... Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist, writer, poet, and artist. ... The term beat generation was introduced by Jack Kerouac in approximately 1948 to describe his social circle to the novelist John Clellon Holmes (who published an early novel about the beat generation, titled Go, in 1952, along with a manifesto of sorts in the New York Times Magazine: This is...

Existentialist novelists were generally seen as a mid-1950s phenomenon that continued until the mid- to late 1970s. Most of the major writers were either French or from French African colonies. Small circles of other Europeans were seen as literary precursors by the existentialists, but literary history increasingly has questioned the accuracy of this perception.

Criticism

Herbert Marcuse criticized existentialism, especially in Sartre's Being and Nothingness, for projecting some features of living in a modern, oppressive society, such as anxiety and meaninglessness, onto the nature of existence itself: "Insofar as Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine, it remains an idealistic doctrine: it hypothesizes specific historical conditions of human existence into ontological and metaphysical characteristics. Existentialism thus becomes part of the very ideology which it attacks, and its radicalism is illusory".^[12] Sartre had already responded to some points of the Marxist criticisms of existentialism in his popular lecture Existentialism is a humanism,^[13] held in 1946. Herbert Marcuse (July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-born philosopher, sociologist and a member of the Frankfurt School. ... Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology (1943) is a philosophical treatise by Jean-Paul Sartre that is regarded as the beginning of the growth of existentialism in the 20th century. ...

Theodor Adorno, in his Jargon of Authenticity, criticized Heidegger's philosophy, with special attention to Heidegger's use of language, as a mystifying ideology of advanced industrial society and its power structure^{[citation needed]}. Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg. ...

Heidegger criticized Sartre's existentialism, in Heidegger's Letter on Humanism:

Existentialism says [that] existence precedes essence. In this statement he [Sartre] is taking existentia and essentia according to their metaphysical meaning, which from Plato’s time on has said that essentia precedes existentia. Sartre reverses this statement. But the reversal of a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it he stays with metaphysics in oblivion of the truth of Being.

Roger Scruton claimed, in his book From Descartes to Wittgenstein, that both Heidegger's concept of inauthenticity and Sartre's concept of bad faith were self-inconsistent; both deny any universal moral creed, yet speak of these concepts as if everyone is bound to abide by them. In chapter 18, he writes, "In what sense Sartre is able to 'recommend' the authenticity which consists in the purely self-made morality is unclear. He does recommend it, but, by his own argument, his recommendation can have no objective force." Roger Vernon Scruton (born 27 February 1944) is a British philosopher. ... This page deals with authenticity in philosophy. ... Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre held the position that human beings always have the capability to make rational, conscious decisions. ...

Logical positivists, such as Carnap and Ayer, claim that existentialists frequently become confused over the verb "to be" in their analyses of "being".^[14] The verb is prefixed to a predicate and to use the word without any predicate is meaningless. Another claimed source of confusion in the existentialist metaphysical literature is that existentialists try to understand the meaning of the word "nothing" (the negation of existence) by assuming that it must refer to something. Borrowing Kant's argument^[15] against the ontological argument for the existence of God, the logical positivists argue that existence is not a property^{[citation needed]}. Logical positivism (later referred to as logical empiricism) holds that philosophy should aspire to the same sort of rigor as science. ... Rudolf Carnap (May 18, 1891 - September 14, 1970) was a German philosopher. ... Ayer redirects here. ... In traditional grammar, a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies). ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... An ontological argument for the existence of God is one that attempts the method of a priori proof, which utilizes intuition and reason alone. ...

Influence outside philosophy

Cultural movement and influence

The term existentialism was first adopted as a self-reference in the 1940s and 1950s by Jean-Paul Sartre, and the widespread use of literature as a means of disseminating their ideas by Sartre and his associates (notably novelist Albert Camus) meant existentialism "was as much a literary phenomenon as a philosophical one."^[1] Among existentialist writers were Parisians Jean Genet, André Gide, André Malraux, and playwright Samuel Beckett, the Norwegian Knut Hamsun, and the Romanian friends Eugene Ionesco and Emil Cioran. Prominent artists such as the Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, and Willem de Kooning have been understood in existentialist terms, as have filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Ingmar Bergman.^[1] Individual films such as the 1952 western High Noon and Fight Club (1999) have also been cited as existentialist.^[16][17] Jean Genet (French IPA: ) (December 19, 1910) – April 15, 1986), was a prominent, controversial French writer and later political activist. ... Gide redirects here. ... André Malraux, French author, adventurer, and statesman André Malraux (November 3, 1901 – November 23, 1976) was a French author, adventurer and statesman, and a dominant figure in French politics and culture. ... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... Knut Hamsun (31 years old) in 1890 Knut Hamsun (August 4, 1859 – February 19, 1952) was a leading Norwegian author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1920. ... Eugène Ionesco (Romanian spelling: Eugen Ionescu) (November 26, 1912 - March 28, 1994) was one of the foremost playwrights of the theater of the absurd. ... Emil Cioran Emil Cioran (April 8, 1911 – June 20, 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist. ... Jackson Pollock, No. ... Controversy swirls over the alleged sale of No. ... Vostanik Manoog Adoyan, (better known as Arshile Gorky) (April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. ... Willem de Koonings Woman V (1952-53), National Gallery of Australia Willem de Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was an abstract expressionist painter, born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Jean-Luc Godard (French IPA: ) (born 3 December 1930) is a French filmmaker and one of the most influential members of the Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave. Born to Franco-Swiss parents in Paris, he was educated in Nyon, Switzerland, later studying at the Lycée Rohmer, and the...   (IPA: in Swedish; usually IPA: in English) (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) was a Swedish film, stage, and opera director. ... High Noon is a 1952 western film which tells the story of a town marshal who is forced to face a gang of killers by himself. ... Fight Club is a 1999 feature film adaptation of the 1996 novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, adapted by Jim Uhls and directed by David Fincher. ...

Literature

Since 1970, much cultural activity in art, cinema, and literature contains postmodernist and existential elements. Books such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) (now republished as Blade Runner) by Philip K. Dick, Toilet: The Novel by Michael Szymczyk and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk all distort the line between reality and appearance while simultaneously espousing strong existential themes. Ideas from such thinkers as Dostoyevsky, Foucault, Kafka, Nietzsche, Herbert Marcuse, Gilles Deleuze, and Eduard von Hartmann permeate the works of artists such as Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Szymczyk, David Lynch, Crispin Glover, and Charles Bukowski, and one often finds in their works a delicate balance between distastefulness and beauty. Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the 1982 film. ... Fight Club[1] (1996) is the first published novel by American author Chuck Palahniuk. ... Charles Michael Chuck Palahniuk (pronounced )[1] (born February 21, 1962) is an American satirical novelist and freelance journalist of Ukrainian ancestry born in Pasco, Washington. ... Michel Foucault (pronounced ) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher, historian and sociologist. ... Kafka redirects here. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Herbert Marcuse (July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-born philosopher, sociologist and a member of the Frankfurt School. ... Gilles Deleuze (IPA: ), (January 18, 1925 – November 4, 1995) was a French philosopher of the late 20th century. ... ...

Theatre

The play Huis Clos was written by Sartre. Existentialist themes have also influenced the Theatre of the Absurd, notably Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. For other uses, see No Exit (disambiguation). ... The Theatre of the Absurd, or Theater of the Absurd (French: Le Théâtre de lAbsurde) is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which the characters wait for a man (Godot) who never arrives. ... Sir Tom Stoppard, OM, CBE (born as Tomáš Straussler on July 3, 1937)[1] is an Academy Award winning British playwright of more than 24 plays. ... This article is about the play. ...

Theology

Main article: Christian existentialism

Existentialism has had a significant influence on theology, notably on postmodern Christianity and on theologians and religious thinkers such as Nikolai Berdyaev, Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and