Kierkeggard, Destoyevsky, Nietzsche and Sartre

Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th and 20th century philosophers who (despite profound doctrinal differences) shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.

In existentialism, the individual’s starting point is characterised by what has been called “the existential attitude,” or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd.

Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.

Soren Kierkegaard – The early 19th century philosopher is widely regarded as the father of existentialism. He maintained that the individual is solely responsible for giving his or her own life a meaning and for living that life passionately and sincerely. There were several existential obstacles and distractions including despair, anger, absurdity, alienation and boredom.

Subsequent existentialist philosophers retain the emphasis on the individual, but differ, in varying degrees, on how one achieves and what constitutes a fulfilling life, what obstacles must be overcome, and what external and internal factors are involved, including the potential consequences of the existence or non existence of God.

Existentialism became fashionable in the post world war years as a means to reassert the importance of human individuality and freedom.