A Definition of Existentialism
Existentialism: A philosophical school whose proponents maintain that existence precedes
essence. Existentialists concern themselves with humanity’s very being, with its perpetual,
anguished struggle to exist. They presume that individuals have free will and are thus entirely
responsible for their actions. Even as existentialists reject deterministic views systems of fate or
predestination, they also reject that immutable or absolute value systems exist to guide humanity
and that human reason can adequately explain the universe. Instead, existentialists assert that
individuals freely construct and use (or choose not to use) their own value systems, forming their
own sense of being and creating meaning in the process. As Jean-Paul Sartre argued, “man
makes himself.” However, the attempt to create meaning and morality in a word without defined
guideposts and rules, combined with the belief that freedom and responsibility rest squarely with
the individual, generates are particularly trenchant anxiety for the individual. Thus although
existentialism holds out the possibility of an improved existence by positing the individual as the
engine of change, it also runs the risk of fostering despair, hopelessness, and nihilism.
Existentialism gained global eminence in the aftermath of World War II, particularly in
Europe. Since World War II, existentialists have gathered into two major camps. In the vein of
nineteenth-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, Christian existentialists such as Paul Tillich
and Gabriel Marcel have emphasized that true freedom—including freedom from conflict and
despair—may be found in God, who bridges the finite and the infinite. Some existentialists
accept this general orientation while rejecting any specific theology. Martin heidegger and Sartre
pioneered a second approach, one that asserts an atheistic universe in which individuals may
“make themselves” through exercising their free will, but that necessiates “engagement” in the
social sphere, including (and perhaps especially) political struggle against repressive social
institutions, laws, and conventions.
Existentialist works of the second type tend to stress the alienation of individuals as well
as their essential—and inescapable—lonliness and uncertainty. They also explore the reactions
of individuals to predicaments accentuating humanity’s isolation, hence the earnest attempts by
the responsible to face such situations even as the irresponsible unsuccessfully try to evade them.
This approach has placed particular emphasis on the essential meaninglessness of the universe
and on man’s need to struggle to create meaning. Sartre has written a number of works that
explore and expound this less theological brand of existential theory. His major philosophical
work is L’Etre et le néant: essai d’ontologie phénoménologique (Being and Nothingness: An
Essay in Phenomenological Ontology) (1943); other influential existential works by Sartre
include plays such as Huis clos (No Exit) (1943) and novels such as La Nausée (Nausea) (1938).
In addition to Sartre, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, and Franz Kafka are well-known for
their existential writings.
Existentialist criticism, as pioneered by Sartre in works such as Qu’est-ce que la
littérature? (What is Literature?) (1947), evaluated literary works based on how well they
represent the modern condition in general and, in particular, the struggle of individuals to define
themselves through responsible individual action and social engagement in spite (or perhaps
because) of their isolation and alienation.
Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998: 115-16.