Existentialism may be described as a modern youngest philosophy. It is very difficult to find its roots in any of the ancient philosophies. It is modern twentieth century’ philosophy.
Its main exponents are: (i) Soren Kierkegaard the Danish Philosopher (1813-1835), (ii) Jean Paul Sartre, a French Writer, (iii) Karl Jaspess, a German Philosopher, (iv) Reinholf Niebuhr, a leading protestant theologian.
Contemporary existentialist philosophy views man as participating in a world of things and events, and encountering other men. The meaning of human Existence is that it is man’s nature to exist “to stand out into reality, to participate in being, to be present to all that is.” Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, described the dilemma of the individual man more than a century ago, with keen psychological insight.
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He points out that the most common despair to be in despair at not choosing or willing to be oneself. But the deepest form of despair is to choose to be another than himself. The best aim in life is “to be that which one truly is “, according to Kierkegaard. Soren Kierkegaard is taken to be the main founder of existentialism.
He was a profoundly religious man holding that man must accept the existence of God by faith, even if it is difficult to uphold it by reason. Hater followers and thinkers did not consider God to be a necessity. Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher and playwright, argued that human life has no purpose: existence is ultimate, and that we must choose, by choosing, we become ourselves.