Existentialism

Existentialism is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the experience of thinking, feeling, and acting. In the view of the existentialist, the individual's starting point has been called "the existential angst," a sense of dread, disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence. Existentialism is associated with several 19th and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite profound doctrinal differences.

Many existentialists considered traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in style and content, to be too abstract and removed from concrete human experience. A primary virtue in existentialist thought is authenticity. Sartre argued that a central proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence, which means that individuals shape themselves by existing and cannot be perceived through preconceived and a-priori categories, an "essence". The actual life of the individuals is what constitutes what could be called their "true essence" instead of an arbitrarily attributed essence others use to define them.

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