Existentialism is a philosophical movement, prominent especially in Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that emphasizes individual existence, radical freedom, and the personal responsibility each person bears for creating meaning in a universe that does not supply it ready-made. Rather than treating human beings as having a fixed nature or predetermined purpose, existentialist thinkers argue that individuals define themselves through the choices they actually make, often under conditions of genuine uncertainty, anxiety, and the absence of any guaranteed external validation for those choices.
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, writing in the nineteenth century, is widely regarded as an important forerunner of the movement, emphasizing the role of individual faith and subjective commitment in a person’s life, including what he described as a “leap” that goes beyond what reason or objective certainty alone could justify. Kierkegaard’s focus on individual, lived experience over abstract philosophical systems anticipated many of the concerns later existentialist thinkers would develop more fully in the twentieth century.
Sartre and “Existence Precedes Essence”
Jean-Paul Sartre, the movement’s most prominent twentieth-century figure, is closely associated with the phrase “existence precedes essence.” By this, Sartre meant that human beings are not born with a fixed nature or built-in purpose the way a manufactured object is built for a specific function; instead, a person first simply exists, and only through their ongoing choices and actions do they gradually define who they actually are. This view places enormous weight on individual freedom and responsibility, since there is no predetermined human nature to fall back on or blame for one’s choices.
Sartre summarized the weight of this freedom in his description of humans as “condemned to be free”: condemned, because no one chooses to be thrown into existence facing unavoidable choices, yet free, because once that existence begins, every subsequent choice remains genuinely a person’s own responsibility, with no external authority or fixed nature to transfer that responsibility onto. Sartre argued that many people respond to this unsettling freedom through what he called “bad faith,” a kind of self-deception in which a person denies their own freedom by pretending their choices are forced by circumstance, social role, or fixed character, rather than acknowledging the freedom underlying even their most routine decisions.
Heidegger and Authentic Being
Martin Heidegger approached similar questions through a detailed analysis of human existence, which he termed Dasein, German for “being there.” Heidegger argued that confronting one’s own mortality directly, rather than avoiding or denying it, is central to living “authentically,” meaning living in a way that is genuinely one’s own rather than simply absorbed into the anonymous expectations and routines of everyday social life. Though Heidegger himself resisted being labeled an existentialist, his analysis of authenticity, anxiety, and mortality deeply influenced Sartre and other thinkers more directly associated with the movement.
Camus and the Absurd
Albert Camus explored a closely related but distinct theme: the “absurd,” the tension between humanity’s persistent search for inherent meaning and purpose, and a universe that offers no such meaning in return. In his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus uses the Greek myth of a man condemned to endlessly push a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down each time, as an image of this fundamental human situation. Rather than concluding that life is therefore not worth living, Camus argued that recognizing and honestly confronting this absurdity, without resorting to false comforts or ready-made meaning, is itself a way of living authentically and even, in his account, finding a kind of freedom within the apparent futility.
Existentialism Beyond Philosophy
Existentialist themes spread well beyond academic philosophy into literature, theater, and popular culture during the twentieth century, partly because several of its leading thinkers, including Sartre and Camus, were themselves accomplished novelists and playwrights who explored these ideas through fiction rather than only through formal argument. Sartre’s novel Nausea and his play No Exit, along with Camus’s novels The Stranger and The Plague, dramatize existentialist themes of freedom, anxiety, and the search for meaning through characters confronting these conditions directly in their own lives, often reaching readers who would never encounter the same ideas in a purely academic philosophical text.
This crossover helped existentialism become one of the more culturally influential philosophical movements of the twentieth century, shaping fields well beyond philosophy itself, including psychology, where existential therapy developed as an approach to counseling that takes seriously a client’s own freedom, responsibility, and search for meaning, rather than focusing primarily on diagnosing fixed psychological conditions. The movement’s broader cultural resonance, particularly in the decades following the devastation of two world wars, reflected a widespread sense that traditional sources of meaning, whether religious, political, or social, could no longer be taken for granted, making the existentialist emphasis on individually constructed meaning feel especially relevant to many readers and thinkers at the time.
FAQs
What does Sartre mean by “existence precedes essence”?
That humans are not born with a predetermined nature or purpose; they define their own identity and meaning through the choices they freely make over the course of their lives.
Who is considered an important forerunner of existentialism?
Søren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher who emphasized individual faith and subjective commitment over abstract philosophical systems.
What did Heidegger mean by authentic existence?
Living in a way that confronts one’s own mortality directly and reflects one’s genuine self, rather than being simply absorbed into anonymous social expectations and routines.
What is the “absurd” in Albert Camus’s philosophy?
The tension between humanity’s search for inherent meaning or purpose and a universe that offers no such meaning, a situation Camus illustrates through the myth of Sisyphus.
Quick checkWhat does Sartre mean by "existence precedes essence"?Show answer
That humans are not born with a predetermined nature or purpose; they define their own identity and meaning through the choices they freely make.
Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 2, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue