Essays on Existentialism

The title of Beckett’s play, ‘Act Without Words I’, betrays an immediate awareness of its dual status as a text on a page and as a thing intended to be used for performance. The title, lacking an indefinite article preceding it, could be read either...

Every decision, every breath one takes, and every step one ever walks brings one closer to a single goal — to find the meaning of life. The summation of one’s decisions, steps, and movements through life shapes one’s individual existence and leads to proliferation of...

Philosophers of all ages have had to come to terms with the existence of God. If God exists then ideas of philosophy such as determinism and a perfect ideal of existence are concepts which can be effectively discussed. However, if there is no God, then...

Though brief and comedic, Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit” offers great insight into the basic ideas of his existentialist philosophy. The commonplace setting of the work and the diversity of the basic character types allude to the applicability of the themes to reality. The main...

In Questioning Racinian Tragedy, John Campbell takes issue with analyses of Phaedra that simplistically map Jansenist belief onto the play, or make assumptions about authorial intent as, “an uneasy amalgam of theology, biography, and tragedy” (153). Campbell sees the conventional Jansenist reading of Phaedra, which...

While Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex is known primarily as a feminist text, it is Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist philosophy that influenced Beauvoir’s writings. As existentialists, these philosophers argue that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject and not the thinking subject alone. Sartre argues...

The film Forrest Gump has hints of Existentialism. Forrest Gump’s story shows that human life is not pre-determined. The film shows three existential tenets: Religion, Ethics, and Nature of reality. Existentialism is the existence of an individual as a free and responsible person that determines...

If you know what existentialism is, then you know how hard it is to think like an existentialist. The movie that I watched is “The Perks of being a Wallflower” and the director of the film is Stephan Chbosky. The plot summary of this film...

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (William Shakespeare). Kurt Vonnegut’s pessimistic view reflects...

Jack London writes a tragic story about a man who has decided to journey along through excruciating sub-freezing temperatures of the Yukon and how that man becomes victim to the power of nature that happens to be unrelenting and unforgiving in the short story “To...

In The Present Age by 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard characterizes the late modern age as an age of reflection without passion and also contrasts the modern age with the age of revolution. Kierkegaard wrote The Present Age in 1846, however, his notion of...

With many Christians and people who follow the teachings of God, the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 was probably one of the most popular parts in the Bible. While the original story is a story of faith and sacrifice, the four divergent...

Philosophy as an area of study and quest for truth was based solely on objective, logical approaches right before the 1840’s, where the influential Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard revolutionized the field with his contributions. He is commonly regarded as the “father of existentialism,” a concept...

Kierkegard has many beliefs and ideas. One of those being that truth is subjectivity. The truth of subjectivity can be defined in many ways in ones eyes. For instance, truth as subjectivity (and reality) is his definition of faith. Kierkegaard’s definition of truth is, ‘An...

Though there is a large amount of philosophers in the world, the one who most intrigued me was Søren Kierkegaard. As a philosopher you must believe many things and question everything. Therefore, Kierkegaard has many theories but the one I most support is choosing to...

Soren Kierkegaard did not believe that God defined and created human morality, instead he believed that it was up to us as individuals to define our own morals, values, and ethics. Kierkegaard wanted man to ‘wake up’ and renounce the cosy, sentimental illusions of modern...

Søren Kierkegaard was considered the father of philosophy, theology, and existentialism. His philosophical ideas conflicted with those of Hegel. Kierkegaard believed that reason with its clarity and objectivity could not be implemented in the concrete reality of humanity. “Whether Kierkegaard was influenced by the nineteenth-century...

This analysis will examine Kierkegaard’s Despair is the Sickness unto Death, and briefly, Stages on Life’s Way, to explore conceptions of the self and despair. Kierkegaard often uses pseudonyms in his texts to explore a particular viewpoint or to better relate to his readership. Despair...

Soren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments seeks to show the limits of reason when it comes to knowledge of the divine. His work is a polemic against idealism, which states that through sheer reason and will alone we can have knowledge of the eternal. However, Kierkegaard argues...

Philosophy is a critical reflection of religion and its content, and as such it only moves within the limits of the mind. According to both Kant and Kierkegaard, philosophy is in a certain paradoxical situation of the human mind because it disturbs some of the...

Existentialism is a philosophy centered upon the reasoning of existence and the way people find themselves living in the world. The comprehension of existentialism is that each person spends a lifetime changing their aspect and nature. Existence is mainly the problem, therefore, people are searching...

Most individuals struggle to move past the death of a loved one, particularly when it is your child or a parent. When a dear one passes, the norm would be to grieve and show your emotions. It is an incalculable lasting blow. So when somebody...

Introduction: The literal definition of existentialism states that it emphasizes the existence of individuals as completely free beings whom determine their growth through self-made choices. Multiple characteristics like absurdity, alienation, responsibility plus free will, and despair play a major role in an existential life. With...

Death has been a prevalent theme in literature of all cultures throughout the centuries. In The Thief and the Dogs, the author Naguib Mahfouz explores the realm of death and its interconnections with life. Witnessing the turmoil of the Egyptian revolutions since childhood, it is...