Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual Jean Paul Sartre: Existentialism.

The philosophical career of Jean

existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define Paul Sartre (1905-1980) focuses, in its first phase, upon the
their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions construction of a philosophy of existence known as existentialism.
despite existing in an irrational universe.

Edmund Husserl (1859—1938) The philosophical career of Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) focuses,

in its first phase, upon the construction of a philosophy of

Although not the first to coin the term, it is uncontroversial to
existence known as existentialism. Sartre's early works are
suggest that the German philosopher, Edmund Husserl (1859-
characterized by a development of classic phenomenology, but his
1938), is the "father" of the philosophical movement known as
reflection diverges from Husserl’s on methodology, the
phenomenology. Phenomenology can be roughly described as
conception of the self, and an interest in ethics. These points of
the sustained attempt to describe experiences (and the "things
divergence are the cornerstones of Sartre’s existential
themselves") without metaphysical and theoretical speculations.
phenomenology, whose purpose is to understand human
Husserl suggested that only by suspending or bracketing away the
existence rather than the world as such. Adopting and adapting
"natural attitude" could philosophy becomes its own distinctive
the methods of phenomenology, Sartre sets out to develop an
and rigorous science, and he insisted that phenomenology is a
ontological account of what it is to be human. The main features
science of consciousness rather than of empirical things. Indeed,
of this ontology are the groundlessness and radical freedom
in Husserl’s hands phenomenology began as a critique of both
which characterize the human condition. These are contrasted
psychologism and naturalism. Naturalism is the thesis that
with the unproblematic being of the world of things. Sartre’s
everything belongs to the world of nature and can be studied by
substantial literary output adds dramatic expression to the always
the methods appropriate to studying that world (that is, the
unstable co-existence of facts and freedom in an indifferent
methods of the hard sciences). Husserl argued that the study of
world.
consciousness must actually be very different from the study of
Sartre’s ontology is explained in his philosophical
nature. For him, phenomenology does not proceed from the
masterpiece, Being and Nothingness, where he defines two types
collection of large amounts of data and to a general theory
of reality which lie beyond our conscious experience: the being of
beyond the data itself, as in the scientific method of induction.
the object of consciousness and that of consciousness itself. The
Rather, it aims to look at particular examples without theoretical
object of consciousness exists as "in-itself," that is, in an
presuppositions (such as the phenomena of intentionality, of love,
independent and non-relational way. However, consciousness is
of two hands touching each other, and so forth), before then
always consciousness “of something,” so it is defined in relation to
discerning what is essential and necessary to these experiences.
something else, and it is not possible to grasp it within a conscious
Although all of the key, subsequent phenomenologists
experience: it exists as "for-itself." An essential feature of
(Heidegger,Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Levinas, Derrida)
consciousness is its negative power, by which we can experience
have contested aspects of Husserl’s characterization of
"nothingness." This power is also at work within the self, where it
phenomenology, they have nonetheless been heavily indebted to
creates an intrinsic lack of self-identity. So the unity of the self is
him. As such, he is arguably one of the most important and
understood as a task for the for-itself rather than as a given.
influential philosophers of the twentieth century. The key
In order to ground itself, the self needs projects, which can be
features of his work, and his understanding of the
viewed as aspects of an individual’s fundamental project and
phenomenological method, are considered in what follows.
motivated by a desire for "being" lying within the individual's
consciousness. The source of this project is a spontaneous original
choice that depends on the individual's freedom. However, self’s
choice may lead to a project of self-deception such as bad faith,
where one’s own real nature as for-itself is discarded to adopt
that of the in-itself. Our only way to escape self-deception is
authenticity, that is, choosing in a way which reveals the existence
of the for-itself as both factual and transcendent. For Sartre, my
proper exercise of freedom creates values that any other human
being placed in my situation could experience, therefore each
authentic project expresses a universal dimension in the
singularity of a human life.
After a brief summary of Sartre’s life, this article looks at the main
themes characterizing Sartre’s early philosophical works. The
ontology developed in Sartre’s main existential work, Being and
Nothingness, will then be analysed. Finally, an overview is
provided of the further development of existentialist themes in
his later works.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813—1855)
Søren Kierkegaard is an outsider in the history of philosophy. His
peculiar authorship comprises a baffling array of different
narrative points of view and disciplinary subject matter, including
aesthetic novels, works of psychology and Christian dogmatics,
satirical prefaces, philosophical "scraps" and "postscripts," literary
reviews, edifying discourses, Christian polemics, and retrospective
self-interpretations. His arsenal of rhetoric includes irony, satire,
parody, humor, polemic and a dialectical method of "indirect
communication" - all designed to deepen the reader’s subjective
passionate engagement with ultimate existential issues. Like his
role models Socrates and Christ, Kierkegaard takes how one lives
one’s life to be the prime criterion of being in the truth.
Kierkegaard’s closest literary and philosophical models are Plato,
J.G. Hamann, G.E. Lessing, and his teacher of philosophy at the
University of Copenhagen Poul Martin Møller, although Goethe,
the German Romantics, Hegel, Kant and the logic of Adolf
Trendelenburg are also important influences. His prime
theological influence is Martin Luther, although his reactions to
his Danish contemporaries N.F.S. Grundtvig and H.L. Martensen
are also crucial. In addition to being dubbed "the father
of existentialism," Kierkegaard is best known as a trenchant critic
of Hegel and Hegelianism and for his invention or elaboration of a
host of philosophical, psychological, literary and theological
categories, including: anxiety, despair, melancholy, repetition,
inwardness, irony, existential stages, inherited sin, teleological
suspension of the ethical, Christian paradox, the absurd,
reduplication, universal/exception, sacrifice, love as a duty,
seduction, the demonic, and indirect communication.
Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche, (born October 15, 1844,
Röcken, Saxony, Prussia [Germany]—died August 25, 1900,
Weimar, Thuringian States) German classical scholar, philosopher,
and critic of culture, who became one of the most-influential of all
modern thinkers.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844—1900)
Nietzsche was a German philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic.
His writings on truth, morality, language, aesthetics, cultural
theory, history, nihilism, power, consciousness, and the meaning
of existence have exerted an enormous influence on Western
philosophy and intellectual history.
Nietzsche spoke of "the death of God," and foresaw the
dissolution of traditional religion and metaphysics. Some
interpreters of Nietzsche believe he embraced nihilism, rejected
philosophical reasoning, and promoted a literary exploration of
the human condition, while not being concerned with gaining
truth and knowledge in the traditional sense of those terms.
However, other interpreters of Nietzsche say that in attempting to
counteract the predicted rise of nihilism, he was engaged in a
positive program to reaffirm life, and so he called for a
radical, naturalistic rethinking of the nature of human existence,
knowledge, and morality. On either interpretation, it is agreed
that he suggested a plan for “becoming what one is” through the
cultivation of instincts and various cognitive faculties, a plan that

requires constant struggle with one’s psychological and

intellectual inheritances.

Nietzsche claimed the exemplary human being must craft his/her

own identity through self-realization and do so without relying on

anything transcending that life—such as God or a soul. This way

of living should be affirmed even were one to adopt, most

problematically, a radical vision of eternity, one suggesting the

"eternal recurrence" of all events. According to some

commentators, Nietzsche advanced a cosmological theory of “will

to power.” But others interpret him as not being overly concerned

with working out a general cosmology. Questions regarding the

coherence of Nietzsche's views--questions such as whether these

views could all be taken together without contradiction, whether

readers should discredit any particular view if proven incoherent

or incompatible with others, and the like--continue to draw the

attention of contemporary intellectual historians and

philosophers.

Source :

http://www.iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/husserl/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/kierkega/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch/