Existentialism is the realisation that you didn’t come with an instruction manual.
Imagine you buy a new bookshelf from IKEA. It comes in a box with all the pieces and, most importantly, an instruction manual. The manual is the blueprint. Before the bookshelf even exists in your living room, its purpose and its final shape are already decided.
For thousands of years, most humans believed we were like that bookshelf. We believed we came with a blueprint. Whether it was God, nature, or fate, people believed that human beings were created with a specific purpose, a set of rules to follow, and a pre defined meaning.
Existentialists believe that the universe is just… here. It doesn’t have a grand plan for you. You are born, you exist, and then you have to figure out what you are going to be. You have to write your own instruction manual. This philosophy is about the incredible freedomand the terrifying responsibility of building your own life from scratch.
Let’s look at the famous thinkers who built this idea, one by one.
The Grandfathers: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche
Before existentialism was an official movement, two men in the 1800s started writing about how weird and scary it is to be human. They didn’t know each other, but they both realized that society was changing and the old rules weren’t working anymore.
Søren Kierkegaard: The Diving Board and the Leap
Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish writer who hated how everyone around him was just going through the motions of being “good Christians” without actually feeling anything.
To him, truth isn’t a math equation you memorize; truth is something you live.
Kierkegaard gave us a brilliant way to understand anxiety, or what he called Angst. Imagine you are standing on the edge of a very high diving board. When you look down, you feel a dizzying, fluttery feeling in your stomach. Kierkegaard pointed out that you aren’t just afraid of falling. You are actually terrified because you realize you have the power to jump.
That is Angst. It is the sudden, terrifying realization that you are totally free. No one can stop you from making a radical choice. Kierkegaard believed that to live fully, you sometimes have to make a “leap of faith” making a big, passionate commitment to something (like love, or God, or a cause) even when you can’t logically prove it will work out.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Drawing Your Own Map
Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher who looked at Europe and realized that science and modern life were slowly eroding religion. He famously wrote, “God is dead.”
He wasn’t cheering about this, but sounding an alarm. The ultimate “instruction manual” that society had used for hundreds of years was disappearing. Without it, he worried people would fall into nihilism the depressing belief that absolutely nothing matters.
Nietzsche said we had to step up. If there is no universal rulebook, we have to invent our own values. He imagined a future type of person called the Übermensch (which translates roughly to “Superman” or “Overman”). This isn’t a comic book hero. This is a person who doesn’t just blindly follow the herd. This person looks at life, with all its pain and joy, and says, “I accept this, and I will write my own rules.” He challenged people to live so fully that if they had to repeat their life over and over for eternity, they would gladly do it.
The Middleman: Martin Heidegger
In the 1920s, a German philosopher named Martin Heidegger wrote a massive, complicated book, but his main point was actually very relatable.
Heidegger said we usually sleepwalk through life. We do what “They” do. They say you should go to college. They say you should get married by 30. And they say you should buy a nice car. We spend so much time following the invisible crowd (the “They”) that we lose our unique selves.
Heidegger said there is only one thing that can wake us up from this sleepwalking: facing our own death.
When you truly realize that your time is running out, you stop caring about what “They” think. You start living authentically. You realize, “This is my life, and it’s temporary, so I better start living it my way.”
The French Superstars: Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus
During and right after World War II, a group of friends in Paris took these ideas and made them world famous. They had just survived the Nazi occupation of France, a time when people had to make life or death choices every single day.
Jean-Paul Sartre: “Existence Precedes Essence”
Sartre is the most famous existentialist. He is the one who came up with the catchphrase: “Existence precedes essence.”
Remember our IKEA bookshelf? Its essence (what it is meant to be) came before its existence. Sartre said humans are the exact opposite. First, you exist. You show up in the world. Then, through your choices, you create your essence (who you are).
Because of this, Sartre said we are “condemned to be free.” It’s a heavy phrase. It means you can never escape your freedom. Even if you choose to just sit on the couch and do nothing, you are actively choosing to do nothing.
Because we are completely free, we are completely responsible. If you are unhappy, you cannot blame your parents, the government, or your genetics. You are the author of your life. When the pressure of this freedom gets too heavy, Sartre said we fall into Bad Faith.
Bad Faith is when we lie to ourselves and pretend we aren’t free. Example: Imagine a barista at a coffee shop who acts like a robot. He moves rigidly, uses a fake customer service voice, and acts as if he is literally a coffee making machine. Sartre would say this barista is in Bad Faith. He is pretending to be an object (a coffee machine) because it is easier than admitting he is a free human being who is actively choosing to work at a coffee shop right now.
Simone de Beauvoir: The Scripts We Are Handed
Simone de Beauvoir worked closely with Sartre, but she added something incredibly important. Sartre talked as if everyone was completely free in an empty room. Beauvoir pointed out that we live in a world with other people, and sometimes, those people try to steal our freedom.
She applied this to how women were treated, and wrote a groundbreaking book arguing that society treats men as the “default” human, and women as the “Other.” Famously quoted as writing, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
She didn’t mean biology; she meant the expectations of being a woman. Society hands girls a script how to dress, how to act, what jobs to take and pressures them to follow it. Beauvoir said that true freedom means throwing away the script society hands you and writing your own, and helping others do the same.
Albert Camus: The Absurd and the Rebel
Camus looked at the universe and noticed a big problem, which he called The Absurd.
The Absurd is a clash between two things:
- Humans have a desperate need to find meaning, fairness, and answers.
- The universe is cold, random, and completely silent. It doesn’t give us any answers.
Imagine screaming, “Why is this happening to me?!” at a brick wall. The wall doesn’t care. That is the Absurd.
So, what do we do? Camus said we shouldn’t give up (suicide), and we shouldn’t make up fake fairy tales to feel better (blind religion). Instead, we must rebel.
He used the old Greek myth of Sisyphus. The gods punished Sisyphus by forcing him to push a giant boulder up a mountain. Every time he reached the top, the boulder rolled back down, and he had to start over. Forever. It is the ultimate pointless job. But Camus said something amazing: we must imagine Sisyphus smiling. Why? Because Sisyphus knows his job is pointless, but he pushes the rock anyway. He owns it. By refusing to be crushed by the pointlessness of it all, he wins. He finds happiness in the struggle itself.
The 5 Core Takeaways (A Quick Checklist)
If you want to explain existentialism to a friend at a dinner party, just give them these five bullet points:
- You Write the Manual: You are not a pre programmed robot. You exist first, and you define who you are through your actions.
- The Universe is Quiet: The universe isn’t fair, and it doesn’t have a grand plan for you. It’s just a stage. You have to figure out the play.
- You Are Totally Free: You can change your life at any second. It’s scary (the diving board feeling), but it’s true.
- No Excuses: Because you are free, you own your choices. You can’t blame your childhood, your boss, or the stars for the person you have become.
- Don’t Fake It: Don’t play a character. Don’t hide behind a uniform or a societal expectation. Be authentic.
How This Showed Up in Movies and Books
Because existentialism is about the messiness of real life, it became hugely popular in art.
Think about the movie The Matrix. Neo wakes up and realizes the world he thought was real is just a computer program (a script society handed him). He has to make a terrifying choice (the red pill) to wake up and face reality, taking responsibility for his own destiny. That is pure existentialism.
Writers like Franz Kafka wrote stories about regular guys caught in bizarre, meaningless bureaucratic nightmares, perfectly capturing the feeling of “The Absurd.” The playwright Samuel Beckett wrote a famous play called Waiting for Godot where two guys sit by a tree, waiting for someone who never shows up. They do random things to pass the time. It’s a funny, sad picture of humanity waiting for an answer from the universe that is never going to come.
The Haters: Why Some People Dislike Existentialism
No philosophy is perfect, and existentialism has a lot of critics. Here are the two biggest arguments against it, explained simply:
1. The “Real World” Problem (The Marxist Argument)
Critics say: “It’s easy for rich intellectuals in Paris cafes to talk about ‘absolute freedom.’ But what about a single mother working three minimum wage jobs just to feed her kids? Is she ‘completely free’ to just go become a painter?” They argue that existentialism ignores the very real trap of poverty and economics. It’s hard to worry about “finding your true essence” when you can’t pay rent.
2. The “Good and Evil” Problem (The Moral Argument)
Critics say: “If there is no God and no universal rulebook, then who is to say what is right or wrong? If I decide my ‘authentic’ truth is to be a serial killer, is that okay?” Existentialists argue back that if you truly value your own freedom, you have to respect the freedom of others. You can’t be free if you are taking someone else’s life. But critics still feel that without a solid, objective “True North,” the philosophy is dangerously close to saying “anything goes.”
Why This Actually Matters Today (The Happy Ending)
A lot of people hear the words “death,” “meaningless,” and “dread,” and assume existentialism is depressing.
It is actually the exact opposite. It is the ultimate philosophy of empowerment.
In today’s world, it is so easy to feel lost. Scrolling through social media and let algorithms tell us what to buy. We let our job titles define who we are. We look at the news, see a chaotic world, and feel totally helpless.
Existentialism is a bucket of cold water to wake us up. It says: Stop waiting for someone else to save you. Stop waiting for the universe to give you a sign. You have the pen. You are the author. If you don’t like the chapter you are in right now, turn the page and write a new one.
There is a famous psychiatrist named Viktor Frankl who survived the horrific Nazi concentration camps during WWII. He used existentialism to survive. He realized that the guards could take away his clothes, his family, and his physical freedom, but they could never take away his final human freedom: the ability to choose how he reacted to his suffering.
That is the true heart of existentialism. It doesn’t promise that life will be easy, fair, or clear. But it promises that your life is yours. You are free. Now, what are you going to do with it?
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