Existentialism: 5 Things You Should Know

Question: Nietzsche declared “God is dead” in 1882. Why did existentialists see the claim as a crisis for how people find meaning?

Answer: Existentialism grew from the question of how to live once traditional sources of meaning are gone. If the universe offers no ready-made purpose, each person must face that emptiness directly.

Question: A craftsman plans a knife’s purpose before ever making the knife. Why did Sartre say humans are the opposite of a knife?

Answer: Sartre summed this up as “existence precedes essence.” There is no human nature written in advance, so each person builds who they are through what they do.

Question: Sartre said humans are “condemned to be free.” Why would anyone describe freedom as a punishment rather than a gift?

Answer: For existentialists, even refusing to choose is a choice. That weight of total responsibility is the source of the “anguish” or “angst” they wrote about.

Question: Sartre described a café waiter whose every move seemed overly rehearsed. Why did Sartre call the waiter’s act “bad faith”?

Answer: Bad faith is lying to yourself that you have no choice. Hiding behind a job, a label, or “that’s just how I am” lets people dodge responsibility for their own lives.

Question: In Greek myth, Sisyphus was doomed to push a boulder uphill forever. Why did Albert Camus say we must imagine Sisyphus happy?

Answer: Camus called the clash between our hunger for meaning and a silent universe “the absurd.” His answer was not despair but rebellion: living fully anyway.