Existentialism: The Meaning Of Life

The idea of existentialism is believed to have been founded by a Danish philosopher named Søren Kierkegaard, who lived from 1813 to 1855. Although Kierkegaard was a religious man, existentialism became a more atheistic worldview as the philosophy further developed in the 20th century. There are many variations of existentialism, but the main idea of it is that human lives has “no meaning unless people give them meaning.” To elaborate, existentialists say that although life itself originally has no absolute answer, humans are free to choose or create their own meaning to life, without being swayed or forced by the voices and ways of society and religion. This is an intriguing worldview, as it not only supposedly answers some of the biggest questions …show more content…
Existentialism may answer questions about the meaning of our world by claiming that the world is simply a mess of random chance that happens to be what it is now, and say that “it is what it is,” matching their view of life. However, this topic is not often explored by existentialists, and opinions of the world may vary between them. This is because Existentialism is mostly centred around existence and life, rather than the world itself. If the core of existentialism is that people must choose the meaning of their own life, how can it then answer the question of the meaning of the world without using a separate …show more content…
Existentialism is a philosophical approach which emphasizes on the existence of an individual person as “a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will,” meaning that everyone has the freedom to develop how they want to as a person. This serves as a good explanation for evil in the world and is also a freeing belief when one feels confronted by questions of existence. This may also help those that suffer from existential depression, a condition which occurs to people that harbour a sense of hopelessness at believing that their lives may be meaningless. One can live with this easily in everyday life, because it is simply a way of looking at life. Though it serves as a philosophy to live life how one chooses, Existentialism is flawed in the fact that it covers very little else, and offers no help practical and psychological problems. For what it does answer however, Existentialism is a good worldview to live by as it gives a mentality that focuses on freedom to think and exist how you want with your own meaning, without promoting any sort of selfishness or