Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a “Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author” (Soren Kierkegaard, n.d., n.p.). Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a “French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic” (Jean-Paul Sartre, n.d., n.p.). Despite living in different centuries and having different religious beliefs, they were both considered to be existentialist philosophers. In this paper, I will define existentialism, as well as, explain how Kierkegaard, a radical Christian, and Sartre, a radical atheist, can both be called existentialists.
Existentialism is simply defined as “a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility” (Existentialism, n.d., n.p.). Some individuals have misunderstood existentialism to be depressive and dark, and it determines that life has no meaning. Contrary to this belief, existentialism employs we are free to add meaning to our own life, and once we find our meaning we will find happiness through our meaning. In the event that we do not explore that freedom is when we find our troubles.
Soren Kierkegaard was a truly religious man (Alstrom, 2008, n.p.). He is “generally recognized as the father of
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Kierkegaard approaches it with the influence of religion and faith, while Sartre approaches it with the absence of religion and the idea of existance. Kierkegaard and Sartre both support these basic principles in the course of their work. The starting point and the conclusions are basically the same. Even though the difference was the journey from point A to point B being influenced by their personal beliefs, they can both be called