Existentialism holds that human beings have no ready-made essence that defines in advance what they must be. Each person makes themselves through the choices they make, and is therefore responsible for them. Its core question is: how can we live meaningfully in a world that offers no guaranteed answers? Freedom, anxiety, death, the absurd, authenticity and solitude move to the center of reflection, always starting from lived experience rather than abstract systems.
Its forerunners were Kierkegaard, who in the 19th century defended personal choice and faith against grand systems, and Nietzsche, who announced the death of God and the challenge of creating values. The term became famous in France after the Second World War with Jean-Paul Sartre, for whom existence precedes essence. Albert Camus, who rejected the label, explored the absurd and revolt. In the Spanish-speaking world, Miguel de Unamuno wrote on the tragic sense of life, José Ortega y Gasset proposed vital reason and María Zambrano, poetic reason.
Core ideas
Existence precedes essence: each of us is made by our own choices.
We are free and therefore responsible for what we do.
The meaning of life is not given: it must be embraced or created.
Where to start reading
Each thinker's starter book, picked for beginners.
