Foundations of Existentialism: Freedom, Authenticity, and the Search for Meaning

Existentialism is not a systematic doctrine but a cluster of philosophical preoccupations that became central to European thought in the twentieth century: the radical nature of human freedom, the impossibility of inheriting a pre-made identity, the anxiety that attends genuine choice, and the question of how to live meaningfully in a world that offers no cosmic guarantees. The thinkers associated with existentialism — Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger — disagreed profoundly with one another, but they shared the conviction that the question of how to be human in a fully serious sense was both philosophy's central task and every person's inescapable challenge. By the end of this course you will be able to explain the existentialist critique of essentialism and the claim that existence precedes essence, distinguish the positions of at least four major existentialist thinkers on freedom, authenticity, and meaning, analyze the concept of bad faith in Sartre and its application to everyday life, and describe Camus's absurdism as both a philosophical position and a way of living. What you will learn: - Kierkegaard's three stages of existence and the leap of faith as precursor to secular existentialism - Heidegger on Being-in-the-world, thrownness, authenticity, and being-toward-death - Sartre's central claims: existence precedes essence, radical freedom, and the nature of bad faith - Simone de Beauvoir's existentialism: the Other, oppression, and the ethics of genuine relationship - Camus and the Absurd: the tension between human need for meaning and the world's silence - The myth of Sisyphus: Camus's response to nihilism and the question of suicide - Existentialist conceptions of anxiety, dread, and nausea as philosophically revealing states - The political dimension of existentialism: engagement, responsibility, and the Other's freedom The course is organized chronologically and thematically, moving from Kierkegaard's religious existentialism through Heidegger's ontological analysis to the French existentialists' engagement with politics, gender, and the Absurd. Each unit introduces a thinker through primary text excerpts alongside contextual explanation. Worked examples show how to apply existentialist concepts to literary and everyday situations. Reflection prompts invite you to engage the material personally, not just analytically. Self-assessment exercises test your ability to distinguish between the positions of different thinkers. This course is designed for students and general readers interested in European philosophy, literature, and the question of meaning. It is suitable for those new to existentialism as a philosophical tradition. No prior philosophy background is required.