Understanding Existentialism

Overview

Existentialism is a branch of philosophy that gives more importance to the lived experience of people rather than any theoretical understanding of human life.

Paul Tillich, a Jewish American existential thinker, has described his brush with existentialism. He said he had read up a lot on existentialism, and he saw himself as an expert, but he truly became an existentialist only during the 2nd world war when he saw innumerable dead bodies of his fellow beings strewn all around him, and all his theoretical understanding of human life became irrelevant in that moment, and in that very moment he became an existentialist.” Existentialism is therefore about lived experiences and not speculations about human life.