List Of Existentialists
Existentialism is a movement within Continental philosophy that developed in the late-19th and 20th centuries. As a loose philosophical school, some persons associated with Existentialism explicitly rejected the label (e.g. Martin Heidegger), and others are not remembered primarily as philosophers, but as writers (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) or theologians (Paul Tillich). It is related to several movements within Continental philosophy including Phenomenology, Nihilism, Absurdism and Post-modernism.
Name | Lived | Nationality | Occupation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abbagnano, NicolaNicola Abbagnano | 01901-07-15July 15, 1901 – September 9, 1990 | Italy | Philosopher | Also associated with Neopositivism |
Arendt, HannahHannah Arendt | 01906-10-14October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975 | Germany | Philosopher | Also associated with Phenomenology, associate of Heidegger |
Badawi, Abdel RahmanAbdel Rahman Badawi | 01917-02-17February 17, 1917 – July 25, 2002 | Egypt | Philosopher | |
Barnes, HazelHazel Barnes | 01915-12-16December 16, 1915 – March 18, 2008 | United States | Philosopher, author | Translated Sartre into English |
Barth, KarlKarl Barth | 01886-05-10May 10, 1886 – December 10, 1968 | Switzerland | Theologian | Founder of Neo-Orthodoxy |
Berdyaev, NikolaiNikolai Berdyaev | 01874-03-18March 18, 1874 – March 25, 1948 | Russia | Theologian, philosopher | Christian Existentialist |
Biko, SteveSteve Biko | 01946-12-18December 18, 1946 – September 12, 1977 | South Africa | Activist | |
Buber, MartinMartin Buber | 01878-02-08February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965 | Germany | Theologian | Worked with Rosenzweig |
Bultmann, RudolfRudolf Bultmann | 01884-08-20August 20, 1884 – July 30, 1976 | Germany | Theologian | |
Buzzati, DinoDino Buzzati | 01906-10-16October 16, 1906 – January 28, 1972 | Italy | Author | Also associated with magical realism |
Camus, AlbertAlbert Camus | 01913-11-27November 27, 1913 – January 4, 1960 | France | Philosopher, author | Founded Les Temps modernes with de Beauvoir and Sartre; developer of the Absurdism |
Carlyle, Jane WelshJane Welsh Carlyle | 01801-07-14July 14, 1801 – April 21, 1866 | United Kingdom | Essayist | Wife of Thomas Carlyle |
Carlyle, ThomasThomas Carlyle | 01795-12-04December 4, 1795 – February 5, 1881 | United Kingdom | Author, historian | Husband of Jane Welsh Carlyle |
Cioran, EmilEmil Cioran | 01911-04-08April 8, 1911 – June 20, 1995 | Romania | Philosopher, essayist | Also associated with Pessimism |
de Beauvoir, SimoneSimone de Beauvoir | 01908-01-09January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986 | France | Philosopher, anthropologist | Founded Les Temps modernes with Camus and Sartre, carried on long-term collaboration with the latter |
Davis, Walter A.Walter A. Davis | 01942-11-09November 9, 1942 – | United States | Philosopher, playwright, cultural critic | Author of Inwardness and Existence: Subjectivity in/and Hegel, Heidegger, Marx and Freud |
Dostoyevsky, FyodorFyodor Dostoyevsky | 01821-11-11November 11, 1821 – February 9, 1881 | Russia | Novelist | Foundational figure of Existentialism |
Earle, William A.William A. Earle | 01919-01-011919 – October 16, 1988 | United States | Philosopher | Also associated with Phenomenology, co-founded the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy with Wild and James M. Edie |
Ellison, RalphRalph Ellison | 01913-05-01May 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994 | United States | Novelist | Wrote Invisible Man, associate of Wright |
Fanon, FrantzFrantz Fanon | 01925-07-20July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961 | France (Martinique), Algeria | Philosopher, anthropologist, psychiatrist | Also associated with Marxism |
Flusser, VilémVilém Flusser | 01920-05-12May 12, 1920 – November 17, 1991 | Czechoslovakia | Philosopher | Also associated with Phenomenology |
Fondane, BenjaminBenjamin Fondane | 01898-11-14November 14, 1898 – October 2 or 3, 1944 | Romania | Author, poet, film director | |
Froude, James AnthonyJames Anthony Froude | 01818-04-23April 23, 1818 – October 20, 1894 | United Kingdom | Historian | |
Girnius, JuozasJuozas Girnius | 01915-01-011915–1994 | Lithuania | Philosopher | Christian Existentialist |
Gordon, LewisLewis Gordon | 01962-01-011962–present | United States | Philosopher | Also associated with Africana philosophy, Black Existentialism, and Phenomenology |
Heidegger, MartinMartin Heidegger | 01889-09-26September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976 | Germany | Philosopher | Also associated with Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, associate of Arendt, rejected the label of "Existentialist" |
Husserl, EdmundEdmund Husserl | 01859-04-08April 8, 1859 – April 26, 1938 | Austria, Germany | Philosopher | Founder of Phenomenology |
Ionescu, NaeNae Ionescu | 01890-06-16June 16, 1890 – March 15, 1940 | Romania | Philosopher, mathematician | |
James, WilliamWilliam James | 01842-01-11January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910 | United States | Philosopher, psychologist | Foundational figure of Pragmatism |
Jaspers, KarlKarl Jaspers | 01883-02-23February 23, 1883 – February 26, 1969 | Germany | Philosopher | Also associated with Neo-Kantianism |
Kafka, FranzFranz Kafka | 01883-07-03July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924 | Austria–Hungary | Novelist | Foundational figure of Existentialism |
Kaufmann, WalterWalter Kaufmann | 01921-07-01July 1, 1921 – September 4, 1980 | United States | Philosopher | Translated Buber and Nietzsche into English |
Kierkegaard, SørenSøren Kierkegaard | 01813-05-05May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855 | Denmark | Theologian, philosopher, author | Foundational figure of Existentialism, Christian Existentialist |
Klíma, LadislavLadislav Klíma | 01878-08-08August 8, 1878 – April 19, 1928 | Czechoslovakia | Philosopher, novelist | Also associated with Subjective idealism |
Levinas, EmmanuelEmmanuel Levinas | 01906-01-12January 12, 1906 – December 25, 1995 | France | Philosopher, theologian | Studied with Heidegger and Husserl |
Park, James LeonardJames Leonard Park | 01941-01-011941–present | United States | Philosopher | |
Macquarrie, JohnJohn Macquarrie | 01919-06-27June 27, 1919 – May 28, 2007 | United Kingdom | Theologian | Christian Existentialist |
Mačernis, VytautasVytautas Mačernis | 01921-06-05June 5, 1921 – October 7, 1944 | Lithuania | Poet | |
Marcel, GabrielGabriel Marcel | 01889-12-07December 7, 1889 – October 8, 1973 | France | Theologian, philosopher | Christian Existentialist |
Merleau-Ponty, MauriceMaurice Merleau-Ponty | 01908-03-14March 14, 1908 – May 3, 1961 | France | Philosopher | Also associated with Phenomenology, associate of de Beauvoir and Sartre |
Nietzsche, FriedrichFriedrich Nietzsche | 01844-10-15October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900 | Germany | Philosopher | Foundational figure of Existentialism, also associated with Nihilism |
Ortega y Gasset, JoséJosé Ortega y Gasset | 01883-05-09May 9, 1883 – October 18, 1955 | Spain | Philosopher | Also associated with Perspectivism, Pragmatism, Vitalism, and Historicism |
Petrov, ViktorViktor Petrov | 01894-01-011894–1969 | Ukraine | Novelist, anthropologist | |
Rosenzweig, FranzFranz Rosenzweig | 01887-12-26December 26, 1887 – December 10, 1929 | Germany | Theologian, philosopher | Worked with Buber |
Sartre, Jean-PaulJean-Paul Sartre | 01905-06-21June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980 | France | Philosopher, novelist, activist | Also associated with Marxism, co-founded Les Temps modernes with de Beauvoir and Camus |
Shakra, AousAous Shakra | 01908-04-22April 22, 1908 – April 1, 1992 | Palestine | Politician, philosopher | |
Shestov, LevLev Shestov | 01866-01-31January 31, 1866 – November 19, 1938 | Russia, France | Philosopher | Also associated with Irrationalism |
Soloveitchik, Joseph B.Joseph B. Soloveitchik | 01903-01-011903–1993 | United States | Rabbi | |
Tillich, PaulPaul Tillich | 01886-08-20August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965 | United States, Germany | Theologian, philosopher | Christian Existentialist |
Turner, RickRick Turner | 01942-01-011942–1978 | South Africa | Philosopher | Also associated with Marxism, studied with Sartre |
Unamuno, Miguel deMiguel de Unamuno | 01864-09-29September 29, 1864 – December 31, 1936 | Spain | Novelist, essayist, dramatist, philosopher | |
Wild, John DanielJohn Daniel Wild | 01902-04-10April 10, 1902 – October 23, 1972 | United States | Philosopher | Originally associated with Empiricism, Realism, and Pragmatism; later associated with Phenomenology; co-founded the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy with Earle and James M. Edie |
Wilson, ColinColin Wilson | 01931-06-26June 26, 1931 – present | United Kingdom | Author | Wrote The Outsider |
Wright, RichardRichard Wright | 01908-09-04September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960 | United States | Author | Associated with Black Existentialism, associate of Ellison |
Zapffe, Peter WesselPeter Wessel Zapffe | 01899-12-18December 18, 1899 – October 12, 1990 | Norway | Philosopher | Founded biosophy |
Read more about List Of Existentialists: Pre-Existentialist Philosophers
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