Editing Existentialism (section)

==== Kierkegaard and Nietzsche ====
{{Main|Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche}}

Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher.{{sfn|Crowell|2020}}{{sfn|Marino|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=v8tvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 ix]}}{{sfn|McDonald|Lippitt|Evans|2017}} He proposed that each individual—not reason, society, or religious orthodoxy—is solely tasked with giving [[Meaning of life|meaning]] to life and living it sincerely, or "authentically".<ref>{{cite book |last=Watts |first=Michael |title=Kierkegaard |url=https://archive.org/details/kierkegaard00watt |url-access=limited |publisher=Oneworld |year=2003 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/kierkegaard00watt/page/n18 4]–6|isbn=978-1-85168-317-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lowrie |first=Walter |title=Kierkegaard's attack upon "Christendom" |publisher=Princeton |year=1969 |pages=37–40}}</ref>

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were two of the first philosophers considered fundamental to the existentialist movement, though neither used the term "existentialism" and it is unclear whether they would have supported the existentialism of the 20th century. They focused on subjective human experience rather than the objective truths of mathematics and science, which they believed were too detached or observational to truly get at the human experience. Like Pascal, they were interested in people's quiet struggle with the apparent meaninglessness of life and the use of diversion to escape from [[boredom]]. Unlike Pascal, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche also considered the role of making free choices, particularly regarding fundamental values and beliefs, and how such choices change the nature and identity of the chooser.{{sfn|Luper|2000|pp=4–5, 11}} Kierkegaard's [[knight of faith]] and Nietzsche's [[Übermensch]] are representative of people who exhibit [[Free will|freedom]], in that they define the nature of their own existence. Nietzsche's idealized individual invents his own values and creates the very terms they excel under. By contrast, Kierkegaard, opposed to the level of abstraction in Hegel, and not nearly as hostile (actually welcoming) to [[Christianity]] as Nietzsche, argues through a pseudonym that the objective certainty of religious truths (specifically Christian) is not only impossible, but even founded on logical paradoxes. Yet he continues to imply that a [[leap of faith]] is a possible means for an individual to reach a higher stage of existence that transcends and contains both an aesthetic and ethical value of life. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were also precursors to other intellectual movements, including [[postmodernism]], and various strands of [[psychology|psychotherapy.]]{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} However, Kierkegaard believed that individuals should live in accordance with their thinking.{{sfn|McDonald|Lippitt|Evans|2017}}

In ''Twilight of the Idols'', Nietzsche's sentiments resonate the idea of "existence precedes essence." He writes, "no one ''gives''  man his qualities-- neither God, nor society, nor his parents and ancestors, nor he himself...No one is responsible for man's being there at all, for his being such-and-such, or for his being in these circumstances or in this environment...Man is not the effect of some special purpose of a will, and end..."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nietzsche |first1=Friedrich |title=The portable Nietzsche |last2=Kaufmann |first2=Walter |date=1994 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-015062-9 |edition=Repr. of the 1954 ed. publ. by The Viking Press, New York |series=Penguin books |location=New York}}</ref> Within this view, Nietzsche ties in his rejection of the existence of God, which he sees as a means to "redeem the world." By rejecting the existence of God, Nietzsche also rejects beliefs that claim humans have a predestined purpose according to what God has instructed.