Abstract
During the two decades since World War II there has evolved a literary-philosophic movement which has been termed existentialism. Although the "ism" itself is new, its roots lie, admittedly, in the nineteenth century philosophies of Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, but even deeper origins may be seen in the seventeenth century figure, Blaise Pascal, and in the radical restructuring of society begun in the Renaissance. It is a mistake to think of the phenomenon of existentialism as merely a product of twentieth century history; on the contrary, it is a convergence of the many streams of thought which have centered on man and his human condition for the past several centuries. Existentialism is not a view of human existence which has emerged solely because of twentieth century historical events, but rather because, with this century, it has realized an identity with foundations in the past. It is a movement which has touched and probed into nearly every area of man's existence, viewing him both as a solitary creature and as a member of a vast society, but always holding the individual existence of man as its central point of reference.