The document discusses several influential existentialist philosophers: - Søren Kierkegaard focused on individual existence, faith, and choice over abstract thinking. Jean-Paul Sartre believed humans are "condemned to be free" without a creator or essence. Friedrich Nietzsche spoke of the "death of God" and the dissolution of religion and metaphysics. - Martin Heidegger explored the "question of Being" and criticized views of being as a property. Herman Hesse's novels explored individual spirituality and authenticity through influences like Nietzsche and Greek mythology.

1. Søren Kierkegaard
 He was a Danish philosopher , theoligian , poet ,
social critic and religious author who is widely
considered to be the first existentialist philosopher .
 Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues
of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority
to concrete human reality over abstract thinking, and
highlighting the importance of personal choice and
commitment .

2.  His theological work focuses on Christian ethics, the
institution of the Church, the differences between
purely objective proofs of Christianity, the infinite
qualitative distinction between man and God, and
the individual's subjective relationship to the God-
Man Jesus Christ, which came through faith.
 Much of his work deals with the art of Christian love.
 His psychological work explored the emotions and
feelings of individuals when faced with life choices .

3.  The leap of faith is his conception of how an
individual would believe in God or how a person
would act in love. Faith is not a decision based on
evidence that say, certain beliefs about God are true or
a certain person is worthy of love. No such evidence
could ever be enough to completely justify the kind of
total commitment involved in true religious faith or
romantic love. Faith involves making that
commitment anyway.

4. Jean-Paul Satre
 He was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist,
screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literar y
critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy
of existentialism and phenomenology , and one of the
leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and
Marxism.
 His work has also influenced sociology, critical theory,
post-colonial theory, and literary studies .

5.  Sartre's primary idea is that people, as humans, are
"condemned to be free".This theory relies upon his
position that there is no creator, and is illustrated
using the example of the paper cutter . Sartre says that
if one considered a paper cutter, one would assume
that the creator would have had a plan for it: an
essence. Sartre said that human beings have no
essence before their existence because there is no
Creator .

6. Friedrich Nietzsche
 He was a German philologist, philosopher, cultural
critic, poet and composer. He wrote several critical
texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture,
philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for
metaphor, irony and aphorism.

7.  Nietzsche spoke of “the death of God,” and foresaw the
dissolution of traditional religion and metaphysics. Some
interpreters of Nietzsche believe he embraced nihilism,
rejected philosophical reasoning, and promoted a literary
exploration of the human condition, while not being
concerned with gaining truth and knowledge in the
traditional sense of those terms.
 However, other interpreters of Nietzsche say that in
attempting to counteract the predicted rise of nihilism, he
was engaged in a positive program to reaffirm life, and so
he called for a radical, naturalistic rethinking of the nature
of human existence, knowledge, and morality .

8. Martin Heidegger
 He was a German philosopher known for his
existential and phenomenological explorations of the
"question of Being“ .
 Heidegger is known for offering a phenomenological
critique of Immanuel Kant. He wrote extensively on
Friedrich Nietzsche and Friedrich Hölderlin in his
later career.

9.  The question of being - in other words, what exists,
how do we know that it exists, and what do we mean
when we say something exists - is the central question
of that branch of philosophy called ontology.
 This fundamental question was first posed in Western
philosophy by the ancient Greeks. Heidegger, however,
felt that since Plato the inquiry into being had taken a
major theoretical wrong-turn by thinking of being as a
property or essence that was continually present in
things.

10. Herman Hesse
 He was a German poet, novelist, and painter. His best-
known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and
The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an
individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge
and spirituality.
 Hesse studied theological writings and later Goethe,
Lessing, Schiller, and Greek mythology. He also began
reading Nietzsche in 1895, and that philosopher's ideas
of "dual...impulses of passion and order" in
humankind was a heavy influence on most of his
novels.