Existentialism might be described, not so much as a philosophy as much as a coping mechanism in the face of nihilism.  Once the possibility of certain knowledge of truth is ruled out, that is, we can never really know the truth, then we are trapped in uncertainties at every hand.  There is no possibility of meaning for life, except as the individual chooses for himself or herself. 

Existentialists may be theists, but they conclude that human reason cannot lead them to certainty that God exists or that he can be known through nature, history, or logical "proofs."    Belief in God is a "blind leap of faith," a terrifying but life-defining experience comparable to Abraham's willingness to offer his own son in demonstration of his ultimate faith.  This earliest form of existentialism is traceable to Soren Kierkegaard.

More commonly today, existentialism is the response to nihilism dismissal of belief in anything.  Atheistic existentialism also prioritizes the importance of the individual, alone, alienated, facing directly his or her own futility and mortality.  Yet this individual courageously makes a life-defining choice to live for some cause or ideal beyond the self.  Though in the end, death ultimately erases all human accomplishments, it is the making of this choice that will define the individual's existence (hence the term existentialism).

1. METAPHYSICS (reality)
    1.1 Belief about God

    1.2 Belief about the world

    1.3 Belief about humanity

"Eye" M. C. Escher 1946
"You can think about death as much as you like, but it doesn't get you any further, and you go on with your daily activities, no matter how stupid and unimportant they may be."*

2. AXIOLOGY [values & ethics]

    2.1 Beliefs about purpose

    2.2 Belief about ethics  

3. EPISTEMOLOGY [knowledge]

HYBRIDS: theistic existentialism (neo-orthodoxy: Kierkegaard, Barth), emphasis on Christian experience

Further Resources |
[+] Christopher Scott Wyatt has authored an excellent website which discusses both theistic and atheistic existentialism, identifying all of the major proponents.  It is easily the most informative site available.    Existentialism: A Primer  The following is a short except from his work.

Existentialist Graffiti

I am hoping very soon to have something to hope for.

Nothing really matters except a few things that really don't matter very much.

The reasons for my existence have not yet been established . . . but investigation is continuing.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting nowhere.

My life has a superb cast, but I can't figure out the plot.

Live life as you may-you'll never live through it.

Sometimes life is such a beautiful road . . . I almost stop wondering where it leads.

L I F E  has a big "I F" in the middle of it.

No, life isn't what I wanted-haven't you got anything else?

I need you to help me enjoy my loneliness.

Violence has no place in America!  Anyone who preaches violence should be shot like a dog!

Take away the life lie from the average man, and you take away his happiness.

The man wanted the dream, now the dream will govern the man.

                                                                       In the dark
                                                                             I
                                                                     light a match
                                                                      and watch it                                                                            fight
                                                                     for existence                                                                             but
                                                                   it will never win
                                                                       and i again
                                                                    sit in darkness

Only 85 shopping days left till the end of the world.

One thing I have no worry about is whether God exists.  But it has occurred to me that God has Altzheimer's and has forgotten we exist.    Lily Tomlin, in Martin Marty Context 22/9 (5/1/90): 4

It's not that I'm afraid to die.  I just don't want to be there when it happens. --Woody Allen

What do I have faith in? I guess I have faith in the power of distraction, that in the midst of this veil of tears there are things, a good book, a good movie, which can distract us from the situation in which we truly find ourselves. --Woody Allen

Man is absurd, but he must grimly act as if he were not. --Jean Paul Sartre

[The existentialist] is like a man adrift in a boat without rudder or compass, on an ocean that has no bounds.  It makes no eventual difference what he does or which way he rows.  But row he must. --Arthur F. Holmes, All Truth Is God's Truth: 3

[Life] can have just as much meaning as one is able to put into it.  There is, indeed, no ground for thinking that human life in general serves any ulterior purpose but this is no bar to a man's finding satisfaction in many of the activities which make up his life, or to his attaching value to the ends which he pursues. --A. J. Ayer

In Time magazine, Woody Allen said, "In real life everyone gives himself a distraction, whether it's by turning on the TV set or by playing sophisticated games.  You have to deny the

* (M. C. Escher, letter 14 Nov 1964; in J. L. Locher [ed], M. C. Escher: His Life & Complete Graphic Work {NY: Abradale, 1992}: 124)

naturalism | marxism | nihilism | existentialism