Existentialism The roots of existentialism began with Kierkegaard in the first half of the 19th century. He was critical of Hegel's philosophical system which analysed being (or existence) in an abstract and impersonal way. Kierkegaard was concerned with the individuals subjective experience of what it is to exist as a human being. For Kierkegaard the individual constantly has to choose what s/he is to become without recourse to the findings of science and philosophy. As we saw in the philosophy of god section Kierkegaard thought that the individual could chose to have a religious faith in the face of an absurd world Edmund Husserl The German phenomenologist Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was influential in the development of methods that were later used by the existentialists. A phenomenologist is interested in things as they appear to consciousness, rather than things-in-themselves (See Kant). This emphasis on the individuals subjective consciousness was continued in the 20th century as existentialism developed. Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) studied under Husserl. Heidegger was interested in the "question of being". He thought that western philosophy had been over obsessed with the problem of knowledge. For Heidegger the individual as being-in-the-world was characterised by action and anxiety: knowing the world is not our primary way of being in the world. In his later works, Heidegger became more interested in the history of concepts in language. He regarded his investigations as an attempt to disclose or uncover the concealed nature of being. His most fundamental question was: why should there