First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"Senor Ortega y Gasset has contributed a thoughtful and a careful analysis of our present situation. If he is correct, then nationalism and liberalism as we have known them in the past are doomed. A new and perhaps a better order and conditioning of life are on the way. This book attempts to justify historically the coming of great change--the same great change that was prophesied by William Morris in England, more than half a century ago." --The New York Times

Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2016 by the New York Times, a spirited account of a major intellectual movement of the twentieth century and the revolutionary thinkers who came to shape it, by the best-selling author of How to Live Sarah Bakewell. Paris, 1933: three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called Phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!" It was this simple phrase that would ignite a movement, inspiring Sartre to integrate Phenomenology into his own French, humanistic sensibility, thereby creating an entirely new philosophical approach inspired by themes of radical freedom, authentic being, and political activism. This movement would sweep through the jazz clubs and cafés of the Left Bank before making its way across the world as Existentialism. Featuring not only philosophers, but also playwrights, anthropologists, convicts, and revolutionaries, At the Existentialist Café follows the existentialists' story, from the first rebellious spark through the Second World War, to its role in postwar liberation movements such as anti-colonialism, feminism, and gay rights. Interweaving biography and philosophy, it is the epic account of passionate encounters--fights, love affairs, mentorships, rebellions, and long partnerships--and a vital investigation into what the existentialists have to offer us today, at a moment when we are once again confronting the major questions of freedom, global responsibility, and human authenticity in a fractious and technology-driven world.

Presents the first book-length study of the profound influence of Descartes' philosophy on Husserl's project for phenomenology.

“When it comes to living, there’s no getting out alive. But books can help us survive, so to speak, by passing on what is most important about being human before we perish. In The Existentialist’s Survival Guide, Marino has produced an honest and moving book of self-help for readers generally disposed to loathe the genre.” —The Wall Street Journal Sophisticated self-help for the 21st century—when every crisis feels like an existential crisis Soren Kierkegaard, Frederick Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and other towering figures of existentialism grasped that human beings are, at heart, moody creatures, susceptible to an array of psychological setbacks, crises of faith, flights of fancy, and other emotional ups and downs. Rather than understanding moods—good and bad alike—as afflictions to be treated with pharmaceuticals, this swashbuckling group of thinkers generally known as existentialists believed that such feelings not only offer enduring lessons about living a life of integrity, but also help us discern an inner spark that can inspire spiritual development and personal transformation. To listen to Kierkegaard and company, how we grapple with these feelings shapes who we are, how we act, and, ultimately, the kind of lives we lead. In The Existentialist's Survival Guide, Gordon Marino, director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College and boxing correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, recasts the practical takeaways existentialism offers for the twenty-first century. From negotiating angst, depression, despair, and death to practicing faith, morality, and love, Marino dispenses wisdom on how to face existence head-on while keeping our hearts intact, especially when the universe feels like it’s working against us and nothing seems to matter. What emerges are life-altering and, in some cases, lifesaving epiphanies—existential prescriptions for living with integrity, courage, and authenticity in an increasingly chaotic, uncertain, and inauthentic age.

Make your future the best thing that will ever happen to you. Finding meaning, clarity and direction in our lives is challenging. It raises big questions about who we are, what we want and what it takes to survive, live and thrive in today’s world. The Existential Playbook is your guiding light; a powerful and optimistic companion for when you’re at life’s crossroads, searching for answers about what to do next. Drawing on decades of rich, real-world experience, distinguished executive coach, economist, lecturer and keynote speaker Stephen Bruyant-Langer artfully and playfully empowers you to navigate transitions in your personal and professional life with grace, resilience and positivity. Blending practical tools, effective models and real-life case studies with psychological insights and wisdom from the ancient philosophers to cutting-edge modern science and technology, you’ll discover how to shape a better tomorrow for yourself and those around you. As you progress, you’ll reveal actionable steps that will inspire change, create meaning and lead you to a state of relaxed readiness for whatever your future holds, liberating you to be your true, authentic self and live a fulfilling life. With insights from experts in philosophy, psychology, neurology and strategy, Stephen leverages his proven 10-step executive coaching system alongside his brand-new Nordic Leadership Model. His powerful approach builds on the existentialist principles of choice, action and responsibility, providing you with a transformative roadmap to successfully edit your past, curate your present and design a future you’ll love.

Twentieth-century existential thinkers, critical of traditional, overly rationalistic approaches to ethics, sought to provide a better account of what it means to be human in the world. They articulated ethical views that respected the individual yet were fundamentally concerned with the Other and the ethical value of an authentic life. Their philosophy has often been dismissed as unsuccessful.