In this enduring text, renowned philosopher Robert C. Solomon provides students with a detailed introduction to modern existentialism. He reveals how this philosophy not only connects with, but derives from, the thought of traditional philosophers through the works of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. Thus, existentialism emerges from the school of rational thought as a logical evolution of respected philosophy.

"Solomon's work exhibits a fine understanding of the complexity of the history of ideas. He is capable of overlooking differences of method and agenda to find the evolving core of ideas beneath that bring a unity to western philosophical thought, and so he manages to bring the enfant terrible— existentialism— home to its roots. This is a very important achievement..." - Milltown Studies

"Solomon takes us on an illuminating journey through Western philosophy by his ability to find comparisons between the most seemingly incongruent philosophies." - Milltown Studies