Existentialism and Phenomenology: Sartre and Heidegger

Philosophy returns to the scene of life

One of the major currents of 20th-century philosophy was a shift away from abstract systems and toward lived experience. A human being isn’t simply a thinking machine — we worry, choose, and form relationships within the world. Existentialism and phenomenology placed exactly this concrete scene of life at the center of philosophy.

The core to remember as a beginner is simple. Phenomenology asks “how does experience show up?” while existentialism asks “how should I live?”

Phenomenology: returning to the things themselves

Phenomenology has an important starting point in Husserl. Husserl held that we too quickly cover the world over with theory and preconception. So he tried to carefully describe how experience appears to consciousness.

Take looking at a coffee cup, for example. We don’t just see its color and shape. We experience it as something drinkable, something whose handle can be gripped, something tied to a morning habit. Phenomenology looks closely at the structure of experience like this.

Heidegger: humans as beings thrown into the world

Heidegger understood human beings not as isolated subjects, but as “being-in-the-world.” We aren’t beings who first observe from outside and then enter the world. We are already living within language, relationships, tools, and history.

For Heidegger, anxiety isn’t simply a feeling to be eliminated. Anxiety can be the moment when the familiar meanings of everyday life waver, prompting us to ask what kind of being we will live as. Of course, the historical controversies surrounding Heidegger’s thought and life must be handled separately and carefully, but it’s clear that his question of being had a major influence on modern philosophy.

Sartre: humans are condemned to be free

Sartre held that human beings are not given a fixed essence in advance. As his famous phrase puts it, existence precedes essence. We’re born without a blueprint for who we’ll become, and we make ourselves through our choices.

This freedom isn’t light. Choice carries responsibility with it. “I had no choice” isn’t always wrong, but Sartre was wary of the attitude of hiding behind that phrase to avoid one’s own choices. He called this bad faith.

Comparing phenomenology and existentialism

Current	Central question	Everyday application
Phenomenology	How does experience appear?	Setting aside preconceptions to look closely at a situation
Heidegger	What does it mean to exist?	Questioning the direction of a life buried in routine
Sartre	How do we bear freedom and responsibility?	Not blaming others entirely for our choices

The two aren’t separate schools so much as overlapping ones. Existentialism borrowed the method of phenomenology to analyze human anxiety, freedom, death, and our relation to others.

Applying it today: changing the language of choice

Phrases like “the company made me,” “everyone does it,” and “that’s just how it is” are sometimes realistic descriptions. But philosophically, we can ask one more time: What part of this did I actually choose, even within these conditions? Is there a responsibility I’m avoiding? What direction do I really want my life to take?

These questions aren’t meant for self-blame. They’re meant to help you reclaim a little more ownership over your own life.

Key takeaways

• Phenomenology and existentialism value concrete lived experience over abstract systems.
• Phenomenology tries to carefully describe how experience appears to consciousness.
• Heidegger understood human beings as already living within the world.
• Sartre held that humans make themselves through choice, and bear responsibility for those choices.
• Existentialist questions make the language of everyday choice and responsibility more honest.

Next chapter: a survey of the many currents of contemporary philosophy, and how to actually put philosophy to use in everyday life.