Existential Crisis: A Contemporary Philosophical Concept

Existentialism, one of the main philosophical currents of the 20th century, focuses on the uniqueness of human beings. It is also called the “philosophy of existence.” The forerunner of existentialism was the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Back in the 19th century, he first formulated the concept of “existence,” opposing it to the “system” of the German idealist Hegel.

An existential crisis is a feeling of anxiety and anxiety associated with the loss of the meaning of life. Existential psychologists such as Irvin Yalom and Rollo May have widely studied this concept. Essentially, an existential crisis is the loss of the meaning of life.

An existential crisis can be provoked by a difficult situation in the world, uncertainty in the economic sphere, the illness of a loved one, a direct encounter with death, and great life upheavals. An existential crisis is always connected with how a person lives their life, how fully and deeply, and occurs either when this life is threatened – directly or indirectly, or in a situation where a life does not “suit” the person living it.

The notion of existential crisis resulted from the collapse of the traditional value system described above. It is generated by the idea that human existence has neither a predetermined purpose nor an objective meaning. It goes against our deepest need to believe that human life has value. But the absence of the original meaning does not mean the loss of meaning in general. According to the concept of existentialism, the value of life is manifested precisely in the way a person fulfills themselves, in the choices made by them, and in their actions.