328 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories
into a painless method of reaching self-fulfillment. People can aspire to psycho-
logical health only through coming to grips with the unconscious core of their
existence. Although he was philosophically aligned with Carl Rogers (see Chapter 10),
May took issue with what he saw as Rogers’s naive view that evil is a cultural
phenomenon. May (1982) regarded human beings as both good and evil and capa-
ble of creating cultures that are both good and evil.Background of Existentialism
Modern existential psychology has roots in the writings of Søren Kierkegaard (1813–
1855), Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard was concerned with the
increasing trend in postindustrial societies toward the dehumanization of people. He
opposed any attempt to see people merely as objects, but at the same time, he opposed
the view that subjective perceptions are one’s only reality. Instead, Kierkegaard was
concerned with both the experiencing person and the person’s experience. He wished
to understand people as they exist in the world as thinking, active, and willing beings.
As May (1967) put it, “Kierkegaard sought to overcome the dichotomy of reason and
emotion by turning [people’s] attentions to the reality of the immediate experience
which underlies both subjectivity and objectivity” (p. 67).
Kierkegaard, like later existentialists, emphasized a balance between freedom
and responsibility. People acquire freedom of action through expanding their self-
awareness and then by assuming responsibility for their actions. The acquisition
of freedom and responsibility, however, is achieved only at the expense of anxiety.
As people realize that, ultimately, they are in charge of their own destiny, they
experience the burden of freedom and the pain of responsibility.
Kierkegaard’s views had little effect on philosophical thought during his
comparatively short lifetime (he died at age 42); but the work of two German
philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) and Martin Heidegger (1899–1976),
helped popularize existential philosophy during the 20th century. Heidegger exerted
considerable influence on two Swiss psychiatrists, Ludwig Binswanger and Medard
Boss. Binswanger and Boss, along with Karl Jaspers, Victor Frankl, and others,
adapted the philosophy of existentialism to the practice of psychotherapy.
Existentialism also permeated 20th-century literature through the work of the
French writer Jean-Paul Sartre and the French-Algerian novelist Albert Camus;
religion through the writings of Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and others; and the
world of art through the work of Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso, whose paintings
break through the boundaries of realism and demonstrate a freedom of being rather
than the freedom of doing (May, 1981).
After World War II, European existentialism in its various forms spread to
the United States and became even more diversified as it was taken up by an
assorted collection of writers, artists, dissidents, college professors and students,
playwrights, clergy, and others.What Is Existentialism?
Although philosophers and psychologists interpret existentialism in a variety of
ways, some common elements are found among most existential thinkers. First,