The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy

Publisher: Penguin Classics
Publish date: 16 June 2026
Pages: 400
Binding: Paperback
Language: English

Subjects: Literature & Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies, Reference, Politics & Social Sciences, Philosophy, Ethics & Morality, History & Schools of Thought, Movements

A powerful new anthology that redefines ourunderstanding of existentialism and argues for itscontemporary relevance A Penguin Classic In the aftermath of the Second World War, a group of intellectuals gathered to discuss urgent questions of existence, commitment, racism, colonialism and feminism. Their ideas would continue to shape debates throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This major new anthology gathers the key texts of existentialism, and those of the movement’s nineteenth-century intellectual precursors, along with other works previously neglected in overviews and anthologies of the movement. Incorporating the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Frantz Fanon, alongside selections from Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Martin Heidegger, it significantly expands and redefines our understanding of what existentialism means, and why it matters. Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.