Why Existentialism Begins with a Crisis of Meaning

This lesson introduces existentialism by locating its starting point in a crisis of meaning: the moment when inherited answers, social roles, religious certainties, or cultural scripts no longer feel sufficient to explain how one should live.

Rather than treating this crisis as merely personal confusion, the lesson frames it as a philosophical opening. Students will learn why existential thinkers begin with lived experience, why anxiety and disorientation matter, and how the collapse of ready-made meaning creates both a burden and a possibility: the responsibility of making a life.