A Critique of Existentialism's Views on Man's Identity

Existentialism is considered as one of the western philosophical schools. Man is the pivot of researches in this school; therefore, it is well known as the school of fundamental reality of human existence. In the first place, this school examines man's identity, supports individuality of man and regards freedom of choice as the most important aspect of the man's value. It also believes that human perfection is attained through getting released from any constraint, even the constraints of God and religion. This school denies the constant human nature and regards man as a creator of his own nature. It supposes that life in the materialistic world leads to self-alienation and denies the use of any absolute value for human and emphasizes on the meaninglessness of life. This paper investigates the existentialism's viewpoints about man's identity and offers an extra religious criticism.