Nietzsche & Kierkegaard: The Emphasis of the Individual While any philosopher has a certain fetish they are attracted to, it all ties back to humanity and the individual, because that is what the world is comprised of. Kierkegaard, born in 1813, was a philosopher who in the beginning of his brief life, considered life as meaningless. He eventually finds that life is to be lived for Christ, encapsulating the phrase- ‘leap of faith’. He is thought to be the founding father of existentialism. Nietzsche, born in 1855, is often referred to as the father of nihilism. He adamantly proclaimed that “God is dead”, and went to the grave preaching that we should “become who we are” as an individual. He stated that Christians are under the spell of sklavenmoral (slave morality), and felt that Christianity was “a giant machine to bitter denial”. Even though they were both existentialists, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche obsessed over the world’s state of affairs from opposite world views, and pondered the problems of their culture’s lack of moral authenticity. Their primary similarities were in the fact that they both placed emphasis on one’s self and the individual and they both felt that life was irrational. They differed in the sense that one was an atheist, while the other was a Christian.…show more content… The culture was lacking moral authenticity in this way since the people were living a life of falsity. They resumed daily life with the cultural norms of lust, greed, and held instant expectations of familiar sentimental illusions. He especially would hate the culture now, as it seems as this is majorly what culture and society is shaped around. Kierkegaard didn’t want people to be shielded from reality, and it seems that he felt they were being protected in their bubble of lies. Lies that everything was okay, that there were no negative impacts, and so