I choose Nietzsche

Judging by the fact only two people have bothered to vote, "none of the above" may be the answer!

I wouldn't really classify nietzsche as an existentialist though he was indirectly responsible for some of Existentialism's major tenets. Kierkegaard and Camus were in my opinion more influential during their time. Just a thought.

Nietzsche all the way!

Camus

I could come in here and pick Kierkegaard or de Beauvoir and say something really interesting like .. de Beauvoir Rocks!!! but to be totally honest I have no Idea who any of these people are . And what's more I'm really not going to believe anybody else knows who these people are unless they can tell me Why they think a certain exerstentialist is cool .
So please for the sake of those of us who are less enlightened , please give a little more than the old two word response .
Thats not entirely true ... I have heard of Nietzsche before .

Camus was a French philosopher and writer. I studied him in philosophy in college and agreed with his views.

Good on you Babs and thank you , you have taught me something new

Albert Camus, the French writer, journalist, and Nobel Prize winner. Freedom was the value that he prized above all else and he wrote about freedom in his plays, short stories and essays.

Camus is da man!

i put not mentioned 'cause i dont know who they are...

I'm not exactly sure what existentialism really is and the only one who's philosophy I'm vaguely familiar with is Nietzche and I'm not too sure about him as he seemed to have a very 'might is right' kind of outlook. A lot of serial killers and despots have espoused his teachings but admittedly I don'y know the whole story about him and they may have cherry picked the veiws that suited their agenda.