The Outside Edge: How Outsiders Can Succeed in a World Made by Insiders

4Existentialism and the Need For A Purpose

Start researching outsiders, and it's not long before the word ‘existentialism’ crops up. Indeed, it crops up so often it cannot be ignored. Nor should it be because, within this rather tricky-to-define philosophical movement, lies potential salvation for outsiders. Not as reformed insiders, I hasten to add, but as mental exiles on our own terms – developing an edge while pursue meaningful objectives.

In fact, existentialism is more an attitude than a philosophy – at least according to American academic Robert C. Solomon in his key work Existentialism (1974). An attitude, what's more, that emanates from the sense of disorientation we face on realizing life's apparent meaninglessness. Indeed, existentialism ...