ABSTRACT
The second major branch of phenomenology is existential phenomenology, more commonly known as existentialism. Existentialism derived its name and character ‘through its reaction against the western concern with ‘essence’, which embodies constancy’ (Polster, 2012: 16). Husserl’s assistant, Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), built upon and substantially modified Husserl’s theories on phenomenology, his thinking in ‘Being and Time’ influenced the Perls’ development of working in the here and now. Whereas Husserl focused on states of consciousness of being human, Heidegger focused on existence believing that it could not simply be reduced to consciousness, in this area his views tally with Sartre’s that existence precedes essence. We could argue that from an existential viewpoint Descartes’ assertion, ‘I think therefore I am’ just had the words in the wrong order – I am, therefore I think. A concise description of existential phenomenology is given by Merleau-Ponty who describes it as, ‘a study of the advent of being to consciousness, instead of presuming its possibility as given in advance’ (1962: 61).
