World Exist?:

An Existential Detective Story is a portraitgallery ofleadingmodern
philosophers. He visitedeach of them in turn,warning them inadvance that
he was coming to discuss with them a singlequestion: “Why is there
something rather thannothing?” He reports their reactions to this
question, and embellishes theirwords with descriptions of theirhabits and
personalities. Their answers give usvividglimpses of thespeakers but do
notsolve theriddle of existence.The philosophers aremoreinteresting
than the philosophy. Most of them areeccentriccharacterswhohave risen
to thetop of theirprofession. They think theirdeep thoughts inplaces of
unusual beauty such as Paris and Oxford. They are heirs to an ancient
tradition ofacademic hierarchy, inwhich disciplessat at the feet of
sages, andsages enlightened disciples with Delphic utterances. The
universities of Paris and Oxfordhave maintained thistradition for eight
hundred years. Thegreat world religionshave maintained iteven longer.
Universities and religions arethe most durable ofhuman
institutions.According to Holt, thetwomost influential philosophers of
the twentiethcentury were Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein,
Heidegger supreme in continental Europe, Wittgenstein in the
English-speaking world. Heidegger was one of the founders of
existentialism, aschool of philosophy that wasespecially attractive to
Frenchintellectuals. Heideggerhimselflosthis credibility in 1933when
heaccepted the position ofrector of the University of Freiburg under the
newlyestablished Hitler government andbecame a member of the Nazi Party.
Existentialismcontinued toflourish in France after it faded in Germany.