Traditionally, existentialism has been viewed as mostly twentieth-century
             philosophical movement, and transcendentalism a nineteenth-century one. Not only
             is Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond an existentialist work, but by examining the
             similarities and interrelations between existentialist thought and Walden, we can
             understand Thoreau's purpose in writing it. Walden Pond is not a treatise on nature,
             nor a manual on how to live one's life, but rather a kind of how-to guide for those
             interested in finding their own personal truth. This is a common theme in
             existentialist works. Despite the label of transcendentalist, Thoreau is primarily an
             existentialist, as made clear by the similarities between his writings and
             philosophies and those of the great existentialists.
             Existentialism is a particular branch of philosophical thought that stemmed from a
             reaction against the works of Georg Friedrich Hegel. Hegel thought that he had
             worked out a complete philosophical system by which all thought worked, including
             the exact innerworkings of the metaphysical man. While most existentialists found
             Hegel's attempts at a unified philosophical worldview unpalatable, they did agree
             with his concept of the dual components of mankind. According to Hegel, the human
             being has two facets, the physical animal and the self-aware consciousness. From
             the very beginning the similarities between transcendentalism and existentialism
             become apparent: the transcendentalists divide world into the ethereal spirit and
             the concrete earth. This simply mirrors Hegel's duality. It is the consciousness that
             sets man apart from beast, and Hegel defined consciousness in terms of itself,
             feeling that consciousness "transcended its own self". Existentialist thought dictates
             that these forces will forever be in conflict, and that one can find success by living
             them with "maximum lucity and intensity" (Guigon...