In the article the existential motifs in the works of S.L. Rubinstein and his attitude toward existentialism is considered. Since the late 1950s, Rubinstein's views developed in close dialogue with existential philosophical thought. The names of M. Mer­leau-Ponty, M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre appear in his works. Ru­bi­n­stein's latest monograph "Man and the world" has a pronounced existential character. In this work, he managed to implement his long-standing project of ontologizing psychology, inclu­ding a man and his consciousness, into the general structure of being. Ideas exp­ressed by Rubinstein in the last years of his life reveal interesting similarities with the views of the founder of existentialism S. Kierkegaard and in some cases almost literally repeat some statements of the philosophy of M. Hei­deg­ger. At the same time, Rubinstein gives a detailed critique of the existential approach concerning the issues of understanding the essence of man as a subject of experience implementing his “project”, the validity of the phenomenological method, and human freedom. The greatest difficulty in interpreting Rubinstein's views is the combination in his theory of his orientation to Marxist methodology with existential statements. The main issue on which Rubinstein does not allow any compromises with existentialism concerns the assessment of the role of objective knowledge. Here he remains loyal to the rationalistic tradition of Hegel and Marx. According to Rubinstein, cognition permeates all forms of human relations with the world, including ethical relations. Co­gnition of reality transforms existence itself, replacing the spontaneous nature of its development with a conscious one. Despite the ambiguity of Rubinstein's dialogue with existentialists, determined to the great extent by the zeitgeist, it was certainly very important for the development of Russian psychology, introducing a new range of existential issues.