Sartre's Existentialism Is a Humanism

Peter Garcia

December 2, 2012

Sartre's Existentialism is a humanism

Every action and decision we make throughout our lives will lead to the different experiences that will eventually shape who we are and define what we become.

This is what existentialism is about, it is the philosophy concerned with finding yourself and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. An existentialist believes that any person should be forced to make their own decisions and be responsible for them without the help of laws, traditions, rules or any kind of guidelines.

There are two sides in existentialism, the Christian side and the atheist side, and the main difference between the two is that the Christian existentialists believe that essence comes before existence and the atheists believe that essence comes after existence. To understand this better imagine any object, and for anybody to create this object it has to have a definition first and a predetermined technique to manufacture it so that it can be possible to create it. This is the essence mentioned before and in this case before that object can exist, there has to be an essence first or the object has to be thought of first for it to be conceived. So in the case of human beings our essence is given to us by God before we exist in this world because he is the one who creates us.

On the other hand, atheist existentialists believe that we just exist and come to this world without and essence because God doesn't exist. This is the main reason why they say we are free, because there are no divine rules, no excuses and we should be held accountable for every action and decision we make in our life. Actions and decisions are the two things that provide us with an essence.

In my case as a Catholic I firmly believe in God, his commandments and everything he teaches us through other people, but I don't think of these laws as restraints but as guidelines of how we should live and behave. But I also believe in action, God doesn't make decisions for us, or magically make things happen for you while you are lying on the couch just praying to get an A on that test, or get that job you want so much. Life is all about balance, and that's why I agree so much with Sartre's philosophy of taking action, and opposing quietism, because if everybody's way of thinking would be to just sit waiting for something to change on its own, then nothing would get done.

In existentialism is a humanism, Sartre mentions what Ponge wrote in an article, "man is the future of man", and this is because the action that men take is what will shape the future of humanity and how the world will progress through the years.

Our lives are defined by every action we take, every decision we make, and every experience we have throughout our lives. They are important because it doesn't matter who or what we are born into, what you do from that moment on is going to define the person that you will become in the future and the contribution that you will