Sartre and existentialism
• Some things have an essence that precedes
existence. A tool has a function that it is made
to perform. But Sartre thinks human beings
have no natural function. We exist first, then
through our free choices create our own
essences. This is what it means to say that
existence precedes essence.
• Our freedom is scary—it is a “monstrous”
freedom. We like to think that we have a
nature, a character that explains what we do.
E.g “I am am a lazy person, that is why I don’t
clean my house”.. But really if you are lazy, its
because you choose to be that way.
• We sometimes have our freedom revealeed
when we realize we CAN jump off a bridge or
move our car onto incoming traffic