Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Existence precedes essence.”
Jean-Paul Sartre · Existentialism · Modern · 1945
What does it mean?
Existence precedes essence. A paper-knife is made to a plan. A human being, he says in the lecture, exists first and defines themselves afterwards by what they do. A rival reading, including his own later caution and Beauvoir's, says the slogan sounds like unlimited self-invention and forgets the situation: body, class, language, the look of others. The lecture is thinner on that point than Being and Nothingness. Another rival keeps a human nature and hears only a denial. He means there is no pattern, issued in advance, that tells you what you are for.
Did Jean-Paul Sartre really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The slogan of the lecture, standard English of l'existence précède l'essence. He explains it immediately: there is no human nature fixed in advance that tells you what you are for.
Where it comes from
Existentialism Is a Humanism (lecture 1945, published 1946)
Approximate date: 1945.
How to use it
When you say, in a job interview in Reading, 'I am just not the kind of person who speaks up', ask whether you are describing a made essence or a choice you are repeating. He thinks the second description is the honest one. The panel, and the rent, are still real constraints. The sentence does not delete them.
A mindset reading
The slogan is the lecture's handle, not the whole of his philosophy. Subjectivity is thrown into a situation. If you need the thicker account, the lecture will disappoint you, and that disappointment is information.
Understand the philosophy
The 1945 lecture defends existentialism against the charge of despair. He argues that we are condemned to be free, and that in choosing we choose an image of the human being. Philip Mairet's English, and Carol Macomber's later one, do not sound identical. The doctrine is the same slogan.
- freedom
- self
- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
Existence precedes essence. A paper-knife is made to a plan. A human being, he says in the lecture, exists first and defines themselves afterwards by what they do. A rival reading, including his own later caution and Beauvoir's, says the slogan sounds like unlimited self-invention and forgets the situation: body, class, language, the look of others. The lecture is thinner on that point than Being and Nothingness. Another rival keeps a human nature and hears only a denial. He means there is no pattern, issued in advance, that tells you what you are for.
Did Jean-Paul Sartre really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The slogan of the lecture, standard English of l'existence précède l'essence. He explains it immediately: there is no human nature fixed in advance that tells you what you are for.
Which work is it in?
Existentialism Is a Humanism (lecture 1945, published 1946) Approximate date: 1945.