Quotation
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“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”
Jean-Paul Sartre · Existentialism · Modern · 1946
What does it mean?
Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. After 'existence precedes essence', the lecture draws the consequence: there is no pattern to consult, so the making is the whole of what you are. A rival reading, including Beauvoir's thicker sense of situation, says the sentence flatters a self-made man and forgets class, body, and the look. The lecture is thinner than Being and Nothingness on that point. Another reading hears despair, as if nothing you are given counts.
Did Jean-Paul Sartre really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Mairet's familiar English is 'Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself.' The card's 'what' is the same claim. Carol Macomber's later translation differs in cadence. The lecture says there is no human nature to consult first.
Where it comes from
Existentialism Is a Humanism, in Philip Mairet's translation
Approximate date: 1946.
How to use it
In a job interview in Reading, 'I made myself' is a story the sentence seems to bless. Ask what the making left out: the school, the accent, the person who could not make the same move. Sartre thinks you are still responsible inside those facts. He does not, in this sentence, give you a good description of the facts. Using it as a whip on someone with fewer materials is the misreading his later politics had to live with.
A mindset reading
The lecture was a defence of existentialism against the charge that it was ugly and quietist. It simplifies on purpose. If you need the obstacles, read Beauvoir, or read him after 1946. Do not pretend the sentence already contains them.
Understand the philosophy
Existentialism Is a Humanism was a lecture in 1945, published in 1946. Philip Mairet and Carol Macomber are the English this library names for it. The sentence is the lecture's plain speech. Plain speech is why it is quoted, and why it is not enough.
- freedom
- self
- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. After 'existence precedes essence', the lecture draws the consequence: there is no pattern to consult, so the making is the whole of what you are. A rival reading, including Beauvoir's thicker sense of situation, says the sentence flatters a self-made man and forgets class, body, and the look. The lecture is thinner than Being and Nothingness on that point. Another reading hears despair, as if nothing you are given counts.
Did Jean-Paul Sartre really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Mairet's familiar English is 'Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself.' The card's 'what' is the same claim. Carol Macomber's later translation differs in cadence. The lecture says there is no human nature to consult first.
Which work is it in?
Existentialism Is a Humanism, in Philip Mairet's translation Approximate date: 1946.