Existentialism is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme) is a 1946 philosophical work by Jean-Paul Sartre. It is seen by many as one of the defining texts in the Existentialist movement.
In his text, Sartre says that the key defining point of Existentialism is that the existence of a person comes chronologically before his or her essence. In simple terms, this means that, although that person exists, there is nothing to dictate that person's character, goals in life, and so on. Only the person themselves can define their essence:
Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world - and defines himself afterwards.
Thus, Sartre is rejecting what he calls "deterministic excuses", and claiming that all people must take responsibility for their behaviour.
The essay has been criticized by some for giving only a superficial overview of the themes of existentialism, and Sartre himself has called its undeveloped morality an "error".
"Existentialism is a Humanism" was also the title of a lecture he gave to a packed audience at Club Maintenant in Paris, on October 29th, 1945. The book is based on the lecture.
External link
Condensed version of Existentialism is humanism (http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed/sartre.htm)
Further reading
Jean-Paul Sartre L'existentialisme est un humanisme Editions Nagel, Paris ISBN 2070329135
Jean-Paul Sartre (tr. Philip Mairet) Existentialism and Humanism Methuen ISBN 041331300X
Man possesses a human nature; that "human nature," which is the conception of human being, is found in every man; which means that each man is a particular example of a universal conception, the conception of Man.
That kind of humanism is absurd, for only the dog or the horse would be in a position to pronounce a general judgement upon man and declare that he is magnificent, which they have never been such fools as to do - at least, not as far as I know.
Existentialism is not atheist in the sense that it would exhaust itself in demonstrations of the non-existence of God.
Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views human existence as having a set of underlying themes and characteristics, such as anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and consciousness of existing, that are primary.
For existentialism, human beings can be understood only from the inside, in terms of their lived and experienced reality and dilemmas, not from the outside, in terms of a biological, psychological, or other scientific theory of human nature.
Existentialism decisively rejects this argument, asserting instead that as conscious beings we always find ourselves already in a world, a prior context and history that is given to consciousness and in which it is situated, and that we cannot think away that world.
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