Essay Database

Sartre's existentialism is a humanistic philosophy that attempts to explain man's freedom and how he should live with the knowledge that this freedom exists. It is based upon the idea that "existence precedes essence", Sartre explains this by saying "it means, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and only afterwards, defines himself." In the text "Free will, self construction and Anguish", Sartre defends a number of claims bought against existentialism, …

…whole of mankind in personal decision making. Although Sartre's ideas flow well from each other and do not seem to contradict themselves, it appears that he has made a number of assumptions such as human nature being created by a "God" and that all of mankind is similar in their needs. This creates uncertainty in his argument and leaves room for many other claims against Existentialism other than those he has defended in his text.