Sartre's Existentialism

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Existentialism, a nineteenth- and twentieth philosophical movement that stresses the radical extent of human freedom and attempt to deal seriously with its consequences for people's day to day lives, is the tradition most frequently associated with Jean Paul Sartre. For him, human beings are characterized by "existence precedes essence"; we are defined by our choices and actions and not by a fixed human nature. There is no essential self before there is an intentional act. The direction a person's life will take is always in question and a matter of contingency. We exist in situations--typically these are interpersonal and social--- and they affect us; how we exist within them is decisively a matter of our choosing. Sartre views that the radical freedom that permeates our lives makes us responsible of ourselves and for one another; it also means that a complete and final understanding of ourselves eludes us. Our freedom confers immense responsibility, and thus people often live in "bad faith," evading responsibilities for their lives by denying the reality of their own freedom. Sartre means here that we are totally responsible for making what we can of the world because such responsibility is awesome, our freedom can be dreadful. I his view, each is encourage to do what is the best. We have to choose what will be good and what will be evil. Responsibility for these uses of freedom is ours and ours alone.