Sartre's Existentialism Is a Humanism › Existence Precedes Essence

The core of Sartre's argument rests on a single revolutionary claim: for human beings, existence precedes essence. ::: {.callout-note title="Existence Precedes Essence"} This phrase inverts the traditional philosophical assumption that what something _is_ (its essence) determines how it exists. For Sartre, humans first exist, thrown into the world, and only then do we create what we are through our choices and actions. There is no pre-given human nature that defines us in advance. ::: Consider the difference between a paper knife and a person. A paper knife is designed before it exists. The artisan has a concept, a purpose, a function, and then creates the object to fulfill that concept. The essence (what it is for) precedes the existence (the actual knife). The same is true, Sartre notes, for those who believe in a creator God: God conceives of human nature and then creates humans to fulfill that conception. We are, on this view, like paper knives in the mind of a divine craftsman. But what if there is no God? What if there is no artisan who conceived of us before we existed? Then there is no pre-given human nature. We simply appear in the world, we exist, and only afterward do we define ourselves through what we do. This metaphysical point has immediate practical consequences. It has immediate practical consequences. If existence precedes essence, you cannot appeal to a fixed human nature to justify your actions or excuse your failures. "I couldn't help it, that's just the way I am" becomes self-deception. "Human nature is selfish" cannot justify your selfishness. There is no "way you are" prior to the choices you make. You are not a coward because you have a cowardly nature. You are a coward because you have acted in cowardly ways. But this means you can also become brave, not by discovering a hidden brave nature, but by acting bravely. What you are is nothing other than the sum of your actions.