Question

Sartre famously says, “Existence precedes essence.” What does this mean? Explain how he uses the example of a paper cutter to help illustrate his point. What does this then require of human beings? Demonstrate that you have the right answers to these questions by directly quoting from Sartre’s essay.

Answer 1

• According to Sartre, “Existence precedes essence” means that a person’s character is not created over a pre-designed model or a specific purpose because it is the person himself who decides to act originally.
• He uses a paper cutter as an example by saying that if the paper cutter had an essence, then it would mean God had a plan for it. Sartre explains it in his Existentialism is a Humanism: "man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards."
• The essence of something is its meaning, its intended purpose. A paper cutter is made to cut paper; that is its point. Humans, however, do not have an essence.
• We have no greater purpose, no pre-determined plan, no ultimate meaning. We have, in Sartre’s words, no human nature, since there is nothing (e.g. God) outside of us which would conceive of it for us. We are simply here, and it is up to us to define ourselves.
• We have choice, we have subjectivity, and we choose what we will make ourselves to be; we are entirely responsible for our existence.Thus, existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him.