Existentialism Is a Humanism
Jean-Paul Sartre · 1946 CE
Excerpt
“Existentialism is not a doctrine that concerns itself with the problems of metaphysics, and its aim is to bring man back into a situation for which he alone is responsible. (paraphrase of the 1946 lecture)”
Why the atlas keeps it
Sartre wrote it as a lecture in Paris in October 1945 and it was published the following year; the title is the argument, and the defence of freedom as responsibility for one's own situation is the part that survives. He also argues here against the charge that existentialism places man above nature. The excerpt below paraphrases the lecture rather than quoting the 1946 text.
Terms this text reaches for
Ranked by the codex search index against the summary above, not hand-picked.
Existentialism
philosophyThe view that existence precedes essence and that nobody is exempt from responsibility.
Imperative of responsibility
philosophyThe duty to weigh the full, indefinite consequences of an action before taking it.
Authenticity
philosophyActing in accordance with what one has actually accepted rather than what one ought to.
Flourishing
ethicsThe condition of living well in a way that is more than the absence of suffering.
Li
philosophyRitual and propriety: the shared practices through which a life becomes coherent.
Speciesism
ethicsTreating an entity's species membership as the reason for its moral consideration.