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Full Idea
I take 'existence precedes essence' to mean that we do not have a pre-existing self, which organises our behaviour, but rather that we create our self as we go along, through our existence and activities.
Gist of Idea
'Existence precedes essence' means we have no pre-existing self, but create it through existence
Source
report of Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism and Humanism [1945]) by Robin Le Poidevin - Interview with Baggini and Stangroom p.222
Book Ref
Baggini,J/Stangroom,J: 'New British Philosophy' [Routledge 2002], p.222
A Reaction
The direct opponent of this is Aristotle, who builds his ethics on a fairly fixed human nature, but even he agrees that we mould our moral characters through our activities, in a circular way. There are not, though, infinite possibilities in mankind.
| 3635 | Essence must be known before we discuss existence [Descartes] |
| 6916 | For Kant, essence is mental and a mere idea, and existence is the senses and mere appearance [Kant, by Feuerbach] |
| 5650 | Reason is just abstractions, so our essence needs a subjective 'leap of faith' [Kierkegaard, by Scruton] |
| 14808 | Over huge periods of time human character would change endlessly [Nietzsche] |
| 20130 | It is absurd to think you can change your own essence, like a garment [Nietzsche] |
| 15572 | Being what it is (essentia) must be conceived in terms of Being (existence) [Heidegger] |
| 6868 | 'Existence precedes essence' means we have no pre-existing self, but create it through existence [Sartre, by Le Poidevin] |
| 3842 | Existence before essence (or begin with the subjective) [Sartre] |
| 6705 | Existentialism may transcend our nature, unlike eudaimonism [Graham] |
| 20733 | Our 'existence' is how we create ourselves, unconstrained by any prior 'essence' [Aho] |