Example Of Critical Thinking On Understanding Sartre’s Existence Precedes Essence

Based on humanity, Sartre’s ideologies revolve around religious beliefs where God created human beings with a purpose in mind. In fact, all that exists serves the purpose that God intended and that is why animals can make different noises but do not necessarily have the sense of humor that humans possess. According to religious teachings, humans live to serve God, and during Sartre’s time, serving God entailed going to houses of worship and respecting the Catholic Church. On that note, although Chimpanzees closely resemble human beings, they do not have religious functions because God did not intend to have them possess a thinking capacity of that extent. Paper knives cannot cut vegetables in the same manner Chimpanzees do not have the mind to build a church and pray. Problem arises in the case of atheists, where the people do not believe in a superior being, or an afterlife after one ceases to exist.
Because an atheist does not believe in God then it illogical to argue that human beings possess certain traits because their creator intends it to be so and does not leave room for change. Without a superior being who predetermines what morality is or how a human should live, it makes sense that people are at liberty to do as they please with their lives. Consequently, human nature does not exist because unlike in the case of a paper knife no idea formed the purpose to create beings that perform a task before the conception of men. It is the nature of a paper knife to cut paper because of the artisan, but it cannot be the nature of humans to be happy or sad because they do not have a creator. Consequently, since people do exist, they find their essence or purpose as they live. Existentialism takes a similar approach and in turn, argues that existence precedes essence.

Bibliography

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism and Human Emotion. New York: Citadel Press, 2000. Print.