Jean Paul Satre - Existentialism and Humanism

Existentialism became a popular fad in France during the 50's and 60's, however it should be noted that it is more than a passing fashion.

In Satre's book 'Existentialism and Humanism' his purpose is to offer a defence to some of the criticisms that have been made against existentialism.

Communists criticise existentialism as an 'invitation to people to dwell in quietism of despair'. Also, communists claim that existentialists do not take the 'solidarity of mankind' into account and only consider the individual upon pure subjectivity.

Existentialists have been labeled as realists or 'naturalists'. However, this is surprising considering that many are horrified by the over-emphasis on the evil side of life, and when was the last time that someone was horrified by a book by Zola?

There are namely two types of existentialists - the Christian and the atheist. Heigedder and Satre are both examples of the atheist existentialist. Both Christian and atheist existentialists believe that existence precedes essence, and that we must begin from the subjective.

From the atheist point of view, if God does not exist there must be at least one being who existence precedes his essence, as there is no God to conceptualise human nature.

'Existence before essence' means that a person is born and purely exists, and subsequently defines himself. Therefore a person is born without morals, outside of the social structure of wrong and right. An existentialist goes through life constantly confronting moral dilemmas, for they live for the moment.

Although man chooses for himself it i also believed that the actions that one man takes, he takes for the whole of mankind. An example that Satre gives in his book is:
'...if I decide to marry and to have children...I am thereby committing not only myself, but humanity a a whole, to the practice of monogamy'.
This holds the individual responsible for creating an image of man.

In response to the first criticism that existentialists dwell in despair, Satre explains what is meant by anguish. When a man fully commits himself to something, in existentialist terms he is not only deciding for himself but for the whole of mankind, and cannot escape the responsibility that comes with this notion.