Sartres Existentialism Interpretation

Introduction

Existentialism is a very peculiar discipline of the school of thought in terms of its historical context. Its periods of active development and popularity paralleled the civilizational era of technical progress, full-scale and technological wars of annihilation, and unhuman state systems. These factors formed the very freedom-loving basis of this branch of philosophy. One of the central rules of existentialist theory is Sartres claim that existence precedes essence (Maheshwari). In this short essay, I will provide a few personal interpretations of these words by probably the leading thinker of the last century.

Professional Interpretation

Experts and scholars of contemporary philosophy have developed their own interpretation of Sartres well-known existentialist claim that existence is before essence. According to Maheshwari, it means that there exists no universal, inborn human nature. These two are central macro-themes in Western philosophy, and discussions and disputes among thinkers about the primacy of one over the other have been going on for more than 20 centuries.

Personal Interpretation

Main Rule of Sartres Existentialism

I see several possible interpretations of this Sartre phrase about existence and essence. One of them is that by saying this, Sartre presented the macro-principle of existentialism, the postulate according to which the world works within this philosophical perspective. It is also a fundamental rule that other thinkers should be guided by when studying or applying the existentialist model. Essence and existence are terms that come from ancient Greek philosophy. Even a student knows their meaning, so it was a concise and easy-to-understand way to explain the macro-sense of existentialism.

Philosophical Manifesto

The ancient Greek school of thought was deliberately mentioned in the previous section. Another meaning of this phrase is that it was a short manifesto about a new global stage in Western philosophy. Before Sartre, the dominant macro concept was Platos one about the prevalence of essence over existence which, as one can see, is an opposite concept (Maheshwari). By declaring the reverse principle, Sartre publicly announced a new epoch in philosophy that accepts and adopts traditional terms, ideas, and meanings separately but not rules, conclusions, inferences, and models built on them.

New Times in Civilization Paradigms

When trying to understand or deconstruct this phrasing of Sartre, one needs to be aware of its historical context. The philosopher voiced the idea just a month after the end of the Second World War (DuFour 1). The priority of existence over essence was the announcement of the beginning of a new civilizational stage of postmodernism. Existence as an originating factor signifies the prevalence of subjectivity over objectivity, the critical importance of personality and its perspective, their plurality and freedom, and the emergence of hyper-reality.

Existentialism as Humanitys Renunciation of God

Before Sartre, essence in philosophy was something primordial, a thing created by God or having similar characteristics, or even God himself. Simply put, the objective environment gave rise to the existence, including humans. Accepting this Platonic rule is tantamount to agreeing that some omnipotent deity or entity exists. Sartres phrase meant his denial of God and that the western part of humanity rejects him in philosophy, culture, and life too.

Conclusion

This small work presents professional and personal interpretations of Sartres well-known phrase that existence comes before essence. Here I have shown and described my four understandings of his postulate. I developed these interpretations using my knowledge of philosophy and history. Sartres statement was not just one of the manifestations of the natural evolution of philosophy but also a consequence of the civilizational mental shock of humankind after the Second World War.