Thursday is Sartre's Birthday!

Jean-Paul Sartre was born on June 21^st, 1905 in Paris, France. Sartre is most known for his work in existentialism.

Sartre defined existentialism as "someone who believes and acts upon the following proposition as it applies to human beings: existence precedes essence". In a religious view, essence would proceed existence such as portrayed in the creation of man where God first thought of the idea of man, and thus created him. In Sartre's anti-God rebuttal, he states that there is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. In this sense, humans don't have any pre-conceived notions of how they should act, unlike animals who have predetermined instincts to kill their prey or or mate. "Each human being creates and re-creates his or her 'essence' in every moment through his or her choices and actions".

Although Sartre was not the only important existentialist thinker, he was the person who got the ball rolling and into the public's eye. His need for attention and public affection became the drive that allowed him to publish many works, including The Age of Reason, Transcendence of the Ego, and Being and Nothingness. Sartre embraced existentialism and the idea that it is a "harsh philosophy that require[s] individuals to take complete responsibility for every action, for what they are, and for their worlds". This philosophy led the French and promoted the idea of freedom while in German captivity during World War II.

To learn more about Sartre and Existentialism, check out Sartre For Beginners and Existentialism For Beginners.