Jean-Paul Sartre was a French novelist, playwright, and philosopher. A leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy, he was an exponent of a philosophy of existence known as existentialism. His most notable works included Nausea (1938), Being and Nothingness (1943), and Existentialism and Humanism (1946).

What is Sartre's existentialism?

Sartre's theory of existentialism states that “existence precedes essence”, that is only by existing and acting a certain way do we give meaning to our lives. ... According to Sartre, each choice we make defines us while at the same time revealing to us what we think a human being should be.

How does Sartre defend existentialism?

Ultimately, Sartre proves that existentialism is a humanism because it is a philosophy that reminds man that (a) in his abandoned state, man must make his own choices, (b) that man's choices must be good for all (not just himself), and that (c) man will only realize himself as truly human when he commits himself to a ...