Existence precedes essence - lexistence précède lessence Essence in this case refers to the ancient philosophical idea (most closely associated with Plato) that all things have a predefined, ideal set of characteristics. For instance, the Essence of a chair is that it has four legs, a back, and people sit on it. However, not everything matches its Essence. You might have a chair with three legs, or a broken back, or that no one sits on. The actual details of a particular chair make up its Existence. The idea that Existence precedes Essence is that –for human beings –there is no predefined pattern that we must fit into. We live our lives, and that in turn defines what we truly are, not any idealized set of characteristics. This idea is the heart of Jean-Paul Sartre s version of Existentialism. The implications are that we must create our own meaning, place our own value on our acts, and that our individual freedom is absolute and unbounded.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:43:26 +0000
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