INTRODUCTION 1159
defined.” One conceives of a paper-cutter (essentially) and how to make it and
only then does one construct it. The essence of a paper-cutter precedes its exis-
tence. According to Sartre, theists believe that God does the same with human
beings. First God conceives of humans and then creates them. But Sartre says that
there is no God, and hence no preexisting human essence: “There is no human
nature, since there is no God to conceive it.” Instead, “Man is nothing else but
what he makes of himself.” For humans, existence precedes essence.
When one realizes the implications of this atheism and the primacy of freedom,
one is brought to anguish and forlornness. But Sartre strongly denied that this state
necessarily led to despair. Even though all my actions are indeed ultimately futile
because of my eventual death, and existence is in fact absurd, I can still choose my
actions and so give my life meaning. As Sartre concluded, “In this sense existen-
tialism is optimistic, a doctrine of action.”
There are many studies of existentialism; see especially Gabriel Marcel,The
Philosophy of Existentialism,translated by Manya Harari (New York: Citadel
Press, 1956); Hazel E. Barnes,An Existentialist Ethic(Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1967); and William Barrett’s two books,Irrational Man(Garden
City, NY: Doubleday, 1962) and What Is Existentialism?(New York: Grove Press,
1964); and Steven Earnshaw,Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed(London:
Continuum, 2007). For primary source materials, see Walter Kaufmann, ed.,
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre(New York: Viking Press, 1956) and
Charles Guignon and Derk Pereboom,Existentialism: Basic Texts(Indianapolis,
IN: Hackett, 1994).
For biographies of Sartre, see Annie Cohen-Solal,Sartre: A Life,translated
by Anna Cancogni (New York: Pantheon Books, 1987); John Gerassi,Jean-Paul
Sartre: Hated Conscience of His Century(Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1989); and Simone de Beauvoir’s recounting of Sartre’s final days,
Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre(New York: Pantheon, 1984). For general introduc-
tions to Sartre’s thought, see Mary Warnock,The Philosophy of Sartre(London:
Hutchinson, 1965); Anthony Manser,Sartre: A Philosophic Study(London:
Athlone Press, 1966); Arthur C. Danto,Jean-Paul Sartre(New York: Viking
Press, 1975); Peter Caws,Sartre(London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979); and
Gary Cox,Sartre: A Guide for the Perplexed(London: Continuum, 2006). Iris
Murdoch,Sartre: Romantic Rationalist(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1959) explores the philosophical ideas in Sartre’s novels. For collections of
essays, see Edith Kern, ed.,Sartre: A Collection of Critical Essays(Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1962); Mary Warnock, ed.,Sartre(Garden City, NY:
Anchor Doubleday, 1971); Hugh J. Silverman and Frederick A. Elliston, eds.,
Jean-Paul Sartre: Contemporary Approaches to His Philosophy(Pittsburgh, PA:
Duquesne University Press, 1980); Paul A. Schilpp, ed.,The Philosophy of
Jean-Paul Sartre(La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1981); Christina Howells, ed.,The
Cambridge Companion to Sartre(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1992); and the multi-volume William L. McBride,Sartre and Existentialism
(Hamden, CT: Garland, 1997).