Jean-Paul Sartre was a philosopher, novelist, and playwright, a central figure of postwar intellectual life in Paris. He argued that we are completely free and responsible for what we make of ourselves. Politically engaged, he declined the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964 and was the partner of Simone de Beauvoir.
Core ideas
Existence precedes essence: we are not born with a defined nature
We are free and responsible for all our choices
Fleeing freedom by pretending we have no choice is acting in bad faith
The tradition: Existentialist
Existentialism holds that human beings exist first and only then define themselves through their acts, with no essence given in advance. Sartre is the best-known name of this current.
