Existentialist Freedom

With Total Freedom Comes Total Responsibility Just like every other child, I was always questioned, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Adults usually replied to my response by saying “You can be anything as long as you put your mind to it.” Now that I am a college student, I have recently had to ponder this question again. Taking the question in a more serious matter compared to when I was 6, I realized that there is an endless amount of possibilities for me to choose from. Does this idea that I can be whatever I want to be, still apply? Sartre strongly believes that every individual has total freedom to be anything he or she wishes to be. However, with every bit of freedom that is granted to man, there is an inevitable and considerable amount of responsibility that comes along with it. In Basic Writings of Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre provides readers with a life-questioning preposition on the freedom granted to man. According to existentialism, every individual has full and unlimited freedom in his or her life. The proposed notion that everyone must carry the weight of responsibility in every choice that they make, begins with Sartre’s concept of “existence precedes essence” This is the idea that man is brought into this world as a clean slate with no preconceived purpose; whom over the span of his life defines himself through his choices and experiences. Sartre states, “Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and only afterwards defines himself”(345). Existentialism bases its principles in the idea that there is no universal human nature for man to conform and live his life according to. Man is free to decide his own future, regardless of what his human condition was. Sartre elaborates on this concept, “Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life”(355). Therefore, it is the individual’s obligation to