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Existentialism Is a Humanism

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CONTEXT Sartre is trying to defend existentialism against some disapproval to it. The Communist criticized existentialism as an invitation to people to take interest in hopeless world affairs. On the other hand, Christians reproached from the fact that people deny the need of attention in human affairs. People have the will to do anything they want and wish. With the example given, about ignoring the Ten Commandments, we can people deny the value of following the commandments and will only follow it if they wish.

THE MEANING OF EXISTENTIALISM According to Sartre, existentialism is a principle that provides human life possible. It also determines that every truth and action we know involves both an environmental and a human …show more content…

The Marxists believe that you can rely upon the help of others. That even when you die, other will still continue what you did and help. While Sartre’s argument is that he cannot fully trust those people he doesn’t know. Yes, he can entrust his works and life with his comrades and family, but not to strangers. Does that mean that I should abandon myself to quietism? NO. What we should do is to commit ourselves then act the commitment made. Sartre stated that man is nothing else than what he proposes. Because he hasn’t found anything yet he seeks, he continues to living until the day he found it. “You are nothing else but what you live”, this means that “a man is no other than a series of undertaking, that he is the sum, the organization, the set of relations that constitute these undertaking.” Behaviors of the people are caused by the actions happening in their environment upon them. The implication given was how a coward became a coward, and a hero became a hero. Being a coward is the act of giving up. How sternness of optimism here

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