# Jean-Paul Sartre ## Basic idea French existentialist (1905-1980). Argued that human beings have no fixed nature: we are condemned to be free, and we define ourselves through our choices. Inauthentic flight from this freedom is "bad faith". ## Key tenets * Existence precedes essence — no human nature is given in advance. * Radical freedom: we are responsible for everything we do. * Bad faith: denying our freedom by hiding behind roles, norms, or determinism. * "Hell is other people" — the Look of the Other objectifies us. ## Jean-Paul Sartre > Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. ## The absurdity of the world Everything is absurd. Imagine dinner with your partner. A Sartrian would see this as such: When your planet has turned away from a distant hyrdogen explosion, you put your knees under a slab of carbon and put dead mammals and plants in your mouth while another mammal is doing the same beside you. ## We are Free The absurdity is in itself liberating, we have true freedom. Everything is possible, we can cast away any shackles. ## Bad Faith We are in bad faith when we force ourselves to do something that we do not want to do, things that we do when we fall to external pressures of society to adopt false values and disown our innate freedom as sentient human beings. ### Resources * --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://isubasinghe.gitbook.io/isithas-wiki/philosophy/existentialism/jean_paul_sartre.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.