Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism
This quote comes from a lecture given in 1946. In this lecture, Sartre explains that his existentialist understanding of the world is of one where “existence precedes essence” – that is to say, essentially, that man first exists, and then determines what he is and how he fits into the world. This position has to assume that man existed first, and he then created the idea of God.
Here is an excerpt from the lecture, showing the context around the quote:
And when we speak of “abandonment” – a favorite word of Heidegger – we only mean to say that God does not exist, and that it is necessary to draw the consequences of his absence right to the end. The existentialist is strongly opposed to a certain type of secular moralism which seeks to suppress God at the least possible expense.
Towards 1880, when the French professors endeavoured to formulate a secular morality, they said something like this: God is a useless and costly hypothesis, so we will do without it. However, if we are to have morality, a society and a law-abiding world, it is essential that certain values should be taken seriously; they must have an a priori existence ascribed to them.
It must be considered obligatory a priori to be honest, not to lie, not to beat one’s wife, to bring up children and so forth; so we are going to do a little work on this subject, which will enable us to show that these values exist all the same, inscribed in an intelligible heaven although, of course, there is no God.
In other words – and this is, I believe, the purport of all that we in France call radicalism – nothing will be changed if God does not exist; we shall rediscover the same norms of honesty, progress and humanity, and we shall have disposed of God as an out-of-date hypothesis which will die away quietly of itself.
The existentialist, on the contrary, finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it.
It is nowhere written that “the good” exists, that one must be honest or must not lie, since we are now upon the plane where there are only men. Dostoevsky once wrote: “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted”; and that, for existentialism, is the starting point.
Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself. He discovers forthwith, that he is without excuse. For if indeed existence precedes essence, one will never be able to explain one’s action by reference to a given and specific human nature; in other words, there is no determinism – man is free, man is freedom.
Nor, on the other hand, if God does not exist, are we provided with any values or commands that could legitimise our behaviour. Thus we have neither behind us, nor before us in a luminous realm of values, any means of justification or excuse. – We are left alone, without excuse. That is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free.
Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet is nevertheless at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything he does. The existentialist does not believe in the power of passion. He will never regard a grand passion as a destructive torrent upon which a man is swept into certain actions as by fate, and which, therefore, is an excuse for them.
He thinks that man is responsible for his passion. Neither will an existentialist think that a man can find help through some sign being vouchsafed upon earth for his orientation: for he thinks that the man himself interprets the sign as he chooses.
He thinks that every man, without any support or help whatever, is condemned at every instant to invent man. As Ponge has written in a very fine article, “Man is the future of man.” That is exactly true.
Only, if one took this to mean that the future is laid up in Heaven, that God knows what it is, it would be false, for then it would no longer even be a future. If, however, it means that, whatever man may now appear to be, there is a future to be fashioned, a virgin future that awaits him – then it is a true saying. But in the present one is forsaken.
Historical Context
As World War II unfolded, Sartre’s philosophy increasingly focused on themes like freedom, authenticity, and responsibility. While serving as a meteorologist in Alsace, he was captured by the German Army in 1940 and spent nearly a year in captivity. Despite the socio-political upheaval, Sartre demonstrated remarkable productivity, publishing several renowned works during this period. Read more…
With Nazi Germany as a backdrop, Sartre’s emphasis on man’s responsibility and self-determination takes on greater meaning.
About Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He is regarded as a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was instrumental in shaping existentialism and phenomenology, and his work profoundly influenced fields such as sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he attempted to decline, stating that he consistently refused official honors and believed “a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution.”
Sartre shared an open relationship with Simone de Beauvoir, a prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher. Together, they challenged the cultural and social norms of their bourgeois upbringing in both their personal lives and intellectual pursuits. The tension between oppressive conformity (mauvaise foi, or “bad faith”) and the pursuit of an “authentic” existence became the central theme of Sartre’s early work, most notably in his philosophical masterpiece Being and Nothingness (L’Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre introduced his philosophy to a broader audience in Existentialism Is a Humanism (L’existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.