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Analysis Of Existentialism: An Optimistically Tough Outlook On Life

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Existentialism: An Optimistically Tough Outlook on Life
Existentialism is the idea that humanity is a product of itself. It's the belief that humans are the controllers of their destinies and that life is only meaningful within the span of itself. This philosophy is explored by Jean-Paul Sartre in his essay “Existentialism”, in which he states that man is nothing else than the sum, organization, and ensemble of his choices. By saying this he means that one’s life is solely judged on his or her actions and that existentialism is not pessimistic because of those reasons, but actually just optimistically tough because humans have free will to create the meaning of their life. Sartre believes that existentialism is optimistic because mankind is radically free and able to choose their destiny, but also tough because when humans die they return to nothingness. …show more content…

Man is not predestined, but irrationally thrown into the world. His existence precedes his essence and when he stops existing so does that essence. The existentialist believes that there is no life after death, therefore, humans have a finite amount of time to create meaning in their life. Because Sartre says that man is only the sum of his actions, he is saying that when man leaves the world his wishes and beliefs become irrelevant. Only his actions leave an impact on the world. Sartre says “man is involved in life, leaves his impress, and outside of that there is nothing.” This reassures the idea that existentialism is tough, because everything eventually is obsolete and results in

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