Jean-Paul Sartre's Existential Philosophy

One of the main ideas that emerges in Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential philosophy is that human “existence precedes essence”. Recently, a similar notion has appeared in transhumanism, defined as a movement that “promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology” (Bostrom, 1). In particular, transhumanist leader Nick Bostrom characterizes human nature as a “work in progress, a half baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways” (Bostrom, 1). When compared to Sartre’s “existence precedes essence”, Bostrom’s transhumanist slogan seems to be stating the same idea. Sartre believes there to be

We are temporary beings with a subjective character that allows us to escape from the present into the future to get away from unwanted designations. This means that if, for example, we were known in the past as a messy liar, we can consciously change our actions in the future to change the way we are perceived. Such a constant escape from rigid labels, from the influence of others gives us a certain lack of identity. In Sartre’s terms, this constant change and mutual influence we exert on others is the “nothingness” within us. Nothingness is unique to being-for-itself since being-in-itself cannot experience its own identity and the fact that it is separate from other things. Being-in-itself does not go past its own existence, and thus has no perception of values, purpose, goals or this idea of nothingness. Most importantly, Sartre notes that with consciousness humans have a certain freedom. His conception of freedom does not hold that we can do whatever we like or mold whatever life we dream of. Sartre explains this in Being and Necessity by writing that “the formula ‘to be free’ does not mean ‘to obtain what one has wished’ but rather ‘by oneself to determine oneself to wish’. In