Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism"

EXISTENTIALISM
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Existentialism
How does Sartre relate idea of God the creator to the idea that man`s existence precedes essence.
The phrase "existence precedes essence" was originated by Jean-Paul Sartre and has come to be linked with the formulation and definition of existentialist philosophy. This is an idea that turns the traditional metaphysics totally considering that through western philosophy it was ordinarily assumed that the "nature" or "essence" of a thing was both eternal and fundamental than the things mare existence. Accordingly, if you want to understand the phenomenon of a thing, then what you must do is learn more about the "existence" of that thing. Sartre, it should be understood does not apply this principle universally, but rather he applies it to humanity only. Sartre asserts that in essence, there are two kinds of being. The first is being-in-itself or I`en-soi, this being is characterized by as complete, fixed, and ultimately holding no reason for its being - it simply is. This can be used to describe the existence of external objects. The other kind of being according to Sartre, is the being-for-itself or Ie-Pour-soi , this one is characterized as dependent upon the former for its existence. It has no ultimate, fixed, eternal nature and denotes the nature of humanity. Sartre contends that humans should not be treated the same way we treat external objects. But when you think about it, consider a hammer for instance, to understand this tool, one will have to take note of its properties, and also examine the reason for which it was created. So we can say that hammers were made by people for specific reasons, in other words, the "nature" and "essence" of a hammer was in the mind of its creator (existed in creators mind) way before the real hammer existed in the world. In this sense, suffice it to say that with things like hammers, essence comes before existence. When it comes to human existence, according to religious teachings, this also is true for human beings. Humanity is a creation of God, deliberately undertaken and with specific ideas in his mind. God the creator knew what he wanted to make before humanity existed. Sartre however asserts that there is no given human nature that is common to all because, according to him there is no God to give that human nature in the first place. He is not in contention to the fact that human exists, rather, he asserts that it is only after human exist that some "essence" which tak...