For Jean Paul Sartre, all existentialists agree that, in the case of human beings, existence preceeds essence.?

what does he mean by this phrase?|||I think that what it means is that:





Through your action, you are building your essence.


Examples: if one steals and steals again and again, that one becomes essentially a thief.


If one studies and then studies and studies again and again, that one becomes a scholar.


So we are what we do, but first we do.





If we decide to change our essence of thief or scholar, then we can: all we have to do is "do something else" like stop stealing, or stop studying, doing sports, business, being honest, paying back our debts etc. This is what existentialism is: an optimistic philosophy which allows you to change your SELF or essence every single day.





However, it has its drawback: some can understand it the vicious way around: "I allow myself to cheat, because tomorrow, I will catch up and change myself all over again" And, no, it does not work that way and I do not think that existentialists really meant it that way.





There is a Christian branch of existentialism. I am sure they were not preaching sins then redemption. No.





However, there is this deep idea, fundamental that you can redeem yourself and that essence is not carved in stone, in existentialism.|||if you compare humans to chipmunks, you'll note that the chipmunks essence and its existence are pretty much on the same plane through it's entire life. whereas a human adapts to an infinitude of variables all the while maintaining clear focus on subjective desires.





he means to say that we are born needing food and love and shelter. then we convince ourselves via the forces that nurture and inform us that we need more than that. you could almost effectively assert that our essence is not ripe until we've felt desire.|||For something to have a nature and characteristics it must first exist.