“Man is free, but he has no excuse for being so. He must choose at every moment... The human condition may be defined as the state of being condemned to be free... There is nothing else to do than to accomplish the world.”
Sartre's existentialism is radically humanist: there is no God, essence, or predetermined purpose. We alone are responsible for creating meaning and value. This burden—being 'condemned to freedom'—is absolute and inescapable.
Yet Sartre insists that existentialism is not fatalistic or nihilistic. We are free, and through this freedom, we 'accomplish the world.' Meaning is created, not discovered. This is both liberating and terrifying.
Commentary
Sartre's existentialism is radically humanist: there is no God, essence, or predetermined purpose. We alone are responsible for creating meaning and value. This burden—being 'condemned to freedom'—is absolute and inescapable.
Yet Sartre insists that existentialism is not fatalistic or nihilistic. We are free, and through this freedom, we 'accomplish the world.' Meaning is created, not discovered. This is both liberating and terrifying.