But what does this all mean? If we flip to pages 40 in our text books we see a quote from Jean Paul Sartre himself. He says, "Man will do nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities; without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth."
If anything, this quote has confused you even more. To simply explain it, existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. We can understand that humans should take all responsibility for our own actions.
Existentialism focuses on personal responsibility. Every one is free to do as they choose but we must take responsibility for our actions. As the photo bellow demonstrates, all of our actions are man made. No one can tell us what to do , only we have the power. Humans are free in that sense. However, we must take responsibility for our actions.
Let's go back in time and remeber what it was like to have recess. It was our choice to play with the skipping rope even if someone else was already using it. We would walk over and take the rope from the other children, expressing our freedom to do what we please. When the teacher on guard notices us hurting the other children's feeling, we would be forced to stand with our noses agaisnt the wall for the rest of recess time. This is a consequence we must accept.
This is existentialism.
