Sartre's 1945 lecture (later published as essay) defending existentialism against its critics — arguing that 'existence precedes essence' is not a doctrine of despair but of responsibility, and that the freedom to define oneself is a burden that constitutes human dignity.
Provides the most accessible statement of Sartre's existentialism — existence precedes essence means we have no fixed nature, that we define ourselves through our choices, and that this radical freedom makes us entirely responsible for what we are — making existentialism a philosophy of human dignity rather than nihilism.
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