In this quote Sartre reveals the main ideas of the existentialism movement. According to the philosopher, a person has influence on what he or she will be in the future. This means that an individual is responsible for creating his own inner world. Existentialists believe that nurture is more important than nature for the personal development. Furthermore, existence comes before essence. A person should define essence by him or herself. Also, Sartre states that life is hard and a person would encounter pain and constant struggling with many obstacles. However, it is the only way of defining a person and his or her virtues. I totally agree that hurdles and pain can help an individual to reveal his or her strengths and weaknesses. The overcome obstacles carve a person’s nature and temper.
The philosophy of existentialism is based on several features. First of all, it is the existence precedes the essence. Secondly, it is based on freedom. According to existentialists people are free from the time of their birth and bear personal responsibility for their lives. This feature relates to the choices people make in the course of their lives. As the responsibility fully lays on a person, he or she feels fear and anxiety. This feeling is also a part of the existential philosophy. The individual existence is very important for this movement. Therefore, a person can sometimes feel the alienation. The art and literature appeared to be sensitive to the philosophy of existentialism. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote his famous novel The Crime and Punishment to demonstrate the natural freedom of a person and how his character deals with absurdity of life. The alienation and absurdity are demonstrated in Camus’s works as well. As for the art objects the focus on the individual experience developed by existentialists was used by the representatives of the Art Informel (Existentialism in Modern Art). The artists rejected the normal geometry and used cerebral approach in their works (Atkins). Therefore, artists focused on their personal experience towards arts rather than used the achievements of previous generations. In his works Cezanne opposes arts to science because he was interested in subjective perceptions (Existentialism in Modern Art).
Work Cited
Existentialism in Modern Art. The Art Story. Modern Art Insight. Web. 18 July 2015. < http://www.theartstory.org/definition-existentialism.htm>
Atkins, Robert. Art Informel. The Museum of Contemporary Art. Los Angeles. Web. 18 July 2015. < http://moca.org/pc/viewArtTerm.php?id=3>
