Explain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Explain - Essay Example The definition of the self using Sartre’s existentialist views is that the self is a manifestation of the person’s consciousness, which connects the past, present, and the future of a human being (Sartre 31). However, the self of today is not the self of the past, nor the self of the future, but rather as an existing self that is only alive now, and would grow to be a different one after the present has passed. Existence is necessarily viewed from a first person’s viewpoint, based on the person’s grasp of reality, and what kind of existing being a person is would be based on how he or she sees the self and connects it with the concept of reality (Gardner 3). The essence is what makes a person a human being, and because of this human essence always precedes human existence due to the freedom that man inherently has, and this kind of freedom gives humanity its essence, regardless of how time flows through their lives (Sartre 25). Not only did Sartre define the human being as both essence and existence, but also the bad faith that could possibly ruin a person’s human essence. Bad faith, negative attitudes, or self-deception is what corrupts the perception of humans in the significance of their existence, which could lead to self-doubt, anguish, pity, guilt among other negative emotions, which in turn would not affirm the person’s existence and essence, but the nothingness (Sartre 44). The prohibition or the prevention of realizing a dream, as well as the creation of limits in an infinite universe are examples of forgetting transcendence, which counters the limitless potential that Sartre defines in his existentialist views (Sartre 47). On the other hand, the rejection of a person’s existence in the present time, failing to grasp the reality, as well as realizing the negativities of a person’s transcendence are defined as forgetting facticity, which undermines the