Sartre Existentialism Analysis

If humans consider themselves to be the dominant race, the most evolved and capable of all other races, why would humans then put their hope into a mystical being without substantial physical proof? What causes humans to lead their lives centered around the idea that there is a god that will save them and give them eternal life? Sartre in his piece, “Existentialism”, lays out why god is man-made. While his argument is for his personal goal to show that man in responsible for man, he also shows how god could, can be, and is so essential to humans. Sartre’s claim is that if mankind is responsible for mankind, then there can be no god that rules mankind (1130). He states, “[if] God does not exist [then man-kind] ha[s] to face all the consequences of this [(this meaning the world as a whole, and all actions, good or evil)]” (Sartre, 1130). According to Sartre, god exists to give control and ethics to mankind. A clear set of rules is understood and followed by all, mostly in hopes of an eternal salvation. Even atheists follow the …show more content…
A set of rules that one has to follow, a clear separation between what’s “good” and what’s “evil”. To Sartre, if “God does not exist[…] all possibility of finding values in a heaven of ideas disappears along with Him; there can no longer be an a priori Good, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to [create and] think it” (1131). Or more simply, as Dostoievsky said, “[i]f God [doesn’t] exist, everything would be possible” (Sartre, 1131). The values and ethics that humans hold themselves to create societies and civilization, which are in some part centered around a specific doctrine. In a majority of the world today, that doctrine comes from Christianity and the ten commandments. Without god, there is ultimate freedom for the world — no values will be set for mankind unless mankind makes them. In Sartre’s words, “there is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom.”