Sartre tells us we are condemned to be free. But what does it mean to choose authentically when the self doing the choosing is itself a work in progress?
The existentialist tradition places freedom at its centre — and with it, a kind of vertigo. There is no fixed human nature to appeal to, no cosmic blueprint that tells us who we ought to be. We are thrown into existence and must make something of it.
“Existence precedes essence.” — Sartre
This is both liberating and terrifying. Liberating because no authority — biological, social, divine — can finally determine us. Terrifying because we cannot escape the burden of responsibility that comes with this freedom.
Authenticity, in the Sartrean sense, is not about being true to some inner self. It is about acknowledging the full weight of our situation: that we choose, that our choices matter, and that we cannot hide behind necessity.
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