Claim

Existence precedes essence

Overview

The proposition that existence precedes essence (French: l'existence précède l'essence) is a central claim of existentialism, which reverses the traditional philosophical view that the essence (the nature) of a thing is more fundamental and immutable than its existence (the mere fact of its being). To existentialists, human beings—through their consciousness—create their own values and determine a meaning for their life because the human being does not possess any inherent identity or value. That identity or value must be created by the individual. By posing the acts that constitute them, they make their existence more significant.

The idea originates from a speech by F. W. J. Schelling delivered in December 1841. Søren Kierkegaard was present at this occasion and the idea can be found in Kierkegaard's works in the 19th century, but was explicitly formulated by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in the 20th century. The three-word formula originated in his 1945 lecture "Existentialism Is a Humanism", though antecedent notions can be found in Heidegger's Being and Time.

As a result, for Sartre, "existence precedes essence" not only defines and determines his own existential thinking or interpretation of existentialism, but also any thinking or philosophising that declares itself to be existential. Despite Sartre's later efforts to distance himself and his thinking from this remark and its consequences, it has become the most quoted, repeated, and cited description of existentialism and any non-theistic existential thought.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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The essence of love probably (for I speak as does a blind man about colors), probably lies in its bliss; which is, in other words, that the cessation of love brings death to the lover. This I comprehend very well as in the nature of a hypothesis correlating life and death. But, if love is to be merely by way of hypothesis, why, then lovers lay themselves open to ridicule through their actually falling in love. If…
Søren Kierkegaard, Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard
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The endeavor after self-preservation is the essence itself of a thing. If, therefore, any virtue could be conceived prior to this of self-preservation, the essence itself of the thing would be conceived as prior to itself, which (as is self-evident) is absurd. The endeavor after self-preservation is the primary and only foundation of virtue. For prior to this principle no other can be conceived, and without it no…
Benedictus de Spinoza, The Philosophy of Spinoza
Close in meaning to Existence precedes essence; the term itself is not named.
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The existence of which we are most assured and which we know best is unquestionably our own, for of every other object we have notions which may be considered external and superficial, whereas, of ourselves, our perception is internal and profound. What, then, do we find? In this privileged case, what is the precise meaning of the word "exist"? Let us recall here briefly the conclusions of an earlier work. I find…
Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution
Close in meaning to Existence precedes essence; the term itself is not named.
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Existence precedes essence

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