The Anguish of Choice
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Philosopher Skye C Cleary revisits Jean-Paul Sartre’s landmark 1945 lecture, ‘Existentialism Is a Humanism’, delivered to a chaotic, overheated crowd in postwar Paris. The essay traces the lecture’s historical context—a city shattered by war and desperate for moral footing—and unpacks Sartre’s central claim that existence precedes essence: humans are not born with a fixed nature but must create themselves through their choices, bearing full responsibility for who they become.
Cleary explains how Sartre’s core concepts of existential anguish, abandonment, and bad faith combine into a philosophy that is simultaneously daunting and empowering. She also honestly examines the lecture’s philosophical weaknesses—particularly its troubled account of why individual freedom should constrain itself for others—and contrasts Sartre’s approach with Simone de Beauvoir’s more socially grounded ethics, which insists that freedom is always lived within concrete conditions shaped by others.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Existence Before Essence
Sartre argues humans have no predetermined nature; we define ourselves entirely through our choices, actions, and commitments over a lifetime.
Condemned to Be Free
Because no God or fixed nature dictates our path, we are inescapably free—and every action, including inaction, constitutes a choice we own entirely.
Anguish Is Unavoidable
Recognising that your choices implicitly model how all of humanity should act produces genuine anguish—one Sartre says most people simply try to hide.
Bad Faith Deceives Us
Sartre identifies two archetypes of self-deception—cowards who deny freedom and bastards who deny responsibility—both concealing their actual choices behind false necessity.
You Are What You Do
Sartre insists a person is nothing more than the sum of their actions—potential or unfulfilled talent counts for nothing; only enacted choices constitute identity.
Beauvoir Deepens the Picture
Simone de Beauvoir critiques Sartre’s thin treatment of situation, arguing that freedom is always socially embedded and that genuine freedom requires fighting for others’ conditions too.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Freedom Is Both a Gift and a Burden
Sartre’s lecture argues that humans, lacking any God-given or biologically fixed purpose, are radically free and therefore radically responsible. This is not a comfortable truth: it means there is no external authority to absolve us of our choices. Cleary shows why this insight—delivered in the rubble of postwar Europe—was simultaneously terrifying and liberating, and why it still cuts to the heart of moral life today.
Purpose
To Rehabilitate and Critically Reassess
Cleary writes to rescue Sartre’s lecture from both hero-worship and dismissal. She wants readers to take the text seriously as philosophy—explaining its historical urgency, unpacking its core arguments with care—while also naming where it stumbles. The piece is a model of scholarly rehabilitation: neither hagiography nor takedown, but a sober invitation to re-engage with a foundational text.
Structure
Historical Scene-Setting → Doctrinal Exposition → Critical Evaluation
The essay opens with a vivid narrative reconstruction of the 1945 lecture night, then pivots to a patient, concept-by-concept explanation of Sartre’s core ideas (existence precedes essence, anguish, abandonment, bad faith, despair). It closes with a two-part critical section: philosophical weaknesses in Sartre’s own argument, and Beauvoir’s corrective. The structure mirrors the lecture’s own movement from personal anecdote to universal claim.
Tone
Scholarly, Engaged & Candid
Cleary writes with the precision of an academic philosopher and the warmth of someone who genuinely believes the ideas matter. She is admiring but not uncritical—cheerfully noting where Sartre’s argument is “sketchy” or “not philosophically watertight”—and treats the reader as a capable intellectual partner rather than a passive recipient of received wisdom.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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The state of being famous for something negative or controversial; a kind of unwanted or double-edged public recognition.
“Sartre worried that the media was distorting his ideas and fuelling his notoriety.”
Deliberately controversial or argumentative in nature; designed to strongly attack or defend a particular position or idea.
“Sartre’s lecture was polemical, globally resonant and it’s worth revisiting.”
Latin for “from what comes before”; knowledge or values that exist independently of experience, derived from reason or God rather than observation.
“There are no a priori values, no ready-made purpose, no external authority to tell us what to do.”
The act of concealing or disguising one’s true feelings, intentions, or nature; a form of deliberate deception through false appearances.
“Bad faith is obviously a lie because it is a dissimulation of man’s full freedom of commitment.”
Excessively reverent or uncritical biography or commentary; writing that idealises its subject without acknowledging their flaws or failures.
“The piece is a model of scholarly rehabilitation: neither hagiography nor takedown.”
Kant’s supreme moral principle: act only according to rules you could will to become universal laws governing everyone’s behaviour without contradiction.
“Sartre is smuggling in Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative (act only as you’d be willing for everyone to act).”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1Sartre was enthusiastic about publishing ‘Existentialism Is a Humanism’ and felt the written version accurately captured his complete philosophy.
2According to Sartre, what does “existence precedes essence” mean for human beings?
3Which sentence best captures Sartre’s argument for why even God’s existence would not remove the burden of human choice?
4Evaluate whether each of the following statements accurately reflects the article’s content.
Sartre’s concept of “despair” is a positive, action-enabling state rather than a sign of hopelessness.
Sartre argues that both Maggie Tulliver and La Sanseverina are morally equivalent because they share the same values.
Cleary argues that Beauvoir’s ethics require the commitment to one’s own freedom to extend to fighting for others’ freedom as well.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5Based on Cleary’s analysis of Sartre’s philosophical weaknesses, what can we infer is the deepest unresolved problem in his lecture?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The phrase captures a paradox: we did not choose to exist, yet we cannot escape choosing how to live. “Condemned” signals that freedom is not a gift but an inescapable burden—we are thrown into existence without a manual. Every action, including refusing to decide, is itself a decision. Sartre sees this not as cause for despair but as the foundation of genuine human dignity and responsibility.
The student torn between joining the Resistance and caring for his mother found that no ethical system resolved his dilemma: Christian love applies to both neighbours, Kantian duty splits equally between them. Sartre argues that even choosing an adviser is itself a form of commitment. Moral frameworks give principles, but the individual must still decide how those principles apply—which means the weight of choice always falls back on the person making it.
Where Sartre treats freedom as an abstract, near-universal condition, Beauvoir insists it is always situated—shaped by poverty, oppression, and education. For her, willing your own freedom logically commits you to fighting for the social conditions that make others’ freedom possible. This grounds the duty to others far more securely than Sartre’s smuggled Kantian move, and acknowledges that structural inequality narrows the choices available to many people.
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This article is rated Advanced. It employs sophisticated philosophical vocabulary (a priori, intersubjectivity, categorical imperative, dissimulation), requires familiarity with continental philosophy, and demands nuanced inference to follow Cleary’s layered critique of Sartre. Readers comfortable with academic essays and abstract argumentation will find it accessible; those newer to philosophy may benefit from the vocabulary section before reading.
Aeon is a digital magazine dedicated to ideas across philosophy, science, psychology, and culture. It commissions essays exclusively from working academics and subject-matter experts, maintaining a high standard of intellectual rigour while aiming for general readability. Its model—expert-authored, freely accessible, long-form—makes it one of the most respected venues for serious public philosophy and an excellent source for CAT, GRE, and GMAT reading practice.
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