Jean Paul Sartre and the concept of determinism

Abstract

Existentialism lays stress on the existence of humans and Sartre believes that human existence is the result of chance or accident. There is no meaning or purpose of our lives other than what our freedom creates since existence manifests itself in the choice of actions, anxiety and freedom of the will. In this way, the responsibility of building one’s future is in one’s hands, but the future is uncertain and so has no escape from anxiety and fear. Sartre says that existentialism does not aim at plunging man into
despair,; but rather its final goal is to prepare man through anguish,  abandonment and despair for a genuine life. Existentialism is basically concerned with the human condition as a complete form of choice. The fundamental issue therefore, is an authentic meaning of human life. But our argument is that there are various elements that determine the actions of man contrary to Sartre view that man is condemned to be free. Such elements include among others; psychological factors, aggressive drives, instinctive drives, environmental factors, historical factor etc. This position establishes that existentialism goes beyond the limit of chance and uncertainty as emphasized by Sartre.