" To claim that existence precedes essence is to assert that there is no such predetermined essence to be found in humans, and that an individual's essence is

" To claim that existence precedes essence is to assert that there is no such predetermined essence to be found in humans, and that an individual's essence is defined by him or her through how he or she creates and lives his or her life. As Sartre puts it in his Existentialism is a Humanism: "man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards." " Disclaimer: just pulled from wikipedia.