Abstract

We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for

what we are - that is the fact. John-Paul Sartre. During the
existentialist movement, the French philosopher John-Paul
Sartre came up with a very particular Idea. He believed that
each individual creates his or her own destiny, that the
actions of each affect the future and that we are alone.
Ideas that as I have grown up and seen the world, are the
ones that have shape my self. I have understand that
individuals are responsible for who they become in the
future, each one is responsible for what they harvest.




Abstract. ii

Table Of Contents
p. 3
Chapter 1 4
Introduction
Aristotle
Existentialism
John-Paul Sartre
Chapter 2 5
Introduction
Background
My grandfather
Freedom
Chapter 3 6
Introduction
Future
Goals
Bibliography 7



Chapter One:
Throughout history many philosophers had shown different
interests and ideas on how human beings should think or act.
Some philosophers, such as Aristotle, believed that humans
couldnt live without the help or the assistance of others.
Other, believed that God is the reason we are alive and is

the center of the universe, while others such as Albert Camus
believed God is death. Philosophers have extensively
commented on the role of the individual and, as time has
progressed, philosophy has focused more on individuality.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher born in Stagirus in 384
BCE. He is known as one of the Big Three, which are as well
considered the fathers of philosophy. These three are
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, from which Aristotle came out
with new and different ideas. He believed that what we need,
in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in
which such goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honor and
wealth fit together as a whole (Kraut, 2010). This idea can
be analyzed in the fact that Aristotle believed that as
humans we need from others in order to be happy. The
individual will never be as happy or complete by himself; it
needs from others to make a whole.
However, during the Existentialist movement, Individualism
was taken as the main idea. This movement based on the idea
that the individual is a person responsible for determining
his or her own development through acts of the will. This
movement was born in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s, and its
considered to be more of a literary or cultural movement,
than philosophical. Existentialists believed that humans
couldnt be fully understood through sciences and psychology.
They said they are divided into a mind and body, and
aspects such as such as intention, blame, responsibility,
character, duty, virtue, etc., are what really shape them.
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010)
The most important existentialist representative is the
French philosopher, John-Paul Sartre, who came up with a very
particular thought. He believed in the responsibility that
each individual has for its own destiny, and how each one is
alone in this world. The first part of his professional life
focused on the freedom of the existential individual (you can
always make something out of); (Flynn, 2011) Sartres first
approaches focused, as it is mentioned, in the freedom of the
individual. This shows how he started by studying how humans
are free, and from this root he understood that if we have

the right of freedom, we have as well the right to force our
own destiny.




Chapter Two:
When we are born, we come into a completely unknown scenario
that seems to be most extraneous, but as we grow up, that
immense stage that once seemed to have no limit, starts
getting shorter and shorter, making us believe we can conquer
it. However, not everyone comes to this world in a beautiful
scenario; each is born into a stage they cannot choose; yet
they are the ones who decide which type of play they are
going to perform in the future.
Eight years ago, I moved to this country afraid of the
unknown but with an incredible expectation for something new.
Today, standing in front of an empty shelf of toys took me
back those eight years. Little by little, that shelf was not
full of toys anymore, but full of dreams; full of new
adventures never before imagined, that had me as the hero.
The shelf of toys that once provided an escape became my
vault full of challenges and missions that have now been
defeated. As I moved to a new country, a new school, to a new
life, I understood the most important lesson of my life. I
was the only one responsible for whom I will be in the coming
years. Dreams that once seemed impossible were now closer.
Today, after eight years, standing in front of what once was
my world of fantasies, I understood one thing: Life is an
adventure, an adventure that we build as we pursue our
dreams, no matter where we are or where we go. My new home
taught me that there are no frontiers if you dream, that
there are no limitations as a shelf of toys, you are your own
hero.
As my grandfather used to say, If tomorrow you become
someone in this world, its because of you. But if tomorrow

you become no one in this world, its because of you too. He
had the opportunity to study only through 5
th
grade, but
through hard work, he was able to give birth to his own
business and each day make it more proficient. He has been an
example for me all these years, the perfect example to
understand that there are no limitations for anyone who
decides to be someone, that no matter how hard it may seem,
anything is possible if you make the right decisions.
I realized that studying and being responsible since the
beginning will start to draw a piece that it will end with a
beautiful work of art. As Sartre believed, our actions define
our future. As him, I started by understanding the meaning of
freedom, what it really is. Being alone I started to
experience it by given the choice of what to do with it, and
after looking at all my surroundings, close people who
succeed and who failed, gave that freedom the right
interpretation and practice. Today, society considers me an
adult, that same society that helps me understand what this
idea of freedom really means. Since I have experience in a
good way what Sartre once said, Freedom is what you do with
what's been done to you. I chose to do with that freedom a
life of success as seen it in my family, and from no on will
always be remembered my grandfather saying, If tomorrow you
become someone in this world, its because of you. But if
tomorrow you become no one in this world, its because of you
too.

Chapter Three:
The future is a close book of mysteries that we have to read
page by page as the days pass. As humans, we tend to find out
what our future is and what is going to happen to us, but we
never stop to realize that there is no future. That the close
book of mysteries havent been written, we are the ones
responsible for filling each page, and that is why they never
find something written when they try to open it ahead. A
close book of mysteries that only the individual that owns
it, can write on it.

All these years, I have notice that being responsible and
taking care of my own things has made me the person that Im
today. I have notice, as well, that people who never took
responsibility of them fell into a lazy live with no
possibilities of a proficient future. Now, as Sartre used to
say, Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
The school and the university teach us everything about live,
about the new advances we have approach, but it never teach
us how to apply them in our own personal life. Everyone is
different and everyone decides what they do with what it has
been taught to them and the facilities they are provided.
Each individual is free to do with their lives whatever they
feel it would make them happy. Each individual is able to
make of them a successful guy, or an indigent.
I have decided to apply me as the only responsible source of
what happens in the future. I understood that through
applying this, the future would probably come as expected. If
all these years everything reached the expected result, the
future can continue the same way if nothing changes, and
instead there is more of me into it. Economical
responsibility would rely in the decisions taken from now on,
decisions that if are taken by me would be proficient,
because in this world you never know where and when there is
someone looking after you to see how it can let you down.
What a better example I have from my own family to prove that
results are not coming to you from heaven, if you dont wake
up and look for them nothing will happen. God will help you,
only if you help yourself.





Bibliography:


Crowell, S. (2010). Existentialism. Retrieved on January 20,
2014 from:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/
Flynn, T. (2011). John-Paul Sartre. Retrieved on January 8,
2014 from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sartre/
John-Paul Sartre Quotes. (2001). BrainyQuote. Retrieved on
January 20, 2014 from:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jeanpaul_sar
tre.html
Kraut, R. (2010). Aristotles Ethics. Retrieved on January 8,
2014 from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-
ethics/