Sartre's Existentialism
Racheal Dolezal and Freedom of Identity Sartre believes that in order for anything to have a function, its existence must come prior. For example, the function of a knife, which is to stab and cut, did not come before the existence of the knife. The saying “existence precedes essence” is Sartre’s answer for the objection saying that Existentialism is pessimism. Sartre says no, existence is not pessimistic but instead it is optimistic. An individual does have action and choice to how they want to live their life and that there can be meaning. Existence can be described as biological, while essence can be known as a social form that an individual picks up through interaction. Even though an individual cannot choose who they are biological
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She was president of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People of the chapter in Spokane, Washington. She recently came under fire in an interview when asked a question about her parents who are both white but she denied to answer the question. According to Sartre’s statement that a human is able to choose their own essence, then why would Racheal Dolezal identifying as an African American be badly viewed? She has the “freedom” to do so, but despite that freedom society has labeled it as wrong. How is it any different from Bruce Jenner being a transgender? He is biologically a male but he identifies as a female. Society accepts Bruce and even views him as a role model and leader for doing essentially the same thing as Racheal Dolezal. Yes, biologically Racheal Dolezal is a Caucasian woman, but on the social side, she grew up having a liking for the African American culture and picked it up as her own. That is how she felt on the inside, just like how Bruce Jenner felt like a woman on the inside. For example, say that an African American boy is adopted as an infant by a white family and is totally isolated from any another race for 18 years. The boy will clearly look African American on the outside but he would have picked up the “white culture” that he has been around for years. If he was placed into an African American culture he would feel out of place due to the fact that he does not identify with that
She was president of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People of the chapter in Spokane, Washington. She recently came under fire in an interview when asked a question about her parents who are both white but she denied to answer the question. According to Sartre’s statement that a human is able to choose their own essence, then why would Racheal Dolezal identifying as an African American be badly viewed? She has the “freedom” to do so, but despite that freedom society has labeled it as wrong. How is it any different from Bruce Jenner being a transgender? He is biologically a male but he identifies as a female. Society accepts Bruce and even views him as a role model and leader for doing essentially the same thing as Racheal Dolezal. Yes, biologically Racheal Dolezal is a Caucasian woman, but on the social side, she grew up having a liking for the African American culture and picked it up as her own. That is how she felt on the inside, just like how Bruce Jenner felt like a woman on the inside. For example, say that an African American boy is adopted as an infant by a white family and is totally isolated from any another race for 18 years. The boy will clearly look African American on the outside but he would have picked up the “white culture” that he has been around for years. If he was placed into an African American culture he would feel out of place due to the fact that he does not identify with that