The Categories of Our Existence (Paperback)

The book takes as its point of departure Jean-Paul Sartre's notion that "Existence precedes Essence." By this expression Sartre meant that the human person first exists (is thrown into existence) then defines his or herself, i.e.; makes his or her essence, through the choices that he or she makes through life. As it were, Sartre denies the existence of a pre-defined or definable human nature to which all human beings can lay claim. My essay wants to assert precisely that not only is there a human nature, but that it would be impossible to have a coherent perception of the human person without admitting one.