Existence Precedes Essence?

Sartre, Kabbalah, and the Quarrel Between Ancients and Moderns

“Existence precedes essence,” writes Sartre. Here are three ways to parse this maxim:

1) Essentialism is false. Human beings (existence) decide on the nature of things (essence). Or in self-help speak, “Life is what you make of it.”

2) Essentialism is derivative. You can’t ask about the essence of things unless you care about things, unless you are orient…