&quot;<p>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&#x27;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: &quot;man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards.&quot;<p>&quot;<p>Disclaimer: just pulled from wikipedia.