ELI5: Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre thought that in everyday life, we are all totally free to choose who we want to be, but this freedom also means we're completely responsible for those choices.

Imagine you're at a playground. You have lots of options: you can swing, slide, play in the sand, or just sit and watch. Sartre believed life is like that playground. We aren't born with a set path. We get to decide what to do.

Here's how Sartre's ideas apply to your everyday life:

• Freedom: You get to choose what you wear, what you eat, who you play with, and what you think about. No one makes you do these things (most of the time!). This freedom is existentialism in action. Sartre was a famous existentialist philosopher.

• Responsibility: Because you choose, you're responsible for the results. If you choose to be mean to someone, you're responsible for their sadness. If you choose to practice the piano, you're responsible for becoming a better player.

• Bad Faith: Sometimes, people try to avoid responsibility. For example, a kid might say, "My mom made me eat all my vegetables," even though they could have chosen not to. Sartre called this "bad faith" – lying to yourself about your freedom.

• Being and Nothingness: Sartre talked about "being" (what things are, like a rock is a rock) and "nothingness" (our ability to imagine things differently). You, unlike a rock, can imagine yourself being anything! A doctor, a firefighter, a dancer! This "nothingness" is our freedom to create ourselves.