If the motives behind religion are looked at objectively, there is one clear purpose: the establishment and enforcement of moral standards. As communities became more advanced, there developed a need for a more structured moral code. Thus, new religions developed which appeased these needs. As an atheist, Sartre argues the idea that moral standards can—and do—exist without a god; they exist within humanity through trial and error. Within “Existentialism is a Humanism”, Sartre defends atheistic existentialism by showing the true humanity within the philosophy through a few principles: responsibility, anguish, forlornness, and despair. To begin with, the most basic principal behind existentialism is that humans do not have an essence, only …show more content…
Every choice which is made not only makes a statement about oneself, but about all of humankind. As creatures of freedom, every action is a result of a choice, so anxiety is unavoidable. Before one acts, he thinks to himself, ‘Is this what other people would do?’ because there is a social pressure for a sense of belongingness. This social anxiety is what Sartre describes as anguish, because when making decisions we not only think of ourselves, but the rest of humanity. While this is the case, Sartre admits that there are people who do act poorly, and do not feel this anguish. The only reason they don’t feel this anguish, though, is because they are fleeing from it through “self-deception”. The fact that they must lie to themselves proves the existence of the anguish, because they are choosing to ignore it. The third principle behind existentialism is forlornness. Forlornness comes from the idea that God does not exist, and therefore people have nothing to hold onto. God, as the perfect being, was what people strove to be like. God was the ideal. If there is no god, then there is no ideal. For many, religion doubled as an enforcer of morality. Because God says not to kill, people don’t kill. But if God never said not to kill, there is no moral reason not