In his 1946 lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism,” Jean-Paul Sartre put forth a claim about identity: existence precedes essence. Human beings, he argues, are not born with a fixed nature or predetermined purpose that later unfolds through their actions. Instead, they first exist, encounter the world, and only then begin to define themselves through what they do. This position carries the implication that each choice contributes to the formation of the self, and no appeal to a pre-given identity can justify those choices in advance.
Sartre further develops this idea through his account of radical freedom, in which he claims that individuals are “condemned to be free” — therefore, responsible for their actions in the absence of any external authority capable of prescribing their essence. To deny this responsibility by appealing to a fixed identity constitutes what he calls “bad faith,” a form of self-deception in which one treats themself as an stoic object, rather than an ongoing project.
This framework casts a light on a familiar feature of college life where there is an expectation that students will articulate their authentic selves through academic and career choices. The moment of choosing a major often appears less significant than the moment that follows when students are asked to explain that choice. What seems like a simple inquiry often carries the expectation that the answer will reveal something stable and pre-existing about who the student is.
The question “Why did you pick this?” invites a narrative in which the decision emerges as the expression of a coherent identity. Students learn to respond with accounts of long-standing interests or formative experiences, even when the actual process involves factors like uncertainty or experimentation. As Alasdair MacIntyre argues in “After Virtue,” people tend to understand their actions by situating them within a broader life narrative, which encourages them to reconstruct past decisions as part of a continuous story.
This demand for narrative coherence imposes a structure that misrepresents how identity develops. If existence precedes essence, then no hidden true self lies in wait to be discovered and expressed through the correct academic path; identity takes shape through a series of contingent decisions made under conditions of limited knowledge. A student might enroll in a course out of convenience or curiosity, only to find that it opens an unexpected door.
This account may be challenged by pointing to students who appear to possess a continuous sense of direction long before college. The aspiring doctor who has volunteered in hospitals since adolescence seems to exemplify a coherent identity that precedes choice. These cases appear to indicate that for some, decisions reflect an already formed sense of self rather than bring it into being.
Sartre’s philosophy does not deny that such continuity exists, but implies that persistence of an interest over time does not establish its origin in a fixed essence. In his book “Being and Nothingness,” he describes the self as organized through a “fundamental project,” a pattern of commitments that emerges through repeated choices rather than reflecting a pre-existing essence. The persistence of an interest over time does not establish that it originates in a fixed identity, but reflects the ongoing reaffirmation of a trajectory shaped by circumstance and decision. Even the most coherent identities remain contingent achievements rather than expressions of necessity.
Institutional practices within higher education reinforce the pressure to present such coherence as intrinsic. Things such as career fairs or internship interviews reward students who can present themselves as stable and legible subjects. Phrases such as “I’ve always been interested in…” function as informal scripts that convey commitment. These scripts smooth over discontinuities and present identity as constant across time. Students quickly recognize that success depends in part on their ability to align their choices with a recognizable story about themselves. The task extends beyond decision-making to include maintaining the story across different contexts.
This dynamic produces an inversion of Sartre’s account of selfhood. Rather than allowing choices to generate identity over time, students often feel compelled to interpret each choice as evidence of an identity that already exists. A change in direction, such as switching majors, then appears to threaten the coherence of the narrative. The practical implications of such a change may be manageable, yet the narrative disruption carries more weight.
The experience of uncertainty takes on a particular form within this framework. When authenticity is treated as the discovery of a pre-existing self, uncertainty appears as a deficit of self-knowledge. Sartre suggests that uncertainty accompanies freedom because no prior essence can determine the right choice. The absence of a fixed self does not signal a failure to look deeply enough, and instead may suggest that it reflects the condition under which human beings act.
Recognizing this tension does not eliminate the difficulty of choosing a path, but does invite a reconsideration of what those choices are taken to signify. If identity emerges through action rather than preceding it, then a major can function as a site of exploration rather than a declaration of who one has always been. Freed from the demand to narrate their decisions as expressions of a stable self, students may begin to treat those decisions as part of an ongoing process. The difficulty of choosing remains all at once, who someone is supposed to be.
Jacqueline Lee is an Opinion Intern for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at jacquhl3@uci.edu.
Edited by Rebecca Do and Riley Schnittger