“The reason why I refuse to take existentialism as just another French fashion, or historical curiosity, is that I think it has something very important to offer us for the new century. I’m afraid we’re losing the real virtues of living life passionately, in the sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life. Existentialism is often discussed as if it’s a philosophy of despair, but I think the truth is just the opposite. Sartre once interviewed said he never really felt a day of despair in his life. The one thing that comes out from reading these guys is not a sense of anguish about life, so much as a real kind of exuberance, of feeling on top of it. It’s like, your life is yours to create.
I’ve read the post-modernists with some interest, even admiration. But, when I read them I always have this awful, nagging feeling that something absolutely essential is being left out. The more that you talk about a person as a social construction, or as a confluence of forces, or as fragmented or marginalized, what you do is you open up a whole new world of excuses. When Sartre talks about responsibility, he’s not talking about something abstract. He’s not talking about the kind of self or soul that theologians would argue about. It’s something very concrete. It’s you and me talking, making decisions, doing things and taking the consequences.
It might be true that there are 6 billion people in the world and counting. Nevertheless, what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference first of all in material terms. It makes a difference to other people. And, it sets an example. In short, I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as a victim of various forces. It’s always our decision who we are.”