Sartre

I wish I understood philosophers.

Jean Paul Sartre's essay, 'Existentialism is a Humanism' is one of the more interesting and likeable philosophers my german professor has thrown at us. (We did Kant, last week. Try saying it in a german accent)
I like Sartre, he seems pretty unpompous for a philosopher mainly because he remained as a secondary school teacher throughout his working life despite being a prolific writer. I like the idea that a genius can work under the guise of apparently being fairly ordinary. The gist of the essay is that the essence of a man is self created, life is not determined at birth or by society. Endless possibility. Existensialism "puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own shoulders".
An intimidating thought, but it makes a lot of sense.
If you wanted to tackle it: www.marxist.org