system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What did Sartre mean by "man is a useless passion"?
gpt
'Useless' in that according to Sartre there is no substantive telos for man (i.e. a transcendent direction)

This aligns with his famous central claim: existence precedes essence. In order that there would be a 'use' for man, he would have to have a *telos* which precedes his existence.

The only way for there to be being is if there is already existence. Man would have to impose it upon himself recursively (and with relation) -- i.e. the being sets himself as a lack so that there might be being.

Compare this with the Platonic ideal -- where all observed entities, and that goes for man as well, have a *telos* which copies its ideal (an essence which is beyond relation - beyond the observed object's existence).