Editing Being and Nothingness (section)

=== Descartes ===
Sartre's existentialism shares its philosophical starting point with [[René Descartes]]: The first thing we can be aware of is our existence, even when doubting everything else ([[Cogito ergo sum]]). In ''[[Nausea (novel)|Nausea]]'', the main character's feeling of dizziness towards his own existence is induced by things, not thinking. This dizziness occurs "in the face of one's freedom and responsibility for giving a meaning to reality".<ref>Catalano, pp. 3-4</ref> As an important break with Descartes, Sartre rejects the ''primacy of knowledge'' (a rejection summed up in the phrase "[[Existence precedes essence]]") and offers a different [[conception of knowledge]] and consciousness.