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I think it was Sartre who said something along the lines of 'for an object, essence precedes existence; for man existence precedes essence'. You can have a blueprint, a plan, (or, for Plato, a 'form') of an object and know what its purpose is before it even exists. Man, on the other hand, comes into the world and then creates/defines/produces himself through his actions.
I didn't know Marx had said this. It's an interesting add-on that he theorizes that man produces himself as a result of his environment. You can see where his argument is going - control the environment and you control the man. Neat.
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