A Few Basics
Jean Paul Sartre was born in Paris on June 21, 1905. He was a dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. nguyenvuhao@hotmail.com
Sartre entered the cole Normale Suprieure in 1924 received first place in the agrgation of philosophy in 1929. Sartre took a teaching job at a Lyce in Le Havre. There he wrote his first novel, Nausea in 1938.
In 1939 Sartre was drafted into the French army, where he served as a meteorologist. German troops captured him in 1940 in Padoux, and he spent nine months as a prisoner of war.
After the war Sartre abandoned teaching, determined to support himself by writing. He was also determined that his writing and thinking should be engag. Sartre suffered from detrimental health throughout the 1970s. He died of a lung ailment in April 15, 1980.
Marxism
Besides existentialism writings, Sartre also wrote about Marxism. Marxism-the synthesis of philosophy and political action. Any political practice or theory that is based on an interpretation of the works of Marx and Engels may be termed Marxism
Nausea
His first novel, Nausea (1938), narrates the feeling of revulsion that a young man experiences when confronted with the contingency of existence.
Basic Sartre
Objects
Objects exist and simultaneously have an essence (identity, nature) All objects have an essence: A rock is a rock Sartre called this being in itself
Basic Sartre
Human Beings "existence precedes and rules essence" Sartre calls this being for itself
As human beings we are conscious of our complete free will Human beings have existence but no essence except for what we make for ourselves
According to Sartre,
what I am (my essence) is a product of my choices & actions (my manner of existing).
Thus, since I freely create myself (my essence), I am responsible for my choices & actions & and what I have created.
Objects (things)
have no freedom, are not selfcreating, & thus have no responsibility for what they are or for how they function.
Existentialism defined
existence precedes essence in order to make a table, the artisan must first have a conception of the table not so with human beings; we come into the world existent but without a nature, without essence; we define ourselves while existing we are the sum of our experiences
Characteristics of Existentialism
reaction against rationalism existentialist Angst
German for dread a recurrent state of disquiet concerning ones life
choice
you must make choices; nothing forces you to do anything: I have to go to class today--Sartre argues you want to go to class today
Freedom
any situation in which one finds oneself is his own creation therefore, one creates his own world by supplying the meanings, the interpretations, the significance for things and events since the world is the product of my choice, I and and I alone bear responsibility for the world
Bad Faith
not a value judgment (bad vs. good) Sartres conception of self-deception the deliberate creation in oneself of the appearance of a belief which one in fact knows to be false people oftentimes lie to themselves: I am not an alcoholic, says the alcoholic determinism is really the root of bad faith
Nothingness
not exactly the type of nihilistic philosophy one finds in Nietzsche part of the argument hinges on discussions of matter and reality; can we ever actually have nothing? If we are thinking and existing, then the answer must be no. but ..
Radical Freedom?
Radical Freedom is a:
A condition of human existence: we must commit ourselves at every moment. Not characteristic of human nature.
RESPONSIBILITY. Each of us is responsible for everything we do. If we seek advice from others, we choose our advisor and have some idea of the course he or she will recommend. "I am responsible for my very desire of fleeing responsibilities."
which he REFUSED on the grounds that such honors could interfere with a writer's responsibilities to his readers.
Achievements
He refused the Legion of Honor awarded him by the government. Participated in the founding of the Rassemblement Democratique Revolutionnaire (RDR), but he later on became disaffected with the group and left it the following year. Served in the French army during World War II.
Critical interpretation
Sartres sense of freedom is, in effect, definitional. It does not entail that there are no forces on us which causally determine our choices. Thus, Sartre does not defeat determinism.
Objection to Sartre
Had I lived in a time when I did not have to make this terrible choice (e.g., join the Resistance and sacrifice my family, or acquiesce with the Nazi regime), I would not have acted as I did. Sartres response: I am not separable from the epoch in which I find myself.