Jean-Paul Sartre

1. Jean-Paul Sartre Alexis Peña Period 1

2. Biography • 1905-1980 • Philosopher, playwright, author • Studied phenomenology • Worked under Husserl • Turned down Nobel Peace Prize • His lifelong companion was Simone de Beauvoir • Wrote his views in his books but presented them in his plays so everyone could understand • Wrote 6 novels, 8 plays, 7 philosophical treaties, and 6 nonfiction books

3. Beliefs on Being and Nothingness • Humans are not created by a divine being and are completely alone • Two types of being: being-in-itself and being-for itself • Being-in-itself: • Unconscious being • Concrete, lacks ability to change, and is unaware of itself

4. Beliefs on Being and Nothingness • Being-for-itself (humans) • A being conscious of its own consciousness but also incomplete • Lacks predetermined essence and must create itself from nothingness • Able to project themselves in the future or reassess their past • Able to recognize nothingness • Able to picture things that have not happened and things yet to be done, which reveals a world of possibilities where anything can happen

5. Beliefs on Being and Nothingness • Nothingness • Defining characteristic of the for-itself • Also refers to things that are missing • Knowing is its own form of being • As human beings, we are aware of ourselves only when another is watching us, which robs us of our freedom and causes us to falsely identify as a being-in-itself

6. Beliefs on Freedom • Humans have complete and unlimited freedom and are not the result of the genetics or outside influences but who we choose to be or what we choose to do. • Humans have three responses to this freedom • Anguish over the heavy responsibility • Despair that no matter what you do it’s never enough • Abandonment since there is no one you can rely on but yourself

7. Beliefs on Freedom • The heavy responsibility also can lead to bad faith • Being inauthentic (not true to yourself) • Not accepting responsibility and make excuses for being wrong • Ex. Blame someone else or say an authority figure told you to do so even though you CHOSE to do it.

8. Other Beliefs • Emotion is a spontaneous activity of the consciousness projected into reality • Rejected Kant’s concept of noumenon • Believed that the appearance of a phenomenon is pure and absolute (appearance is the only reality) • The world can be seen as an infinite series of finite appearances

9. Quotes • “Man is condemned to be free because once he is thrown into the world he is responsible for everything he does.” • “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” • “That God does not exist I cannot deny. That my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget.” • Before you come alive, life is nothing; it’s up to you to give it a meaning and value is nothing else but the meaning you choose.”

10. Quotes • “To believe is to know you believe and to know you believe is not to believe.” • “When we say that man is responsible for himself we do not only mean he is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men.” • “I deserve it because I can always get out of it by suicide or by desertion. Any way you look at it, itis a matter of choice.”

11. Quick Study for Quiz • Sartre emphasized that his philosophy was not atheistic in a sense that he tried to disprove the existence of a god, but that humans needed to act if they wanted change and to stop relying on a higher power. • “Hell is other people” because it causes us to be inauthentic and people, in a sense, torture each other. • Sartre did not believe people had a predetermined destiny and that no higher power was involved in decisions.