Sartre

Resources:

Bjorn's Guide to Sartre
Christopher Wyatt's Sartre Page

Jones, "Chapter 10: Sartre"

Notes:

Contrasts with Heidegger, Kierkegaard:

• no romantic revelation of Being,
• less emphasis on being-towards-death, more on problem of living a life under existential conditions.
• Like Kirkegaard, focus is on personal action.
• Disagrees with K's "leap of faith" as solution to existential problem

Selections from Nausea illustrative of various ideas:

• the fresh encounter with reality as a kind of epoche: (361, 362)
• experience of the constructed character of self in Roquentin's biography of the Marquish of Rollebon and in self reflection: (363-4) "This self is something he has fashioned out of reports, other people's outside views of him, like his outside views of Rollebon. Stripping away all these interpretations, he is left only with fleeting, fugitive consciousness-of" (364)
• Authenticity as a category of becoming, rather than being. Roquentin as "cheese-knife murder" (368)
  
  Solution of this problem may lie in thinking of authenticity as a quality of one's life conceived as a work, as in Nietzsche, a work of art.
  

Consciousness and Consciousness of Self

en soi / pour soi

Reflected vs. Unreflected Consciousness: Unlike the traditional distinction between consciousness of objects and consciousness of self, Sartre's distinction is between consciousness which "positions" the self in relation to some content and consciousness which presents some content. Crucially, unreflected consciousness does not involve a lack of awareness of the content as a product of consciousness, it just does not represent that content as posited by the self's consciousness.

The Ego is Transcendent not Transcendental

Freedom and Action

Consider the reversal of the problem of determinism in Jones's example at 384.

Since we are social beings, choice involves "choosing for all mankind" (385)

(Partial) Outline of Existentialism is a Humanism, from anonymous source

Existentialism is a Humanism

I. Objections to Existentialism

II. Definition of Existentialism

A. Central Ideas

1. Existence Precedes Essence

Atheistic existentialism is consistent with the belief that there is NO PRE-EXISTING CONCEPT OF MAN (either outside him or inside him).

There is no "human nature" as such...

Human beings are thrown into a world: we DEFINE OURSELVES through our ACTIONS AND CHOICES. In this sense, we "exist" first and then become who we are (our "essence"):

Thus, for Human Beings as radically free, EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE.

2. We must begin with the Subjective

Sartre understands the 'subjectivism' of the subject on two levels:

A. The freedom of the individual subject

This relates to our individual freedom ("that each must choose himself")

B. The realization that we cannot pass beyond 'human subjectivity'

This refers to something like Nietzsche's demand for a REVALUATION OF ALL VALUES.

For Sartre, this "collapse of all values into man" brings into existence the ethical dimension of our fundamental choices: Our radical freedom becomes bound to a radical responsibility.

B. Key Terms

The existentialist's understanding of "subjectivity" -- based on both a radical sense of freedom and the collapse of all values into the human sphere -- is the context for understanding the following terms:

1. Anguish

While I "choose for all mankind," I am aware that I am the ultimate ground for my choice. That is, I am radically responsible at the same time that I am aware of the total absence of any (objective) justification for my choice/action.

I carry out my choices in "the mood of anguish..."

2. Abandonment

One of the consequences of the Death of God is that we have been "left to ourselves." There is no longer any "external command" or "inner law" to guide us in our choices/actions.

Abandoned in the complexity and ambiguity of human situations, we are forced to "invent" our solutions. As with Sartre's example of the student, we accomplish this ultimately through our anguished choices.

3. Despair

By "despair" Sartre means, as in the example of the student, that it is not at all clear how things will "work out" -- that in the future he may come to view his decision in a different way, etc.

This uncertainly with regard to the future -- an uncertainly guaranteed by our state of abandonment -- is the condition of our state of despair. Our responsible choices occur within a world void of ulterior design and in this sense we must have the courage to conquer ourselves and act "without hope" (that, for instance, God knows the outcome, etc.).

III. Overcoming the Objections

IV. Definition of Humanism

A. Classical Humanism

B. Existentialist Humanism

V. Conclusion: Existentialism is a Humanism

©1997 by Mark Alfino, Department of Philosophy, Gonzaga University.