Jean-Paul Sartre Alexis Peña Period 1

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

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

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

Beliefs on Being and 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 Example: we act different around different people or we are aware of our beliefs when someone else’s is presented to us.

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

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.

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

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.”

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, it is a matter of choice.”

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.