Existentialism AND Jean-Paul Sartre

Existentialism Came out of the sense of despair after the Great Depression and WWII. Analysis how humans exist in the world. –Focus on individual’s actions, responsibilities, and thoughts, and the meaning of life. Affected literature, film, and philosophy. Affected literature, film, and philosophy.

The view that people have free will and are responsible for their own behavior—but our existence is lonely in a universe that seems to care little for what is best in us. Giacometti Existential Principles

Four Main Ideas We have no predetermined nature or essence that controls what we are, what we do, or what is valuable for us. We are free to act independently of outside influences. We create our own human nature through these free choices. We create our values through these choices.

Existentialism- What it is Human free will Human nature is chosen through life choices A person is best when struggling against their individual nature, fighting for life Decisions are not without stress and consequences There are things that are not rational Personal responsibility and discipline is crucial Society is unnatural and its traditional religious and secular rules are arbitrary Worldly desire is futile

Existentialism- What it isn’t wealth, pleasure, or honor make the good life social values and structure control the individual accept what is and that is enough in life science can and will make everything better people are basically good but ruined by society or external forces “I want my way, now!” or “It is not my fault!” mentality

Jean Paul Sartre ( ) Born in Paris. Father died and mother remarried a German professor who introduced Jean Paul to classical literature. Frequently bullied in school. Became interested in philosophy as a teenager, received a doctorate in philosophy.

Drafted into the army, where he served as a meteorologist in WWII. Captured by Germans in 1940 and was a POW for nine months, during which time he wrote his first play. Released from prison due to poor health. Involved in an underground socialist group, then decided to write as a form of resistance.

Was a Marxist but not a Communist. Wrote Being and Nothingness, The Flies, and No Exit, also Anti-Semite and Jew, in which he tries to explain hate. Won the Nobel Prize for Literature but declined because he did not want to be seen as taking sides in the East vs. West struggle by accepting a Western award. Went blind in 1973 and died from fluid in the lung in 1980.

No Exit In No Exit, Sartre attacked the hypocrisy, inauthenticity, and cowardice of living for others (“social self”) rather than for one’s “authentic self.” So long as we do this, we are mere “social types,” not living individuals. No Exit Summary Three characters are trapped in hell, but there are no instruments of torture or pits of fire. Rather, the setting is a living room containing only Second Empire furniture: there are no windows, no mirrors, and no signs of the outside world except for a single, locked door.

Joseph Garcin Estelle Rigault Inez Serrano The Valet - Garçon (Olga)(Peter) (Gomez) (Florence) Characters

The End

The “other” wealth, pleasure, or honor make the good life The “Look” wealth, pleasure, or honor make the good life

“angst” “Existential angst”, sometimes called dread, anxiety or anguish, is a term that is common to many existentialist thinkers. “despair” Despair, in Existentialism is generally defined as loss of hope

Garcin, Estelle, and Inez arrive in hell. They are all alone; they ‘re not especially aware of the presence of other people. (If they’re watching other people in the room, they are in any event not really regarding them as subjects BUT AS OBJECTS

No one is willing to admit that they’ve done anything wrong. “Bad faith” rules the day as the three individuals try to figure out what’s going on and what they should do without owning up to their actions or making any decisions.

Garcin trys to be hero. But he never make himself hero, just like that. He can never define himself in that way.But Inez can do it to him. She decides whether Garcin is hero or not. She passes judgment, projects her values on things — including Garcin. She sees Garcin as he really is.

Estelle recognize herself in the Other’s judgments of her — even though she may not know what they are. The fact of the matter is that Inez cannot be defined by the Other’s look in this way. She is a story that is still being told, and the attempt to judge the story before it is finished is just premature. There is nothing yet to define.

Inez thinks objectivity. Objectivity is being-in-itself. It is uncreated, it is self-identical, it is everything that is non-conscious and non-free. It is simply what it is.

Everyone breaks down and admits their crimes. They all figure out that they’re in a cafeteria-style hell, as Inez puts it, and are fated to be each other’s torturers. Garcin then chooses hell, essentially for all three of them, and resigns them all to an eternity of mental torment.

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory Actually, the paper-knife is a reference to Sartre’s philosophical treatise, Being and Nothingness. In the philosophical work, Sartre explains the fundamental existential tenet, "Existence precedes essence." Actually, the paper-knife is a reference to Sartre’s philosophical treatise, Being and Nothingness. In the philosophical work, Sartre explains the fundamental existential tenet, "Existence precedes essence."

Isolation Lies and Deceit Philosophical Viewpoints: Existentialism Freedom and Confinement SufferingPower Life, Consciousness, Existence Courage

"Hell is – other people!” All of the arguments, reasoning, debates, and questions in No Exit have led the three main characters – and the audience – toward this indisputable conclusion: hell is other people. That’s why there’s no need for hot pokers or other torture devices. That’s why hell is simply three people in a room together.

If hell is other people, then it is because we have made it so -- it is because we have allowed other people to shape our reality. Our self- actualization, in this hell, is completely dependent upon the approval of others.

Hell, therefore, is not other people -- hell is being other people. Heaven is being yourself...