Pronounced at the Sorbonne (well known
university in Paris) in 1946, two years after Being and
Nothingness (his theory of ontology theory) being
published, the lecture aims to remove misunderstandings and
criticisms directed to this book, especially marxists and catholics
ones.
The thesis of the conference is : my
philosophy
is a humanist philosophy, which places human freedom above all.
In summary: “existence precedes essence.”
The thesis of the conference is : my
philosophy
is a humanist philosophy, which places human freedom above all.
In summary: “existence precedes essence.”
Critics of Sartrean existentialism:
Marxist criticism:
For Marxists,
existentialism is a philosophy of failure, inactive. A bourgeois and
contemplative philosophy. But also a individualistic philosophy.
But according to Sartre, his philosophy is based on action.
On the individualistic
criticism, Sartre
has difficulty to argue. He will do that later in the Critique of the
Dialectical Reason, where he attempts to reconcile the collective
logic and the individual approach (concept of praxis).
Catholic critics on the existentialism
If Sartre undertakes
the atheism of his thought, he does not concede that his philosophy
is nihilistic (no values). According to him, man is the creator of
his own values (as opposed to the spirit of seriousness).
For Sartre, the idea of a
Christian existentialism (Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Pascal) is
inconsistent: if God exists, then the existence of man is no longer
contingent : the essence precedes existence, which is incompatible
with human freedom.
Sartre and the existence:
Ek-sistere, for Sartre,
means to project oneself outside. Man exists in that he is nothing
definite, he becomes what he has decided to be. The notion of human
nature is absurd, since it gives the man an essence which man can not
tear himself away (only the objects have a nature, a specific
function)
Sartre and Freedom:
“Man is condemned to
be free”
This sentence is ehical
and metaphysical at the same time : If human freedom is absolute,
the subject is still involved in a situation (= facticity of being
so). But it is man who gives meaning to the situation. Thus a
situation is intolerable in itself, because it becomes a project of
revolt gave him that.
“We have never been more free than under the
Occupation.” A tragic situation makes it more urgent action. The
world is never the mirror of my freedom.
Freedom is seen as a power
of annihilation, as exceeding the given (man is a “for-itself”).
“Being free to be
condemned, it means you can not find my limits freedom of others than
herself.” Not choosing is a choice (choosing not to choose). The
only limit to my freedom is my death, which transformed my life in
essence, be in destiny.
Man lives yet poorly this
situation of total freedom. He invents subterfuges, including bad
faith to escape his freedom. Bad faith is to pretend that one is not
free, it is something to dream. Consciousness, Sartre tells us,
always trying to coincide with itself, to be completed, to be
“in-itself”
Man makes his facticity
excuse to get in-itself. Sartre distinguishes 6 types of facticity:
– Being born in a society
and a given time
– Having a body
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