Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 22

Beschreibung

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Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre is a philosophical essay resulting from the transcription of one of his lectures, in which he simplifies his philosophical doctrine to make it available to a broader audience, and in which he defends his philosophy from the criticisms that were voiced about it. 

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This practical and insightful reading guide includes:
• A summary
• An Explanation of the context
• An analysis
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

Jean-Paul Sartre

French philosopher & writer

Born in Paris in 1905Died there in 1980Notable works:Nausea (1938), a novelNo Exit (1944), a playExistentialism is a Humanism (1946), a philosophical essay

Jean Paul Sartre is a French writer and philosopher who was born in 1905 in Paris and died in 1980. Both incensed and dismissed for his existentialist philosophy, he wrote several essays such as Being and Nothingness (1943) or Existentialism is a Humanism (1946). He also wrote numerous literary texts in which he strongly illustrates his philosophy and his definition of literature: Nausea, a novel published in 1943, The Flies, a play published in 1943, or No Exit, published in 1944. In 1964, he declined the Nobel Prize for literature and publishes The Words, an autobiographical retelling of his youth. Known also for being the companion of Simone de Beauvoir (French writer, 1908-1986), Sartre is remembered as much for his activity as a writer as for his extreme left political engagement.

Existentialism is a Humanism

Understanding Sartre’s existentialism

Genre: essayReference edition: Sartre, J.-P. (2016) Existentialism is a Humanism. [Online]. Trans. Kaufman, W. [Accessed 7 January 2016]. Available from: <http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/complexity/people/students/dtc/students2011/maitland/philosophy/sartre-eih.pdf>First edition: 1946Themes: philosophy, freedom, responsibility, engagement, atheism

Existentialism is a Humanism (1946) is the slightly edited transcription of a lecture which Sartre gave in 1945 for the Maintenant Club, which was created during the Liberation. This lecture achieved an immense success, proof of Sartre’s fame – which did not prevent the philosopher from being often misunderstood, hence his desire to express himself.

Sartre explains his philosophy in a clear way, answers the criticism that his philosophical doctrine sparked, represents mankind in its total freedom and responsibility, and demonstrates that, far from being pessimistic, existentialism favors action and commitment.

Summary

Existence precedes essence

Sartre exposes the main criticisms associated with existentialism:

According to the communists, it is a bourgeois philosophy of the impossible action;According to the Catholics, it a form of pessimism which denies the importance of human efforts by suppressing divine values.

All reproach existentialism for lacking in human solidarity by suggesting a subjectivism which isolates the individual. As a whole, people think existentialism to be sad and ugly, even though their “wisdom of the people” (p. 1) seems equally depressing to Sartre.