Questions tagged [sartre]
For questions about the philosophical work of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), a French philosopher and novelist.
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Is atheism a requirement for a consistent existentialist philosophy?
Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to be the "father of existentialism". This always bothered me, since to me Sartre and Camus are the defining figures of the movement, and it seems that there ...
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Was the European Left confined in a false dichotomy between capitalism and communism?
In the 2004 book "Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel That Ended It" (link to a brief review/synopsis), the author portrays two of the leading members of the literary class' ...
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Does Sartre imitate Kant in moral philosophy?
This is not originally my question but someone deleted their question while I was typing an answer to it. Consequently, I'm reposting the question and then my answer -- n.b., I've changed the title ...
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Does Sartre ever talk about irrelevance?
Does Sartre ever talk about authenticity in terms of irrelevance?
I think that authenticity means (amongst other things) both being irrelevant and failing to act: that membership of a group which ...
user6917
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What does Sartre mean by "freedom alone can account for a person in his totality"?
Could you please tell me what is the meaning of Sartre's saying: "freedom alone can account for a person in his totality"? (Genet, 584)
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What does Sartre mean when he says people are "condemned to be free"?
What did Jean-Paul Sartre mean when he said that because there is no creator, humans are "Condemned to be Free"?
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Does existentialism presuppose the supernatural?
When it comes to debates about the existence of an "all powerful all knowing god" believers and non-believers alike often times both agree that the existence of that god can't be scientifically or ...
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What is the sense of thinking in Being & Nothingness?
in Kant's philosophy : the noumenon is inaccessible to humans and the phenomenon exists and accessible to humans (is what we live).
Sartre in Being and Nothingness criticizes the Kantian philosophy ...
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On freedom in Sartre's existentialism
I am reading "Existenstialism is a humanism", the text of the famous conference by Sartre in which he explains his own version of existentialism. I think is full of logical inconsistencies, but maybe ...
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Sartre on essence
Yesterday my professor said something that seemed rather strange. Roughly, it was
According to Sartre, humans are the only beings that don't have an essence.
Now I haven't read Sartre, and I'm not ...
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Philosophic Puzzle: How to be Non-Hypocratic AND Non-Anarchistic?
Is it possible to always act according to ones moral standards while tolerating hierarchy in society?
In other words: If you leave to somebody else the act of making the rules, including immoral ones,...
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What is the meaning of nothingness in Sartre's ⟪Being and Nothingness⟫?
A head-up: I am from an analytic background, and I have only read continental philosophy via second sources.
I am confused about what 'nothingness' mean in Sartre's ⟪Being and Nothingness⟫. Some ...
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Existentialism and the absensce of free will
One of the most famous doctrines of existentialism formulated by Jean Paul Sartre is that we are absolutely free.
Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible ...
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What is the title of Sarte's essay on eye/sight/vision?
I read an essay by Sartre many years ago. It was an interesting discussion about eye, eyesight and vision. I cannot remember the details, and that's why I want to read it again. Do you know the title ...
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The phenomenon of Négatité
I am a novice to JP Sartre's philosophy of existentialism and I came across the notion that in Being and Nothingness,The Origin of Negation where he claims that "nothingness is at the origin of ...
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What is existence for existentialists?
As my current work leaded me to analyse existence from the systemic point of view, I've decided it's time to read Sartre and about existentialism, which I've long time postponed. So I've started with ...
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From which work of Jean-Paul Sartre did he write “Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”?
In which work did Jean-Paul Sartre write this quote?
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Is it correct to describe genuine possibilities as 'pure nothing'?
Source: p 193, Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (2012) by Prof. Sharon Kaye MA PhD (in Philosophy, U. Toronto)
Right now you are reading this book. Stop for a moment and
think of yourself ...
user8572
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Existential authenticity (especially in Sartre) - being frustrated
I suppose that the two things that first spring to mind about Sartre's "authenticity" is
Existence precedes essence (a kind of responsibility for what we make of ourselves)
Inauthenticity is ...
user6917
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Sartre and Existentialism
Can we cultivate ethics or morals from Sartre's existentialist perspective? What does he mean
by a world where not only God does not exist but “Man” too? Is it a different world than
Nietzsche's ...
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Does Sartre's conception of consciousness imply the impossibility of a conscious computer?
Hubert Dreyfus among others have risen to prominence in philosophy of AI by emphasising (among other things) the directive primacy of unconscious or automatic, habit-driven processes. Dreyfus came to ...
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Heidegger's "Dasein" vs. Sartre's "Being for itself"
I must admit, I am relatively new to existentialist philosophy. But I couldn't help notice the similarities between Heidegger's "Dasein" and Satre's "Being-for-itself". I was ...
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Is "quality of life" an in-efficacious measure for a "meaningful life"?
Definitions
Quality of life (QOL) is the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life. It observes life satisfaction, including everything from ...
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Sartre's use of the word "Transcendence" and its meaning
I have been looking into some resources explaining Husserl's idea of transcendence and they point out that Sartre's idea of transcendence is based on Husserl's. Here are the different aspects/ideas of ...
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Does Sartre deny the existence of an excuse?
In L'Existentialisme he writes extensively how since we are born free, condemned to be so in fact, we are only shaped by the actions and choices that we make. With this isolation, does he destroy the ...
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In which published work(s) did Sartre claim to have reinvented or reshaped his thinking?
Sartre is among the most protean and prolific philosophers of the 20th c. He sustained many radical transformations in his thinking with each one requiring, according to him, a complete overhaul of ...
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Sartre and the cogito
When Sartre inverted the Aristotelian doctrine of essence before existence; should he also have inverted the Descartians cogito; not cogito, sum but sum, cogito; given that thinking is the essence of ...
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The Sartre Paradox
"According to Sartre, humans are the only beings that dont have an essence."
Do't look a little "weird" J.P Sartre, tells that the "Man is comdemned to be free", in case conjuring that, the freedom ...
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What are the origins of "The Other" and "The Gaze" in critical theory?
These two terms were for a time ubiquitous--one is tempted to say boilerplate--in critical theory.
My own vague understanding is that Levinas is first to explicitly focus on "The Other" and Sartre ...
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Why is every choice the good choice for Sartre?
Sartre wrote this in 1946 in L’existentialism est un humanisme.
Choisir d’être ceci ou cela, c’est affirmer en même temps la valeur de ce que
nous choisissons, car nous ne pouvons jamais choisir ...
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Question about Sartre's distinction between "self-consciousness", "subject", and "ego"
I am reading the Routledge Critical Thinkers series on Jacques Lacan, and I have come across this passage about Jean-Paul Sartre:
In an early work entitled Transcendence of the Ego (1934) Sartre
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From Sartre's Being and Nothingness, what is the difference between reflective consciousness and self-reflective consciousness?
I am currently writing a philosophy paper for one of my graduate courses and one of the questions posed is "how can consciousness be pre-reflective, reflective, and self-reflective?"
My ...
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Relation between the inauthentic mode of existence and indifference to other people's subjectivity
Introduction:
Heidegger believed that there are two fundamental modes of existing in
the world:
(1)Authentic mode (2)Inauthentic mode [Being and Time, 1927]
Sartre believed that there ...
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We may say that Sartre inverts Kant’s moral philosophy. What does Sartre share with Kant, and how does he overturn some of his thinking?
Compare and contrast Kant and Sartre. We may say that Sartre inverts Kant’s moral philosophy. What does Sartre share with Kant, and how does he overturn some of his thinking?
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How has the metaphysics of free will dealt away with Sartre's answer?
Sartre famously argued that we are inescapably free. The summed up argument can be found in the book Just the Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy:
Couple this with a ...
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Can Zizek's big Other be seen as a collective form of "bad faith"?
I refer to this question to define the big Other for Zizek.
Couldn't the big Other be seen as what enforces the mauvaise foi (what makes us behave like we have no choice to avoid existential dread), ...
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Can someone help with these passages Sartre's BeIng and Nothingness on Knowledge?
P295 ‘The for itself does not exist subsequently to know; neither can we say that it exists only in so far it knows or is known…regulated by particular bits of Knowledge.’
P296 ‘to say that there is ...
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Does Sartre's disdain of some professions contradict Kant's Categorical Imperative?
Preface: Source 2 quoted this same passage but in English. As I can read French, I quoted the French original but please command me to post the English translation if I should have.
Source 1: p 94, L'...
user8572
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On Sartres Nothingness and Nausea
The introduction to Sartre's philosophical novel Nausea is by Hayden Carruth and he quotes Jaspers: "The non-rational is found in the opacity of the here and now, … in the actual empirical existence ...
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Who were the famous moral nihilists (philosophers) of 20th and 19th century?
If existential nihilism claims nothing has meaning does it also take moral values in to account?
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Meaning of Being in 'Being and Nothingness'?
I just started reading Sartre's magnum opus and right on page two he begins to mention that being and appearance dualism is no longer entitled to any "legal status within philosophy". What is the ...
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What is the quote on how we cannot not choose (existentialism)?
Okay, so some existentialist philosopher has said that we always choose. Even refraining from choosing is a choice. I think it was Sartre, but I am unable to find the exact quote (if there is one?). ...
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Just what is negation in Sartre's philosophy?
In Being and Nothingness, Sartre discusses negation in a number of contexts, but I cannot for the life of me figure out a definition of it--even a rough one. So far as I can tell, it is not merely a ...
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Sartre - Being and Doing
I don't quite understand the quote,
We shall never apprehend ourselves except as a choice in the making. But freedom is simply the fact that this choice is always unconditioned? (Jean Paul Sartre,...
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Sartre's "The transcendence of the ego"
In this text there are parts of Kant that Sartre refers to that I don't think I fully understand.
What parts of Kant would I have to refer to to understand where Sartre is coming from?
He refers to ...
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If we are rationally obliged to be moral, and morality is not arbitrary, then are some decisions not freely made?
If we are rationally obliged to be moral, and morality is not arbitrary, then are some decisions not freely made?
I mean 'not arbitrary' to mean that some values, e.g. courage, are more rational than ...
user38026
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Why does 'I did this' express nausea per Sartre, but not 'I want to do this '?
Source: Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (2012) by Prof. Sharon Kaye MA PhD (in Philosophy, U. Toronto)
[ p 198: ] Despite its enthusiastic celebration of human freedom, there is
a dark side ...
user8572
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How should I contextualize this quote and understand its meaning? [closed]
Jean- Paul Sartre once said about Camus: "I would call his pessimism 'solar' if you remember how much black there is in the sun."
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To personify bad faith, why did Sartre pick on waiters rather than a more powerful occupation?
I am not a philosopher. But I did work at a restaurant when I was younger, and my daughter is studying philosophy in school. Sartre's following quotations feel like bullying, spurning waiters. ...
user8572
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What is the relationship between positional and non-positional consciousness for Sartre?
I am wondering when one is non-positionally conscious of a feeling, is that feeling facticity or also positional consciousness of an object? In a word is reflection in the presence to self duality ...