4
votes
The phenomenon of Négatité
Nothing(ness) definitionally is being not Being. It therefore not is, ontologically. It is just that "not", the refusal to be this or that concrete X. Sartre often characterizes for-itself and its ...
- 440
4
votes
Sartre on essence
According to Sartre, humans are the only beings that don't have an
essence
It is an imprecise, maybe wrong statement, Sartre never said that. For Sartre, humans are devoid of (contact with) Being, ...
- 440
4
votes
Accepted
Sartre on essence
To understand how Sartre could ever say something like this, we need to look at an important pair of German philosophers and one Dane (actually we could probably find many more important people in ...
- 25k
4
votes
In which published work(s) did Sartre claim to have reinvented or reshaped his thinking?
Sartre published his first works when he was over 30 and lived through turbulent times 40 more years. Of course his view changed but he was neither 'protean' nor 'sustained many radical ...
- 3,734
4
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of nothingness in Sartre's ⟪Being and Nothingness⟫?
In Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist masterpiece, "Being and Nothingness" (1943), nothingness (néant or le néant in French) is a central concept that plays a crucial role in understanding ...
- 426
4
votes
Accepted
Essence Preceding existence
See Existence precedes essence: "The proposition that existence precedes essence is a central claim of existentialism, which reverses the traditional philosophical view that the essence (the ...
- 41.1k
3
votes
The Sartre Paradox
What Sartre has in mind is that every other being in nature has a developmental pattern intrinsic to it. It has an essential nature, or 'essence', and its nature fixes its future development. Acorns ...
- 36.1k
3
votes
Just what is negation in Sartre's philosophy?
If I understand this correctly, Sartre considers negation (usually as internal negation) as one of the fundamental aspect of humanity, because it reflects the tension between being-in-itself and being-...
- 24.2k
3
votes
Was the European Left confined in a false dichotomy between capitalism and communism?
The dichotomy of the question (Communism vs. Capitalism) and the dichotomy actually mentioned in the quote are very different. The quote says Camus saw oppression in the Soviet Union (and the Soviet ...
- 61
2
votes
In which published work(s) did Sartre claim to have reinvented or reshaped his thinking?
My query was based on something read years ago and, the vagaries of memory being what they are, I am likely guilty of having conflated something someone said about Sartre as opposed to remembering ...
- 183
2
votes
Who were the famous moral nihilists (philosophers) of 20th and 19th century?
'Nihilist' was generally applied as an insult, especially around morality - it was first used to insult the rationalism of Kant (who I think no one could call a nihilist now!). It got used somewhat ...
- 23.8k
2
votes
Existentialism and morality
Existentialism (along with absurdism, phenomenology, and a few other schools) is a descendent of Nietzsche's worldview. It carries over Nietzsche's lionization of the individual, and his radical ...
- 24.2k
1
vote
Existentialism and morality
"But I suppose Sartre's responsibility means that we have to accept that we have by our free decisions contributed to how things have evolved. Do I understand it correctly? "
Yes. This is only one ...
- 51
1
vote
Who were the famous moral nihilists (philosophers) of 20th and 19th century?
Here is a take on nihilism you may find interesting:
Heidegger, Contributions to Philosophy 72. Nihilism, page 109
Thinking in terms of “goals” (the long misunderstood τέλος [“end”]
in the Greek ...
- 7,650
1
vote
Accepted
What was Sartre's thought on good and evil?
Sartre (late in life interview with Benny Levy), Alasdair MacIntyre and György Lukacs were all concerned with developing an ethics towards the end of their career. MacIntyre is still alive, I think.
...
- 1,721
1
vote
Accepted
Sartre's "The transcendence of the ego"
The 'I think'
There is a version of the "Cogito" ['I think, therefore I exist': GT]
that Kant is found endorsing, but not in the manner intended by
Descartes. At B132 [of the Critique of Pure ...
- 36.1k
1
vote
From Sartre's Being and Nothingness, what is the difference between reflective consciousness and self-reflective consciousness?
Sartre's work in ontology, which is an attempt to categorize Being and Nothing adequately, claims that being is transphenomenal or irreducible and is distinct from phenomenal objects creating a ...
- 35.6k
1
vote
If we are rationally obliged to be moral, and morality is not arbitrary, then are some decisions not freely made?
Here is the question:
If we are rationally obliged to be moral, and morality is not arbitrary, then are some decisions not freely made?
There are two propositions that the antecedent of the ...
- 19.8k
1
vote
Jean-Paul Sartre freedom question
Here are some key terms regarding Jean-Paul Sartre's concept of freedom: existence precedes essence, being for itself (one's own self), being for others (others' existence), and being in itself (all ...
- 11
1
vote
Is "quality of life" an in-efficacious measure for a "meaningful life"?
"A meaningful life" is not the same as a "good life". A serial killer, tyrant, school shooter, etc. does not need to make the world a better place for his/her life to have meaning, nor does it need ...
- 259
1
vote
Existentialism and the absensce of free will
The absence of free will is strictly incompatible with existentialism. There does not exist any modern notion about a such absence because consciousness is a metaphysical entity of which neuroscience ...
- 51
1
vote
Accepted
In which published work(s) did Sartre claim to have reinvented or reshaped his thinking?
Here is a link to a magazine interview which may give some insight into his views on a changed position. Full quote removed.
[Approx 35th q&a] JPS, answer: "In some ways-- perhaps...
Playboy ...
- 1,721
1
vote
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?
▻ THE CENTRALITY OF FREE AGENCY
In his Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Kant turns his attention to the problem of evil and, in doing so, develops a
more complex picture of the human ...
- 36.1k
1
vote
From which work of Jean-Paul Sartre did he write “Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”?
In Critique of Dialectical Reason, vol. 1, Sartre wrote (translation from the Russian translation into English is mine)
For us a man is characterized first of all by his surpass of the
situation -...
- 440
1
vote
From which work of Jean-Paul Sartre did he write “Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”?
Maybe a "free" translation from: L'existentialisme est un humanisme (1946):
Et en voulant la liberté, nous découvrons qu'elle dépend entièrement de la liberté des autres, et que la liberté des ...
- 41.1k
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