JeanPaul)Sartre, “Existentialismisa - UBC...
Transcript of JeanPaul)Sartre, “Existentialismisa - UBC...
Jean-‐Paul Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism” (1946) PHIL 102, UBC Christina Hendricks Fall 2015
Sartre in 1967, photo by Milner Moshe, posted on Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 3.0
Sartre around 1950 (public domain)
1905-1980, France
In the 1970s, with Simone de Beauvoir. Licensed CC BY 3.0 by toile-libre.org.
Sartre’s view of humans “Existence comes before essence” (3)
Still, there is no fixed essence in the sense of human nature, for Sartre.
Determinism and Freedom “there is no determinism—man is free, man is freedom” (8) Determinism: every
event is necessitated by causes and conditions that came before it • Could not have
happened differently
Human choices not determined
• We are not like “a moss, a fungus or a cauliflower” (5); we have
• We can reflect on our selves, our past, the things that might seem to cause us to choose in a certain way; can pull away from them and choose differently
• When we choose, we can’t help but experience ourselves as actually, freely choosing
Not free to choose everything There are some things about us we can’t choose to change (including our past)
But we can choose what to think, feel and do in the situations we find ourselves in
Universal human “condition” No fixed human nature, but there is a human “condition” (16)
• The basic situation of being human in the world is the same for all:
• We share the requirements of “being in the
world, of having to labor and die there” (16)
• We also share
Heavy responsibility With so much freedom comes much responsibility: “if … it is true that existence is prior to essence, man is responsible for what he is” (5).
Can’t make excuses based on emotions because we can choose not to be swayed by them (8).
Responsibility for all “And when we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men” (5).
How might we make sense of
this?
Responsibility for all • May be focusing on general values:
“resignation,” “monogamy” (5, 6) • Shared human condition (above) could
support this claim
• Why should you get to make an exception for yourself?
Morality
Sample bases for moral decisions: • Platonic forms • Religious guidelines • Non-religious moral
guidelines • Advice from others
No moral absolutes beyond human choices (8)
Always a matter of our choicesCreated by Michael V. Suriano for the Noun Project
Moral Relativism?
Objec&on : “You cannot judge others, for there is no reason for preferring one purpose to another” (17).
German troops parade through Warsaw, Poland, 1939. Public domain on Wikimedia Commons.
Sartre’s replies Can judge others for logical error of pretending they don’t have a choice when they do (19)
Can also make moral judgment • “freedom … can have no other
… aim than itself” (19)
• “I am obliged to will the liberty of others at the same time as my own” (20).