Jean Paul Sartre's 'Existentialism is a Humanism': A Critical Reading

2016

The article discusses rationalistic and existential approaches to the problem of existence. The comparison of Sartre's pre-reflective cogito and Descartes' reflective cogito makes it possible to define how Sartre’s thought moves from the thing to consciousness and from consciousness to the thing. At the same time, in Being and Nothingness Sartre does not only define the existence of the thing in its passivity—which in many respects corresponds to Descartes' philosophy, but also as an open orientation towards consciousness, the latter concept not being fully developed by him. This statement may be regarded as a hidden component of Sartre’s key thesis about the role of the Other in the verification of our existence. The most important factor in understanding this is the concept of the look. Detailed analysis of Sartre’s theses in Being and Nothingness enables us to demonstrate that the concept of the look makes it possible to consider the identity of being-in-itself and be...

This paper through the comparative and critical methods x-rays the biblical and Sartre " s analysis of the role of man in the fulfillment of his destiny or life aspirations. The paper, contrary to common belief, argues that Christian and Sartre " s existentialism accept that existence precedes essence. However, though the two philosophies share the same point de depart, they differ in their terminus ad quem concerning man " s role in the fulfillment of his destiny.

Lumen, 2021

This article speaks on the philosophy of one of the greatest existentialists of 20th century, Jean Paul Sartre. His philosophy of being, phenomenological ontology, dialectics and ethics are discussed here. His ideas on authenticity, bad faith, human nature, freedom, God are also described.

Payne, Michael and Barbera, Jessica Rae eds. A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell., 2013

Concise summaries of existentialism and of the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre.

ed. with Alfred Betschart, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan 2020.

2010

This article reconsiders Sartre's seminal 1945 talk, "Existentialism is a Humanism," and the stakes of the humanism debate in France by looking at the immediate political context that has been overlooked in previous discussions of the text. It analyses the political discussion of the term "humanism" during the French national elections of 1945 and the rumbling debate over Sartre's philosophy that culminated in his presentation to the Club Maintenant, just one week after France went to the polls. A consideration of this context helps explain both the rise, and later the decline, of existentialism in France, when, in the changing political climate, humanism lost its centrality, setting the stage for new antihumanist criticisms of Sartre's work.

Sartre Studies International, 2019