FREE ESSAY ON JEAN-PAUL SARTRE AND EXISTENTIALISM

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE AND EXISTENTIALISM

Jean-Paul Sartre and Existentialism Jean-Paul Sartre . . . the name is one of the most
popular in modern philosophy. But who was he? What did he write and what were his works
about? What was his role with regard to Existentialism? What is Existentialism, really?
What life influences affected the person as whom he became famous? How would Sartre
assess various social topics that we face today? What are the problems with Sartre's view
of Existentialism and existence in general? These are the questions addressed in the
following pages of this brief dissertation.His life Upon reviewing several sources, it is
apparent that Sartre was a very disorganized and inconsistent individual. Sartre was
obsessed with his intellect to the point of abandon of all else in his life - personal
hygiene, honesty, organization, thoroughness, and more. It seems that he felt he was of
superior intelligence in comparison to all others who surrounded him. He was not
necessarily a great and original thinker, but rather a superb media sensation of sorts.
Rather than developing Existentialist thought, he merely promoted it to amazing
popularity through his eccentric lifestyle. Although he is best known for his association
with Existentialism, it is interesting to note that he denounced its principles later in
life and adopted Marxism, which he also later denounced. Jean-Paul-Charles-Aymard Sartre
was born in Paris on June 21, 1905, the only child of Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre and
Jean-Baptiste Sartre. Anne-Marie was the first cousin of Albert Schweitzer, the famed
Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and the daughter of Karl Schweitzer, who had published texts
on religion, philosophy, and languages. Jean-Baptiste was the son of Eymard Sartre, a
doctor who had written several medical texts. Although his philosophy would deny it, it
may have been fated that Jean-Paul would himself become a famous writer; it was in his
genes. Jean-Baptiste and Anne-Marie were deeply in love. They married on May 5, 1904.
Jean-Baptiste was enlisted in the French Navy and was away on an assignment when
Jean-Paul was born 13 months later. Sadly, hardly more than a year after the birth of
their son, Jean-Baptiste had returned home from China in November only to fall ill in
March and die on September 17, 1906. After the death of Jean-Baptiste, Anne-Marie moved
herself and her young son into her father's house, the Schweitzer home. Karl Schweitzer
was a strict and domineering man and the year the two spent living there affected
Sartre's life forever. His mother kept his hair long and dressed him in effeminate
clothing, probably as a means of escaping the oppressive nature of her father.
Schweitzer, however, disgusted by the child's appearance, took him to the barber one day
and had his hair cut. Jean-Paul's ugliness then became apparent. Without the cloak of
long hair and frilly clothes, his short stature, one eye that looked askance (from a
juvenile illness), and awkward appearance were undeniable, even to his mother. He was
ostracized by other children for his appearance. He was an outcast. At the age of eight
he began to write scripts when he received puppets from his mom. Children tolerated him
in order to be entertained by his shows. He basked in the attention. He began a pattern
of outrageous behavior that it seems he believed would earn him popularity. Apparently it
worked. In October of 1913, Eymard Sartre died and Jean-Paul fell under near complete
control of the Schweitzers. When war broke out in 1914, it fascinated Sartre, and he
wrote some short stories about it. In 1915 Jean-Paul was enrolled at Lycee Henri IV, a
highly regarded school. Here he found children he could relate to: intellectually
stimulating and of his class level, children who could respect him for himself. Yet, even
at this early age, it was apparent to his teachers that Jean-Paul did not hone any of his
thoughts; his intelligence was apparent, but he merely skimmed over many subjects without
delving into any in depth. His mother remarried when he was twelve, to the apparent
disapproval of Jean-Paul. The new family moved to LaRochelle in 1917, but after Sartre
got into trouble on several occasions, he was returned to Lycee Henri IV where he was a
boarding student. At this time he became close with Paul-Yves Nizan, a quiet and shy boy
of considerable intellect. Where Sartre was disorganized, slovenly, and incomplete, Nizan
was orderly, stylish, and thorough. Nizan was prone to fits of depression and drinking,
to the fascination of Sartre. The two were nearly inseparable throughout college and
beyond. In 1922 the two enrolled at Lycee Louis-le-Grand, one of the best preparatory
schools of the time. The two went on to enroll together at one of the best French
Universities, the Ecole Normale Superieure, a companion school to the Sorbonne. Here he
also became close with Raymond Aron, another influential friend who would challenge him
intellectually. While in college, Nizan became very political on the side of French
Communism and Marxism. Sartre ridiculed him for this. However, it was apparent that
Sartre's main goal at Ecole Normale Superieure was to become the smartest person among
the highest of competition. Jean-Paul met Simone-Camille Sans at a funeral for his
cousin. The first Simone in his life, she was from the Toulouse region of France and so
he nicknamed her thus. Toulouse turned out to be a little too wild even for him. Rumored
to have participated in orgies and to have experimented with various drugs, eventually
their relationship fizzled out and she became the mistress of a well-known French actor.
Sartre continued to be a rabble-rouser at school and became known as somewhat of a
revolutionary. However, when he took his agregation exam (graduation examination), he
placed fiftieth out of fifty - dead last. Although the failure was hard for Sartre, it
was crucial to his life that he had to stay and study to retake the examination. It was
then that he met Simone deBeauvior, the love of his life. The two studied together and
matched wits intellectually, and upon the next test administration, he placed first and
she placed second. This is how the two would be for life: one right after the other. The
relationship between Sartre and deBeauvoir was unusual and unconventional. The two never
married and often had other lovers, but beyond a doubt they held each other in the
highest esteem. Sartre served in the military for 18 months beginning in 1929. Afterward
he taught at the lycee LeHavre. In 1933 he studied the lectures of Edmund Husserl, one of
the greatest influences of his life. In February of 1935 he experimented with mescaline
and consequentially he had hallucinations for the remainder of the year. In 1938, his
novel Nausea was published. After the start of World War II, Sartre was again drafted
into military service. On June 21, 1940, he was captured. He was a prisoner of war until
he escaped in March of 1941. He then returned to his teaching post. While imprisoned, he
wrote much of what was to become Being and Nothingness, possibly his most famous work. In
1943, his anti-Nazi play The Flies earned him much notoriety. By 1945 Sartre had become
widely popular and Existentialism had become the hottest philosophy to study, much to the
credit of his work. The term existentialism became ingrained with pop culture, but as
this happened, Sartre slowly began to disassociate himself with the philosophy which had
earned him so much acclaim. In 1960, Sartre published The Critique of Dialectical Reason
in support of Marxism. In 1964 he was offered the Nobel Prize for literature, but he
refused it on political grounds. Sartre became the frontman of sorts for all types of
student rebellion as both right-wing and left-wing parties shunned him and his
revolutionary attitude. He became immensely popular both in France and in America. Sartre
died on April 15, 1980, having lived a completely inconsistent and disorderly life.
However, his outlandish ways had spread the fame of Existentialism and he had left his
ineraseable mark on the world forever.His works Sartre wrote several books, plays, and
articles on several subjects, primarily political and philosophical. Some are listed
below:Nausea (1938) A novel which dealt with one character, Roquentin, on his search to
understand existence and essence. He finds himself unable to associate things as commonly
known, and the reader is left to determine whether this is a breakthrough or a fault.The
Transcendence of the Ego (1937) A phenomenological study of human consciousnessBeing and
Nothingness (1943) Sartre's famed dissertation on the relationship between
being-in-itself and being-for-itself. The first part of his non-fictional works on
Existentialism. Here he delved briefly into the idea of human existence preceding essence
and more in depth into the concept of forlornness and anguish as they relate to
consciousness and freedom.Existentialism and Human Emotion / Existentialism is a Humanism
(1946) Apparently two translations of the same title, his most famous work in America. In
this text he dealt in greater depth with the idea that humanity has the unique position
of existence which precedes essence, and here he basically disqualifies the concept of
God.The Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960) His essay in support of pure Marxism as it
ideally protects human freedom. Meant to be two volumes, he abandoned the second before
completion.Emotions: Outline of a Theory (1936) An essayThe Flies (1943) His anti-Nazi
play produced during WWII.No Exit (1944) A playThe Age of Reason (1945) A
novelAnti-Semite and Jew (1946) An essayThe Respectful Prostitute (1947) A playDirty
Hands (1948) A textSaint Genet (1952) A biographyThe Family Idiot (1982) A critiqueSartre
and Existentialism It is true that Sartre did not originate Existentialism, he merely
popularized it. Without Sartre, Existentialism, today many people may never have heard of
the philosophy and it certainly would not have become ingrained in the pop culture that
it helped to define. An explanation of Existentialism is appropriate. Existentialism is
defined as the term used to refer to any philosophy that emphasizes fundamental questions
of meaning and choice as they affect existing individuals (Soccio, 477). Pojman outlines
three theses of Existentialism on pages 351-355:1. Existence precedes essence. In other
words, man is the only species that can define himself. We can decide our own definitions
by the choice we make and the actions we take.2. The Absurdity of Existence. Existence is
absurd, as we can make any choice and most people make inferior choices in life. The
amount of possibilities at any time is countless; if nothing else, we always have the
option of life or death. There is no meaning apart from humanity.3. Freedom. As Sartre
says, we are condemned to freedom. We have ultimate choice in everything. Because of this
we feel ungrounded, a sense of anguish. Because we have existence before essence, we must
create our essence with the freedom we have. We must define ourselves.Existentialist
themes often include choice, freedom, identity, alienation, inauthenticity, despair, and
awareness of our own mortality (Soccio, 477). There are two main schools of
Existentialism: religious Existentialism, which would include the principles of
Kierkeegard and Heidegger, and secular Existentialism, which includes the philosophy of
Nietzsche and Sartre. Obviously, the religious existentialists did not dismiss the
existence of God but rather attributed the absurdity of existence to the inner voice of
God calling us to higher forms of self. The secular Existentialists, or atheist
Existentialists, totally disavowed the existence of God and dismissed the importance of
one, implying that such a being is impossible - a being in-itself-for-itself in the words
of Sartre - and paradoxical as well as useless. In reality, all Sartre did was take the
ideas of Nietzsche and other great Existentialists and use it to fuel his works of
fiction and his essays. It was these works that earned popularity for the school of
thought, and that can be considered his greatest achievement: the promotion of
Existentialism.Problems with Existentialism and Modern Applications So what are the
weaknesses of his theory? How would we apply his thoughts to contemporary social issues?
Let's try to take a stab at these issues . . . One problem with Existentialism has come
into the spotlight as of late: genetics. The study of genetics is a widely expanding
field. Through science we have learned that genes and DNA are responsible for traits from
hair color and height to alcoholism and probably homosexuality. What were once considered
choices are now being found to be much more hereditary than we have been comfortable to
admit. There may be a certain degree of freedom of choice, but as time passes we learn
that more and more of our behavior is genetically coded into our DNA and we are merely
acting it out. And if this is the case, how do we philosophize on the issue of other
primates? Some primates have 97-99% and possibly greater similarity of genetic sequences
compared to humans. How much of their behavior is choice? The topic of genetic
engineering could be a point for either side: on one hand, we can define ourselves on a
much greater scale, but on the other hand we are admitting that we are patterned after
our genes, as all other creatures are. How would Sartre feel about the topic of genetic
engineering? How would Existentialism deal with it? I think that Existentialists would
say that such freedom would lead us to a greater sense of anguish as we are faced with a
greater sense of freedom to define ourselves and mankind. But since Sartre says that as
we Daphne ourselves we define all of humankind, we should likely avoid the pursuit of
such a field, as we have a responsibility to our fellow humanity. As most human life is
absurd and most people make inferior choices, it would be best to avoid the topic,
although we have the freedom to pursue it if we desire. How would he feel about abortion?
Since in choosing for ourselves we choose for humanity, our responsibility should dictate
that abortion is wrong. This part of the philosophy is reminiscent of Kant's categorical
imperative, but it does not imply that we should necessarily do what is right. However,
for the proliferation of mankind as the only species where existence precedes essence, it
would only make sense that (secular) Existentialists should decide against abortion. But
again, we must never forget that the option exists. Likewise, the secular Existentialists
would decide on various issues. As Sartre averred, we always have the choice of life or
death. However, through his actions it is apparent that we should choose life, because to
choose death would exterminate consciousness. A being can not be conscious in death, as
there is nothing to be conscious of. Consciousness can only exist as it is conscious of
something. A being conscious of its own unconsciousness is impossible to Sartre. Thus
sums up the life and philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. Although this essay can in no way be
considered a thorough examination of his life and of the philosophy of Existentialism or
even secular Existentialism, it serves the purpose of identifying the general ideas the
man popularized in his works and spread into an entire world and consciousness.