Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism"

Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism” (1946)PHIL 102, UBCChristina HendricksFall 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.

Existence and EssenceFor manufactured objects, essence precedes existence

Existence and EssencePossible to think of humans this way too

GOD

NOT Sartre’s view!

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 CONSCIOUSNESS

• 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 everythingThere 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 freedom

Heavy responsibilityWith 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): 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 choices

Created by Michael V. Suriano for the Noun Project

Moral Relativism?

Objection : “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 repliesCan 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). -- Why?

Your views

• Anything still unclear?

• What do you agree with or disagree with, in Sartre’s views?

Camus reading for next time

• Also a French existentialist; this was written in 1940

• Quite abstract and difficult; just keep reading and some things should hopefully make sense!