Transcript Jean-Paul Sartre, *Existentialism is a Humanism* (1946)

Jean-Paul Sartre,
“Existentialism is a
Humanism” (1946)
PHIL 102, UBC
Christina Hendricks
Fall 2015
1905-1980, France
Sartre around 1950 (public domain)
Sartre in 1967, photo by Milner Moshe,
posted on Wikimedia Commons,
licensed CC BY 3.0
In the 1970s, with Simone de Beauvoir.
Licensed CC BY 3.0 by toile-libre.org.
Existence and Essence
For manufactured
objects, essence
precedes existence
Existence and Essence
Possible to think of humans this way too
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
No moral absolutes beyond human choices (8)
Sample bases for moral
decisions:
• Platonic forms
• Religious guidelines
• Non-religious moral
guidelines
• Advice from others
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 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).
Your views
• Anything still unclear?
• What do you agree with or disagree with, in
Sartre’s views?