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.

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  

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).

Your  views  

• Anything still unclear?

• What do you agree with or disagree with, in

Sartre’s views?