Citation
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism Is a Humanism. Yale University Press, 2007. Google Books Link
Excerpts
| Page | Quote | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | ”What they [the two types of existentialists: Christians like Jaspers and atheists like Heidegger or Sartre] have in common is simply their belief that existence precedes essence.” | |
| 29 | If god does not exist, “he [the person facing this] finds there are no excuses. For if it is true that existence precedes essence, we can never explain our actions by reference to a given and immutable human nature.” | |
| 37 | ”for existentialists there is no love other than the deeds of love; […] There is no genius other than that which is expressed in works of art; the genius of Proust resides in the totality of his works.” | |
| 44 | ”choice is possible; what is impossible is not to choose. I can always choose, but I must also realize that, if I decide not to choose, that still constitutes a choice.” |
Zotero Metadata
Abstract
A fresh translation of two seminal works of existentialism”To understand Jean-Paul Sartre is to understand something important about the present time.”—Iris Murdoch”Sartre matters because so many fundamental points of his analysis of the human reality are right and true, and because their accuracy and veracity entail real consequences for our lives as individuals and in social groups.”—Benedict O’Donohoe, Philosophy NowIt was to correct common misconceptions about his thought that Jean-Paul Sartre, the most dominent European intellectual of the post-World War II decades, accepted an invitation to speak on October 29, 1945, at the Club Maintenant in Paris. The unstated objective of his lecture (“Existentialism Is a Humanism”) was to expound his philosophy as a form of “existentialism,” a term much bandied about at the time. Sartre asserted that existentialism was essentially a doctrine for philosophers, though, ironically, he was about to make it accessible to a general audience. The published text of his lecture quickly became one of the bibles of existentialism and made Sartre an international celebrity.The idea of freedom occupies the center of Sartre’s doctrine. Man, born into an empty, godless universe, is nothing to begin with. He creates his essence—his self, his being—through the choices he freely makes (“existence precedes essence”). Were it not for the contingency of his death, he would never end. Choosing to be this or that is to affirm the value of what we choose. In choosing, therefore, we commit not only ourselves but all of mankind. This book presents a new English translation of Sartre’s 1945 lecture and his analysis of Camus’s The Stranger, along with a discussion of these works by acclaimed Sartre biographer Annie Cohen-Solal. This edition is a translation of the 1996 French edition, which includes Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre’s introduction and a Q&A with Sartre about his lecture.
Metadata
FirstAuthor:: Sartre, Jean-Paul
Title:: Existentialism Is a Humanism ShortTitle:: Year:: 2007
Citekey:: sartre_existentialism_2007
itemType:: book
Publisher:: Yale University Press
ISBN:: 978-0-300-24253-9