Jean-Paul Sartre Existentialism Philosophy

Marcel's Critique of Sartre

- Sartre-an "choices" are arbitrary, anything goes, without an objective source of meaning/value = no basis for morality (Dostoyevsky: "if God does not exist, then everything is permitted")

Simone de Beauvoir

- feminism trailblazer and existentialist, author of Second Sex - encourages women to embrace their radical freedom and responsibility as individuals, and avoid male objectification and social oppression

Existential Angst

A spence of aloneness and personal responsibility based on an awareness of our finitude and radical freedom as individuals - common response is avoidance; we try to lose ourselves in "everydayness;" the monotonous existence of everyday life (Maude: "people like their cages")

Existential Humanism

Individuals as the ultimate source of meaning and value in the universe - rejection of objective values (Sartre "God is dead" - "we are condemned to be free" to shape our own values/meaning

"Existence precedes essence"

The choices we make determine who we are and what we become - always more than what we have been; our essence in never fixed = radical freedom to shape ourselves - the "for itself" (pour soi, self-conscience being) versus the "in itself" (en soi; non-conscious being)

Authentic Living

The ethical ideal of embracing our radical individuality, the freedom and responsibility we have to create our own values/meaning in the face of existential angst

Existentialism

The philosophy that emphasizes the existing individual, as opposed to abstractions or principles, and the importance of authentic living