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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an essay Sartre gave in defence of existentialism. What is existentialism? Or what do I understand by existentialism? I think the following quotes from Garcin and Inez respectively, characters in Sartre's play Huis-Clos, sum up the philosophy: "A man is what he wills himself to be" and then "You are - your life and nothing else".
In this essay, Sartre sets out to show how these two declarations rather than being mere resignations to fate are actually clarion calls to responsibility. You are what you do and to be what you will, you must do, not just believe or worse, talk. This is not so far from Yoda in Star Wars: "Do or do not. There is no try". One does not need God "to do". One just needs to act. Our actions are the only evidence of our being alive as humans and why, ultimately, existentialism is a humanism.
In this essay, Sartre sets out to show how these two declarations rather than being mere resignations to fate are actually clarion calls to responsibility. You are what you do and to be what you will, you must do, not just believe or worse, talk. This is not so far from Yoda in Star Wars: "Do or do not. There is no try". One does not need God "to do". One just needs to act. Our actions are the only evidence of our being alive as humans and why, ultimately, existentialism is a humanism.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book makes you certainly think about life and its meaning. Not a book for the light-hearted readers but it is a very interesting one.
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11 reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
21 Oct 2007
Format:Paperback
Although this is not exactly an introduction to the theory of Existentialism, it is certainly a much more accessible account of it than Sartre's "Being and Nothingness." Sartre addresses the numerous detractors of Existentialism who posit that the theory is essentially pessimistic and anti-humanistic, that it suggests a cynical and amoral view of the world. Sartre argues that man wills what he is (a variant of Heidegger's Being-Becoming), and thus the theory provides for radical freedom. He writes, "when operating on the level of complete authenticity, I have acknowledged that existence precedes essence, and that man is a free being who, under any circumstances, can only ever will his freedom, I have at the same time acknowledged that I must will the freedom of others" (49). Sartre brilliantly links up this conception of radical freedom with the willing of the freedom of others such as communist are Marxist political action. This lecture is a lucid and rich work of philosophy, and it instigated a number of debates around the notion of Humanism, famously refuted by Heidegger.
This collection also includes a Q+A between Sartre and a review of Camus' "The Stranger," which he remarkably compares to Hemingway in terms of prose style. For Sartre, "The Stranger" is the great modern work exploring the fact of absurdity; he indicates that its primary strength is the co-existence of clarity and ambiguity.
This collection also includes a Q+A between Sartre and a review of Camus' "The Stranger," which he remarkably compares to Hemingway in terms of prose style. For Sartre, "The Stranger" is the great modern work exploring the fact of absurdity; he indicates that its primary strength is the co-existence of clarity and ambiguity.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Is Existentialism a Humanism?
30 May 2009
Format:Paperback
Is Existentialism a Humanism?
"Is Existentialism a Humanism?" was the title of Sartre's famous lecture in October 1945 given to an overflow crowd and rapidly to become the talk of the left-bank cafes, then all of Paris and Europe. The talk started by proclaiming "existence precedes essence" which meant, he explained, that individuals create their own values because there is no moral order in the universe. This freedom is the ultimate value. The talk went on by echoing his book "Being and Nothingness". He gave the lecture to answer his critics among the communists and catholics. He needed to present a viable and relevant social philosophy in order to stand comparison with these two groups. He based his appeal on Kant's ethic of universal principles. He continued by arguing that we need a sense of responsibility for other people and society as a whole (which was different from his previous contentions). In asserting that Existentialism is a Humanism Sartre means that it places the human being at the center of its attention and at the apex of its value hierarchy. Our ultimate goal should be to foster the freedom of the individual. To read more about Existentialism see Thomas R. Flynn(2006) "Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction", Oxford University Press.
"Is Existentialism a Humanism?" was the title of Sartre's famous lecture in October 1945 given to an overflow crowd and rapidly to become the talk of the left-bank cafes, then all of Paris and Europe. The talk started by proclaiming "existence precedes essence" which meant, he explained, that individuals create their own values because there is no moral order in the universe. This freedom is the ultimate value. The talk went on by echoing his book "Being and Nothingness". He gave the lecture to answer his critics among the communists and catholics. He needed to present a viable and relevant social philosophy in order to stand comparison with these two groups. He based his appeal on Kant's ethic of universal principles. He continued by arguing that we need a sense of responsibility for other people and society as a whole (which was different from his previous contentions). In asserting that Existentialism is a Humanism Sartre means that it places the human being at the center of its attention and at the apex of its value hierarchy. Our ultimate goal should be to foster the freedom of the individual. To read more about Existentialism see Thomas R. Flynn(2006) "Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction", Oxford University Press.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Brief but refreshing
29 July 2007
Format:Paperback
With both a preface and an introduction, the text gives fair warning that it is not intended as a comprehensive overview of Sartre's thought (of which I am no judge either). Rather, to quote the preface, it is "a clear but simplistic discourse that reflects the contradictions that Sartre was struggling with in 1945," specifically his attempt to reconcile existentialism with communism. While this main text makes for an enjoyable (albeit brief) evening's read, the real treat here Sartre's commentary on THE STRANGER. After reading the terse Q&A session--the criticisms are, to quote the preface once again, "muddled and hostile"--it is extremely refreshing to find theory put into practice. Here Sartre writes lovingly about Camus's novel as he interprets it via close reading and in light of Camus's THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS. On a whole, the text may be somewhat of a hodgepodge, but it is nevertheless a pleasant one; you may find yourself returning to this text not for reference so much as for inspriation.
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