Jean-Paul Sartre - Philosophy and Ethics
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80)
French philosopher (pictured right), novelist, playwright and long time partner of the feminist philosopher,
Simone de Beauvoir (pictured right
below together).
His most famous book
is...
Being and Nothingness (1943) about existentialism (see point 1).
What did he say about philosophy and ethics?
1. Existentialism
This says that you are free to decide:
You can even change the things you are born with (like your parents and appearance) by changing your
attitudes towards them.
You are you, a unique human being, not the label other people give you like ‘student’ or
‘child’.
“Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself”, Sartre said.
2. Don’t deceive yourself
“Bad faith” results from deceiving yourself that you can't be free to do what you like (as
mentioned in point 1)
This bad faith leads to a state of “nothingness”, a feeling that:
- something is missing in your life.
- you haven’t taken advantage of your freedom to benefit from all of life’s exciting
possibilities.
Sartre gives a famous example of a waiter, who deceives himself by acting as a waiter and not
being his true self.
So you should:
- be honest with yourself and others.
- live only according to your needs and values.
3. Authenticity
This is the opposite of bad faith - in other words:
- taking advantage of the freedom to do whatever you want.
The best (or authentic) life is controlled by the choices you make without:
- blaming other people for your failures and disappointments.
So you must:
- take responsibility for everything you do.
This burden of responsibility means that that “man is condemned to be free”, Sartre said.
4. No imposed ethics
It is up to you to decide what is right or wrong in every situation you face.
Nobody can tell you what you should do, not even the Church.
5. Love
Love means respecting people’s right to:
You must resist the temptation to:
- make them do what you want.
6. Do what you say
Sartre’s motto was “commitment is an act, not a word” .
So he strongly believed in putting his principles and ideas into action (like communism),
not just talking about them.
Key quotes on
success
It is necessary that we make ourselves what we are.
You are nothing other than your life.
A human person is what he is not, not what he is.
Key quotes on empowerment and
freedom
Man is condemned to be free, because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.
A man is what he wills himself to
be.
Key quotes on
love
Hell is other people.
We are what we make of what others make of us.
Key quote on stress and
pain
Human life begins on the other side of despair.
Key quote on peace of
mind
Life is nothing until it is lived; but it is yours to make sense of.
Key quote on influencing
people
We are what we do.
Key quote on war
When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.
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