Greatest Philosophers In History | Jean Paul Sartre

Summary

The video script delves into the life and philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, a pivotal figure in existentialism. It explores his belief in 'existence precedes essence,' emphasizing individual freedom and responsibility. Sartre's existential angst, phenomenology, and the concept of 'bad faith' are highlighted, illustrating the human struggle to find meaning in a seemingly absurd world. His influence, from novels like 'Nausea' to his philosophical works, shaped modern thought, advocating for self-determination in the face of life's inherent meaninglessness.

Takeaways

• 📚 Jean Paul Sartre was a prominent existentialist philosopher who revitalized the movement post-Søren Kierkegaard.
• 🌟 Sartre's existentialist philosophy gained popularity after World War Two, offering hope amidst the collapse of traditional values.
• 👶 Sartre was born in Paris in 1905 and was influenced early by classical literature through his grandfather Charles Schweitzer.
• 🎓 He studied at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, where he developed a reputation as an unconventional thinker.
• 💕 Sartre's relationship with Simone de Beauvoir was open and non-monogamous, and she was a significant influence in his life.
• 🌐 Sartre's existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and responsibility in an absurd world.
• 🏆 He declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, rejecting the idea of becoming part of the establishment.
• 📖 Sartre's novel 'Nausea' depicted existential angst, portraying a protagonist alienated by his own existence.
• 🤔 His philosophy is encapsulated by the phrase 'existence precedes essence', challenging the traditional essentialist view.
• 🚫 Sartre's existentialism is inherently atheistic, as the existence of God would imply a predetermined essence for humans.
• 🔍 Phenomenology, as explored by Sartre, is the study of consciousness and how we experience reality through our perceptions.
• 🙅‍♂️ 'Bad Faith' is a concept where individuals deny their freedom and responsibility, often making excuses to avoid difficult decisions.
• 🏛 In 'Being and Nothingness', Sartre discusses consciousness, free will, and the struggle of humans to find meaning in a meaningless world.
• 👥 'The Look' and 'Being For-Others' are concepts that explore how others' perceptions of us affect our self-awareness and identity.
• 🚬 Sartre's health declined due to workaholism and heavy smoking, leading to his death in 1980 from lung complications.
• 🕊 His death was marked by a massive public outpouring, reflecting the profound impact he had on both philosophy and the public consciousness.

Q & A

Who is Jean Paul Sartre and what is his significance in the history of philosophy?

Jean Paul Sartre is a French philosopher, novelist, and cultural critic known for his work in existentialism. He is considered a key figure in modern thought, having revitalized existentialism after the death of Søren Kierkegaard and influenced many areas of philosophy and culture.

What is Existentialism and how did Sartre contribute to its popularity?

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice in an apparently absurd and meaningless world. Sartre contributed to its popularity by reviving and popularizing existentialism after World War Two, offering a message of hope during a time when traditional values were collapsing.

What was the impact of Sartre's personal life on his philosophy?

Sartre's personal life, including his upbringing by his mother and grandfather, his physical appearance, and his experiences of bullying, contributed to his focus on the individual's struggle for meaning and identity. His personal experiences with freedom and responsibility are reflected in his existentialist ideas.

What was the significance of Sartre's relationship with Simone de Beauvoir?

Simone de Beauvoir was a prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher. Her relationship with Sartre, both romantically and intellectually, was significant as they influenced each other's work and became lifelong companions, challenging traditional monogamous relationships.

How did Sartre's experience as a prisoner of war influence his philosophical development?

Sartre's time as a prisoner of war allowed him to read and be influenced by Martin Heidegger's 'Being and Time,' which greatly impacted his philosophical views. This period of confinement and reflection likely deepened his understanding of existential angst and the human condition.

Why did Sartre decline the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Sartre declined the Nobel Prize in Literature because he was horrified by the idea of becoming incorporated into the establishment. He wanted to maintain his independence and did not want his work to be associated with any form of institutional recognition.

What is the concept of 'Existence precedes essence' as proposed by Sartre?

The concept of 'Existence precedes essence' is a fundamental tenet of existentialism, suggesting that individuals are born without a predetermined essence or identity. Instead, they create their essence through their actions and choices, emphasizing the importance of individual freedom and responsibility.

What is the philosophical concept of 'thrownness' and how does it relate to Sartre's views on human existence?

'Thrownness' is a term coined by Martin Heidegger to describe the condition of an individual's arbitrary birth into a given family, culture, and historical moment. Sartre addresses this concept by arguing that despite these limiting factors, they do not limit our freedom, as existence precedes essence.

How does Sartre's concept of 'Bad Faith' challenge traditional views on human nature and responsibility?

Sartre's concept of 'Bad Faith' is a way of denying our fundamental freedom and responsibility. It involves accepting something as true for the sake of convenience, even when it contradicts our freedom to choose and act. This challenges traditional views by suggesting that we often deceive ourselves to avoid the discomfort of making difficult decisions.

What are the main themes explored in Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'?

'Being and Nothingness' explores themes such as consciousness, bad faith, the existence of 'nothingness', free will, and authenticity. It delves into the idea that individuals can always choose their actions, even in situations that appear to limit their freedom.

How does Sartre's concept of 'The Look' influence his views on social relationships and self-consciousness?

Sartre's concept of 'The Look' explores the experience of being seen and how it can transform our self-perception from being a subject to an object in others' views. This concept suggests that our self-consciousness is tied to our awareness of how others perceive us, challenging the idea of a fixed self and emphasizing the role of social interactions in shaping our identities.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Jean Paul Sartre and Existentialism

This paragraph introduces the series on the greatest philosophers, focusing on Jean Paul Sartre, a key figure in existentialism. Sartre, known for his influence on modern thought, worked as a philosopher, novelist, and cultural critic. Born in Paris in 1905, he was raised by his mother and grandfather after his father's death. Despite physical insecurities, he excelled academically and developed a bohemian reputation at the École Normale Supérieure. Sartre's philosophy gained popularity post-World War Two, offering hope amidst societal changes. His existentialist ideas emphasized individual existence and responsibility in a seemingly absurd world, reviving the philosophy after Søren Kierkegaard. Sartre's personal life, including his relationship with Simone de Beauvoir and his wartime experiences, influenced his work. His novel 'Nausea' and his public lecture 'Existentialism is a Humanism' are highlighted, along with his rejection of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature.

05:00

🌌 The Absurdity of Life and Sartre's Phenomenology

This section delves into Sartre's concept of 'The Absurdity of the World,' where life's mundane activities are juxtaposed with the vastness of the universe, illustrating the inherent absurdity of human existence. Sartre's phenomenology is introduced as a study of human consciousness and the experience of reality. His famous proposition 'Existence precedes essence' challenges the traditional essentialist view that essence defines existence. Sartre argues that humans are born without a predetermined essence and must create their own through actions, likening life to a blank canvas to be painted. The existentialist concept of 'thrownness' is discussed, describing humans' arbitrary birth into the world and the resulting freedom and responsibility. Sartre's atheistic phenomenology is emphasized, asserting that existence without a creator leads to a life of self-determination.

10:06

🕊️ Freedom, Authenticity, and the Challenge of Bad Faith

This paragraph explores Sartre's views on freedom and the existential angst that arises from the realization of complete autonomy. He posits that humans are 'condemned to be free,' born without a choice but burdened with the responsibility of choices made in a life filled with possibilities. The existential concept of 'thrownness' is further explained, emphasizing that despite life's arbitrary start, individuals are not limited by uncontrollable factors. Sartre's belief in an atheistic phenomenology is reiterated, with the absence of God implying the absence of a predetermined essence. The idea of 'Bad Faith' is introduced, where individuals deny their freedom and responsibility by making excuses and accepting convenient untruths. Sartre criticizes this self-deception and encourages embracing the freedom to define one's life's meaning.

15:10

👥 The Social Implications of Existence and the 'Look'

The final paragraph discusses the social aspects of Sartre's philosophy, introducing the concept of 'Being For-Others' and how societal relationships are influenced by perceptions and self-images. Sartre's phenomenological concept 'The Look' explores the experience of being seen and how it transforms one's self-awareness from subject to object. He argues against the existence of a fixed self, suggesting that identity is performative and based on actions rather than inherent characteristics. The narrative of a person spying through a keyhole exemplifies how quickly one's perception can shift from subject to object under the gaze of others. Sartre's belief that social interactions are inherently adversarial is presented, culminating in the discussion of his play 'No Exit,' which illustrates the discomfort of coexisting under the constant scrutiny of others. The paragraph concludes with reflections on Sartre's life, his death, and his enduring influence as a philosopher who challenged traditional thinking and encouraged individuals to create their own meaning in life.

Keywords

💡Existentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. It posits that individuals define their own meaning in life, often in the face of an indifferent or absurd universe. In the script, Jean Paul Sartre is identified as a key figure in Existentialism, and his philosophy is used to explore themes of personal responsibility and the creation of one's essence through actions.

💡Absurdity of the World

The concept of 'Absurdity of the World' refers to the perceived meaninglessness and irrationality of human existence within an indifferent universe. Sartre discusses this in the context of everyday life's routines and the inherent strangeness of our existence, as exemplified in the script by the mundane act of dining with a partner amidst the vastness of the universe.

💡Phenomenology

Phenomenology is a philosophical approach that investigates the structures of consciousness and the ways in which we experience reality. Sartre, as a leading figure in phenomenology, believed in understanding reality as it is experienced through human perception. The script mentions Sartre's study under Edmund Husserl and his radical account of human consciousness.

💡Existence Preceding Essence

The phrase 'Existence Preceding Essence' is a fundamental tenet of Sartre's Existentialism. It challenges the traditional view that essence (the inherent nature or identity of something) comes before existence. Sartre argues that humans are first thrown into existence and then must create their own essence through their actions and choices, as illustrated in the script by comparing humans to a blank canvas on which they paint their own essence.

💡Anguish

Anguish, in the context of Sartre's philosophy, refers to the deep anxiety that arises from the realization of one's radical freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. The script describes how humans live in anguish not because life is inherently terrible, but because of the overwhelming freedom and responsibility that comes with the absence of predetermined essence.

💡Thrownness

Thrownness is a term coined by Martin Heidegger and adopted by Sartre to describe the condition of being arbitrarily 'thrown' into the world without choice in one's birth circumstances. The script explains that despite these 'facticities'—such as family, culture, and historical context—we are not limited in our freedom, emphasizing the individual's existential condition.

💡Bad Faith

Bad Faith, or 'mauvaise foi' in French, is a concept where individuals deny their own freedom and responsibility by making excuses or accepting convenient untruths. In the script, Sartre uses the example of a waiter who remains in his unfulfilling job out of a false belief that he has no choice, illustrating the self-deception inherent in Bad Faith.

💡Being and Nothingness

Being and Nothingness is Sartre's major philosophical work that delves into consciousness, freedom, and authenticity. The script mentions this work as the core of Existentialism, discussing themes such as the origin of negation, the existence of 'nothingness,' and the struggle of humans to define themselves in a world devoid of inherent meaning.

💡The Look

The Look is a central concept in Sartre's phenomenology, referring to the experience of being seen by others, which can transform one's perception of oneself from a subject to an object. The script describes how this awareness can lead to feelings of self-consciousness and the inescapable presence of others' perspectives in shaping our sense of self.

💡Freedom

Freedom is a central theme in Sartre's philosophy, representing the absolute autonomy of individuals to make choices and define their own lives. The script discusses how this freedom can be both empowering and daunting, as it comes with the dread of limitless possibilities and the weight of self-determination.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity, in Sartre's view, involves living in accordance with one's true self, free from the constraints of societal expectations or self-deception. The script touches on the idea that individuals must embrace their freedom and take responsibility for their actions to live authentically, avoiding the trap of Bad Faith.

Highlights

Jean Paul Sartre was a key figure in the philosophy of Existentialism, emphasizing the individual's existence and existential angst in an absurd world.

Sartre popularized Existentialism after the death of Søren Kierkegaard, bringing hope to post-World War Two France.

Sartre's philosophy saw people taking responsibility for their actions as an opportunity for existential thought.

Sartre's upbringing and personal struggles influenced his focus on the mind and existential philosophy.

At the École Normale Supérieure, Sartre developed a reputation as an unconventional thinker and befriended Simone de Beauvoir.

Sartre's time as a prisoner of war and reading Heidegger's 'Being and Time' greatly influenced his philosophy.

Sartre declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, rejecting incorporation into the establishment.

Sartre's philosophy attempted to reconcile Existentialism with Marxism, leading to a form of anarchism.

Sartre's novel 'Nausea' encapsulates existential angst and the absurdity of the world.

Sartre's concept of 'The Absurdity of the World' highlights the inherent meaninglessness of everyday life.

Sartre was a leading figure in phenomenology, focusing on the experience of reality through human consciousness.

In 'Existentialism is a Humanism', Sartre declared 'Existence precedes essence', challenging traditional essentialism.

Sartre's philosophy posits that individuals create themselves through their actions, not by predetermined essence.

Sartre described 'thrownness' as the condition of being arbitrarily born into a world without inherent meaning.

Sartre believed that the absence of a God allows for true human freedom and existential responsibility.

Sartre's concept of 'Bad Faith' explores the denial of freedom and responsibility, often through self-deception.

In 'Being and Nothingness', Sartre discusses consciousness, free will, and the existential struggle for authenticity.

Sartre's theory of 'nothingness' introduces the idea that consciousness allows for the conceptualization of non-existence.

The desire to attain Being-In-Itself represents the human longing for absolute control and identity.

Sartre's concept of 'The Look' explores the experience of being seen and its impact on self-consciousness and identity.

Sartre's philosophy emphasizes that life's lack of inherent meaning allows individuals to create their own purpose.

Sartre's death in 1980 was met with an outpouring of public grief, reflecting his significant cultural impact.

Transcripts

This is the Greatest Philosophers In History series, where we analyse the most fundamental

ideas of the most extraordinary philosophers in human history.

In this episode, we’ll be exploring the philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre.

Jean Paul Sartre had a great influence on many areas of modern thought. A writer of

prodigious brilliance and originality, Sartre worked in many different genres: as a philosopher,

a novelist, and a cultural critic. Sartre is one of the key figures in the philosophy

of Existentialism, which emphasises the existence of the individual or human subject who faces

existential angst in an apparently absurd world. Sartre is credited for revivifying

and popularising Existentialism to the world after it had remained quite stagnant since

the death of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. It was no accident that his philosophy reached

a wide public for the first time during the immediate aftermath of World War Two. France

was an exhausted country and Sartre’s ideas brought a message of hope, the old frameworks

of value on which people lived on were collapsing, including family values and Christian beliefs.

Sartre saw that people were starting to take responsibility for their actions and for him

this was a great opportunity for his philosophy. Sartre was born in Paris, in 1905. The only

child of his father, an officer of the French Navy, who died when he was just two years old.

He was raised by his mother Anne-Marie, whom he was very fond of and his grandfather

Charles Schweitzer, who introduced Sartre to classical literature at an early age.

As a teenager, he was frequently bullied, in part for having a strabismus in his right

eye, a problem with eye alignment. He was also very short, standing at around 5 feet

tall in his adulthood, he felt that he had an ugly physically appearance and focused

all his energy on his mind. He studied philosophy and psychology at the

École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious graduate schools in Paris that

was the alma mater for several prominent French thinkers and intellectuals. He quickly developed

a reputation as an unconventional bohemian figure. The student who came second to him

in their final philosophy exams was the writer Simone de Beauvoir, a prominent feminist and

fellow existentialist philosopher. The two became inseparable and lifelong companions,

initiating a romantic relationship, although it was quite open and they were not monogamous.

Sartre served as a meteorologist in World War Two and was captured by German troops,

spending nine months in prison. During this time, he read Martin Heidegger’s Being and

Time and was greatly influenced by it. Sartre was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in

Literature, but he declined it. He was the first Nobel laureate to voluntarily decline

the prize. He was horrified by the idea of becoming incorporated into the establishment.

By this time, Sartre had become a household name. He was often seen frequenting cafés

where he wrote while he chatted with his colleagues. He remained a simple man with few possessions

and was actively committed as an activist, taking part in various strikes.

On one occasion he was arrested for civil disobedience. French president Charles de

Gaulle intervened and pardoned him, saying that “you don’t arrest Voltaire”.

Although Sartre spend much of his later life trying to reconcile the individualist philosophy

of Existentialism with the collective vision of Marxism, ending up in a sort of anarchism,

we’ll be focusing on thoughts of the Existentialist Sartre, not his later controversial political life.

Sartre’s first novel, Nausea, gave a name for existential angst. He considered it as

one of his most precious novels, it portrays Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified

at his own existence and finds it meaningless. He lives alone, has no friends, and usually

eavesdrops on other people’s conversations and watches their actions. It is written in

the form of a diary, in which he documents every feeling and sensation about the

world and people around him. He finds situations and inanimate objects

imbued with meanings which bear the stamp of his existence, all that he encounters in

his everyday life is permeated with a horrible taste, evoking in him a sense of nausea, especially

his freedom. In a passage from the book, he states:

It is believed that Sartre used the term Nausea

after reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where it is used and associated

with contemplating the mediocrity of humanity.

Have you ever looked at a word hard enough and had the thought of it seeming unusually

strange? Almost as if it were the first time you’ve heard the word?

For Sartre, this feeling extends way beyond words and things and encapsules the whole

of life. He calls it “The Absurdity of the World.”

Consider having dinner with your partner. You are essentially part of a habitable planet

called Earth, in the midst of the milky way galaxy, sitting down on chopped up wood which

people use to make chairs and tables and you put pieces of plants and meat in your mouth

along with your partner, with whom you one day hope to procreate with and start a family.

This is the true absurdity of the world and we live our lives immersed in it.

Sartre is also a leading figure in phenomenology,

a branch of philosophy that offered a radical account of the workings of human consciousness.

In other words, it is experiencing reality as we experience it with our perceptions,

distinguished from the world as it really is.

He studied under Edmund Husserl, the world’s leader in that field. He felt that he found

an entirely new way of seeing man’s existence in the world.

To understand Sartre’s view of what phenomenology is, a good starting point is his 1945 public

lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism”, which was later made into a book, he declared

his famous proposition that for human beings “Existence precedes essence”, that is

the fundamental tenet of Existentialism. Ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle

believed that every object had within it an essence. The essence of a thing is a specific

thing within an object that need to be there for that thing to be considered as whatever

it is. If this thing for some reason did no longer have this specific property, it’d have

lost its identity and would therefore become something else.

Take for instance a knife, if it lacked its blade, it would just be a colourful handle

of a sort. In other words, it’d have lost its essential property or the essence of that

knife, a quality that is necessary to make it what it is.

This extends to every single object, including human beings. Every human being is born with

this essence; thus, essence precedes existence. This is the core philosophy of Essentialism.

This theory remained strong since the time of ancient Greek philosophy right until the

20th century. Here is where Sartre comes in, and asks: what if we are born without an essence?

What if when we are born, we are to determine what our essence will be? What if existence

precedes essence? In other words, an individual creates himself through what he does, he is

what he does. Just as a painter paints on a blank canvas, we invent what will eventually

appear on the canvas. In that way, our life is a work of art and every action defines

us. However, the moment when you realise that

your existence is not founded upon any past objective facts, that your existence consists

of what you’re going to make of it, it becomes a slightly horrifying realisation.

For Sartre human beings live in anguish, or

the feeling of total and deep responsibility, not because life is terrible, but because,

as he says:

We are born without a choice, yet here we are born into a world with so much freedom

to choose while simultaneously held responsible for everything we choose to do in this existence

that we didn’t choose to have. We are condemned to be free.

In Existentialism, this is known as thrownness, a word coined by Martin Heidegger. It is the

condition of an individual’s existence upon being thrown into the absurdity of the material

world, arbitrarily born into a given family, within a given culture, at a given moment

in human history. Heidegger calls these “givens” facticities.

Sartre addresses that these limiting things that we don’t have control over do not limit

our freedom. As he says:

Since existence precedes essence, there is no design for a human being, there is no God.

For Sartre, phenomenology has to be atheistic. Assuming that God exists and has created everything

would mean that essence precedes existence, the opposite of Sartre’s view. We therefore

exist first and only then do we end up trying to make sense of things by way of science,

religion, political ideology, philosophy, or anything else.

That is quite a difference from Kierkegaard’s view of Existentialism, for him, you can’t

do Existentialism without God, for Sartre it works the other way around. As you can

see, these existentialists have really different ideas even while pertaining to the same philosophical

movement. Sartre tries to rebuild the idea of freedom

taken out of the Christian culture, getting rid of the power of God on human life. He

believes that if God exists man is not free, and if man is free God does not exist.

If God is dead, or as Dostoevsky said:

So, if there is nothing that preordains our human nature, then we must be free. We can

then begin to set our own meaning to our life. Once we exist, it is our job to discover our

essence. Freedom is one of the most important aspects of Sartre’s philosophy, to understand

how truly free you actually are. However, once you realise that you are completely

free – you begin to feel dread of the amount of possibilities that are open to you, everything

is possible. It is you who has to decide the meaning of

your life, when you realise that your freedom is completely without direction or guidance,

it produces a sort of dizziness or nausea, which is why Sartre regards freedom as a condemnation.

Man is nothing but his life and actions, and this is horrifying.

A common trap that people fall into is what

Sartre calls Bad Faith, a dominant theme of his work. Bad faith is a way of denying the

fundamental nature of our freedom and responsibility, it is a way of making excuses for ourselves.

We accept something as true that really isn’t that convincing to us, but because it is convenient

and easy for us to believe in. Sartre talks about a hypothetical waiter,

he does not like his job, he goes to work day after day and does not feel fulfilled,

but when he thinks of applying to a different job or asks himself the difficult questions

that would come along with that sort of life choice, he convinces himself that it’d be

better to just to remain a waiter. For Sartre, this is nonsense, it is Bad Faith.

We are free individuals that can choose the meaning of our life. We convince ourselves

that we actually don’t have a choice: we need the money, to pay the bills, feed our

family, and so on. And that being unhappy at the current job is just how life is.

Sartre would say that it is entirely self-imposed, it is self-deception. It is something that

people do to avoid making difficult life decisions, desperately trying to avoid temporary discomfort

in the present moment, which comes from the ability to choose and be free, telling oneself

excuses. We put ourselves in long-term agony, in an attempt to avoid short-term discomfort.

Sartre's masterwork and major philosophical

work of his life is Being and Nothingness, which became the core of Existentialism.

He speaks of consciousness, bad faith, the existence of “nothingness”, free will and authenticity.

The idea that individuals can always choose their own actions, even in situations which

appear to enslave them. He begins with the origin of negation, the

empty nothingness or opposite of being. Our conscious existence introduces the idea of

nothingness into the world. What this means is that we are able to conjure up things that

aren’t physically visible to us. For example, you might see your bed because

its right in front of you, but you can also not see a pyramid, you can imagine it being

there, and thus your experience of the current room is altered and structured around the

fact that there is not a pyramid in it. Sartre believes consciousness involves making

ongoing distinctions between things and yourself. He explains that making these distinctions

that make things appear as they do in our experience, also involves their continuing

to not appear to be other things. It is a process of negation.

A table continues to be a table, it is not an animal, an automobile, or an abstract formula.

In other words:

Thus, perception is a negative process and consciousness affects it by nihilating, to

encase in a shell of non-being.

The theory of nothingness is central to Sartre’s philosophy. He distinguishes between two kinds

of being: consciousness or what he calls the Being For-Itself, which is the source of all

meaning. And on the other hand, a mode of existence that simply is, which is not conscious

and is relevant only to inanimate objects, the Being In-Itself.

One of the problems of human existence for Sartre is the desire to attain Being-In-Itself,

which he describes as the desire to be God, a longing for full control over one’s destiny

and for absolute identity, only attainable by achieving full control over the destiny

of all existence. The world is meaningful to us because we,

the For-Itself, give meaning to the In-Itself. The For-Itself uses the world to try to give

itself some kind of definition, but it is pure nothingness.

Sartre doesn’t believe you can define humanity, whatever we are is so free that we can constantly

redefine whatever we are. Nothing could ever become necessary for us. Therefore, we are

a kind of nullity. But we must have some kind of content, we need to become, what he calls

an In-Itself For-Itself. That is, we need to become conscious of having some meaning

and content. All of our activity is understood by trying

to cover up our nothingness and delude ourselves into thinking that we have an identity, some

kind of content and meaning in our lives. But since we really don’t and can’t have

it because we are pure freedom and nothingness, we are a futile passion or in despair. So,

we are constantly in bad faith, we are the kind of being that needs something that we can't have.

In addition, he later adds the Being For-Others, which englobes the whole of society. He states

that many relationships are created by people’s attraction not to another person, but rather

how that person makes them feel about themselves by how they look at them. Whenever Sartre

thought about what other people were thinking when they were looking at him is fundamental

to his existence and to all his writing.

The Look is a central concept in Sartre’s phenomenology. It is the exploration of the

experience of being seen. You are a subject, but if someone gazes into you for a long time,

you start becoming hyper aware of yourself as an object in other people’s views.

What we think of self-consciousness is actually our consciousness of the world. For Sartre,

there is no such thing as a self, an essential being that we truly are. This is merely a

security blanket of an idea which he tries to get people to abandon. His whole argument

is that there is no predetermined character which makes you be who you are, who you are

is a function of what you do. Sartre gives the example of a person looking

through a keyhole into a bedroom. He is behaving as a subject, but the experience of being

caught seeing through the keyhole immediately makes this person aware that they are a person

looking at a bedroom behind a closed door, whereas before they were just looking at the scene.

This person has been transformed into something

that was just trying to see and listen to the conversation, to a person with a nauseating

feeling of shame, proving that we are always under the eyes of other people. Thus, we are

all objects in the eyes of others. There is no way that people can feel entirely

comfortable with each other, it is always going to be impossible to think of yourself

simultaneously as someone who is going around the world acting in it and being an agent,

and also to think of yourself as being an object that other people are observing.

The entire social realm is based on adversarial

aspects. In his book No Exit, Sartre illustrates the difficult coexistence of people, because

we are unable to escape the watchful gaze of everyone around us, which alienates us

and locks us in a particular kind of being, which in turn deprives us of our freedom.

Sartre’s physical condition deteriorated,

in part because of his workaholism, but also because he was a notorious chain smoker.

He died in 1980 from swelling of the lung. Over 50,000 people took to the streets of Paris

to follow his coffin and millions watched on television. No philosopher had ever had

a bigger following. He was a philosopher who thought against himself,

against everything given to him by society and education, he spent his life testing the

limits of traditional thinking. The fact that life is meaningless gives us the opportunity

to give it a meaning. It is precisely because it doesn’t have a meaning in advance that

we are justified in creating one. In a world with increasing anguish and despair,

Sartre teaches us that we are in control of our lives, that we are allowed to build it

the way we want with our own values.