JEAN-PAUL SARTRE: BIOGRAPHY, EXISTENTIALISM, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Jean Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist, known for being one of the leading figures in the philosophical ideas of existentialism and French Marxism during the 20th century. Sartre's existentialism acclaims the need for freedom and individuality of the human being.

His works managed to influence sociology, critical theories, literary studies and other humanistic disciplines. In addition, he stood out for having had a sentimental and working relationship with the feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.

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Sartre's introduction to his philosophy was expressed through the work entitled Existentialism is a humanism. This work was intended to be presented at a conference. One of the first works where he exhibited his philosophical ideas was through the work entitled El ser y la nada.

For a few years, Sartre was involved with the army in favor of the ideals of freedom of French society. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; however, he rejected the honors, considering that a writer should not be turned into an institution.

Biography

Early life

Jean Paul Sartre was born on June 21, 1905, in Paris, France. He was the only child of Jean Baptiste Sartre, an officer in the French Navy, and Anne Marie Schweitzer, born in Alsace (a region of France close to Germany).

When Sartre was two years old, his father passed away from a disease that he probably contracted in Indochina. After what happened, his mother returned to her parents' home in Meudon (one of the suburbs of France) where she was able to educate her son.

Part of Sartre's education was done with the help of his grandfather, Charles Schweitzer, who taught him mathematics and first introduced him to classical literature from an early age.

When Sartre was 12 years old, his mother remarried. They had to move to the city of La Rochelle, where he was frequently harassed.

Starting in 1920, he began to be drawn to philosophy by reading Henri Bergson's essay Free Time and Will. In addition, he attended the Cours Hattermer, a private school located in Paris. In the same city, he studied at the École Normale Superieure, the alma mater of several prominent French thinkers.

In this institution he managed to obtain certificates in psychology, history of philosophy, ethics, sociology and some scientific subjects.

Higher studies and other findings

During his early years at the École Normale Superieure, Sartre was known for being one of the most radical pranksters on the course. A few years later, he was a controversial figure when he made an antimilitarist satirical cartoon. That fact upset several prominent French thinkers.

In addition, he attended the seminars of the Russian philosopher Alexandre Kojeve, whose studies were decisive for his formal development in philosophy. In 1929, at the same Paris institution, she met Simone de Beauvoir, who later became a prominent feminist writer.

Both came to share ideologies and became inseparable companions, to the point of starting a romantic relationship. However, that same year, Sartre was drafted into the French Army. He served as a meteorologist for the armed forces until 1931.

In 1932, Sartre discovered the book entitled Journey at the End of the Night by Louis Ferdinand Céline, a book that had a notable influence on him.

Second World War

In 1939, Sartre was again drafted into the French army, where he returned to work as a meteorologist due to his great performance in 1931. Within a year, he was captured by German troops and spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Nancy, France.

During this period, he wrote one of his first works and devoted time to readings that later laid the groundwork for the development of his own creations and essays. Due to poor health, due to exotropia - a condition similar to strabismus - Sartre was released in 1941.

According to other sources, Sartre managed to escape after a medical evaluation. Eventually, he regained his teaching position in a city on the outskirts of Paris.

That same year, he was motivated to write so as not to get involved in the conflicts against the Germans. She wrote the works entitled El ser y la nada, Las moscas, and Not to leave. Fortunately, none of the works were confiscated by the Germans and he was able to contribute to other magazines.

Post-war thinking

After World War II, Sartre turned his attention to the phenomenon of social responsibility. He had shown great concern for the poor all his life. In fact, he stopped wearing a tie when he was a teacher, considering himself equal to a common worker.

He made freedom the protagonist in his works and took it as a tool of human struggle. For this reason, she created a pamphlet in 1946 entitled Existentialism and Humanism.

It was at this time that he officially recognized the importance and introduced the concept of existentialism. He began to carry a much more ethical message through his novels.

Sartre trusted that novels and plays functioned as means of communication for the expansion of correct messages to society.

Political thoughts and activities

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Sartre became actively interested in French politics and, more specifically, in leftist ideology. He became an admirer of the Soviet Union, although he did not want to participate in the Communist Party.

Modern Times was a philosophical and political magazine founded by Sartre in 1945. Through it, the French philosopher condemned the Soviet intervention and the submission of the French Communist Party. With this critical attitude, he opened the way for a new form of socialism.

Sartre took it upon himself to critically examine Marxism and found that it was not compatible with the Soviet form. Although he believed that Marxism was the only philosophy for the times of his time, he recognized that it was not adapted to many specific situations in societies.

Last years

The Nobel Prize in Literature was announced on October 22, 1964. However, earlier Sartre had written a letter to the Nobel Institute, asking it to remove him from the list of nominees and warning them that he would not accept it if awarded.

Sartre classified himself as a simple man with few possessions and without fame; it is presumed that is why he rejected the award. He was committed to causes in favor of his native country and its ideological beliefs throughout his life. In fact, he participated in the 1968 strikes in Paris and was arrested for civil disobedience.

Sartre's physical condition gradually deteriorated due to the high pace of work and the use of amphetamines. In addition, he suffered from hypertension and became almost completely blind in 1973. Sartre was characterized by his excessive smoking, which contributed to his deterioration in health.

On April 15, 1980, Sartre died in Paris from pulmonary edema. Sartre had asked that he not be buried with his mother and stepfather, so he was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery, France.

Existentialism

Jean-Paul Sartre

Existentialism as a term originated in 1943, when philosopher Gabriel Marcel used the word "existentialism" to refer to Sartre's way of thinking.

However, Sartre himself refused to acknowledge the existence of such a term. He simply referred to his way of thinking as one that prioritized the existence of man before anything else.

Jean-Paul Sartre began to be related to existentialism after giving his famous speech called “Existentialism is a humanism”.

Sartre gave the famous speech at a major school of thought in Paris in October 1945. Then, in 1946, he wrote a book of the same name based on the speech.

Although this gave rise to a rise of the existentialist movement within philosophy, many of the views of the thinker published in the text have been openly criticized by many philosophers of the 20th century.

Years after its publication, Sartre himself harshly criticized his original vision and disagreed with many of the points made in the book.

Interpretations

The term "existentialism" had never been used in the philosophical sphere until the emergence of Sartre's first ideas. In fact, he is considered the forerunner of this branch of philosophy.

However, the concept is very ambiguous and can be easily misinterpreted. The ambiguity of the concept is one of the reasons why various philosophers have criticized the origin of the term.

Sartre's thought

According to Sartre, the human being is condemned to be free. It conceives human existence as a conscious existence; that is, man is distinguished from things because he is a conscious being of action and thought.

Existentialism is a philosophy that shares the belief that philosophical thought begins with the human being: not only with the thought of individuals, but with the actions, feelings and experiences of the human being.

Sartre believes that man is not only how he conceives himself, but is how he wants to be. Man defines himself according to his actions, and that is what the principle of existentialism is based on. Existence is what is present; it is synonymous with reality, opposed to the concept of essence.

The French philosopher affirms that, for the human being, “existence precedes essence” and this explains it through a clear example: if an artist wants to make a work, he thinks about it (he constructs it in his mind) and precisely, this idealization is the essence of the final work that will later come into existence.

In this sense, human beings are intelligent designs and cannot be classified as good or bad by nature.

Position of freedom in existentialism

Jean Paul Sartre associated existentialism with the freedom of the human being. The philosopher affirmed that human beings should be absolutely free, on the condition that they have absolute responsibility for themselves, with others and with the world.

He proposed that the fact that man is free makes him the owner and author of his destiny. Therefore, the existence of man precedes his essence.

Sartre's argument explains that man does not have an essence when he is born and does not have a clear concept of himself; as time passes, he himself will give meaning to his existence.

For Sartre, man is obliged to choose each of his acts from infinite options; there are no limits between a group of existential options. This availability of options need not be joyous or rewarding.

In short, living is about putting into practice freedom and the ability to choose. Sartre asserted that escaping from reality is theoretically impossible.

Condemned freedom

Sartre saw freedom as a sentence from which man can never free himself. He is condemned to decide, his actions, his present and his future over all things. However, most men try to make sense of existence, even if it is an absurd and incoherent explanation.

By giving meaning to existence, men acquire routine obligations, following pre-established parameters and a rational plan. Despite this, Sartre believed that this existence is false, the product of a bad faith of the cowardice of men dominated by anguish.

The moral laws, ethics and rules of behavior that human beings use to get rid of anguish, are inevitably based on personal choice and, therefore, on individual freedom. Hence, Sartre affirms that man is the one who decides to pursue moral principles in his freedom.

Allowing others to choose over their freedom is part of this principle. Acting on the basis of personal choice provides respect for everyone's freedom.

General ideas of existentialist thought according to Sartre

According to Sartre, human beings are divided into several species: being in itself, being for oneself, being for another, atheism and values.

Being in itself, in Sartre's words, is the being of things, while being for another is the being of people. Things are complete in themselves, unlike humans who are incomplete beings.

Being in itself precedes existence, while being for itself is the opposite. Man is not made, but makes himself over time. For the philosopher, the existence of God is impossible. Sartre became attached to atheism.

Sartre commented that, if God does not exist, he has not created man as the scriptures say, so man is able to face his radical freedom. In this sense, values ​​depend solely on man and are his own creation.

In Sartre's words, God is not tied to human destiny; according to human nature, man must freely choose his destiny, not a supernatural or divine power.

Other contributions

Sartre's literary works

Sartre's thought was not only expressed through philosophical works, but also through essays, novels, and plays. For this reason, this philosopher has been seen as one of the most emblematic thinkers of contemporary culture.

One of the most representative novels of the French philosopher is the work titled Nausea, written in 1931. Some of the themes that this work addresses are death, rebellion, history and progress. More specifically, the novel tells a story in which the characters wonder about the existence of the human being.

Another of Sartre's literary works corresponds to the collection of short stories entitled The Wall, and published in 1939. It constitutes a narration in the first and third person. Through this work, the philosopher questioned life, illnesses, couples, families and the bourgeoisie.

Among Sartre's most recognized theatrical works is La mosca, a play that reflects the myth of Electra and Oreste in search of avenging the death of Agamemnon. This myth served as an excuse to criticize the Second World War.

Sartre's communist thought

After the end of World War II, Sartre began to have a taste for the communist ideals of Europe. From there, he began to write several texts in relation to the thoughts of the left.

Sartre wanted to end the model of Stalinist socialism. His type of socialism was closer to what is known today as social democracy. This concept was not well regarded by the politicians of the time, who declared the philosopher's ideas invalid.

However, Sartre began to be sympathetic to Marxist and Leninist ideas. His idea was based on the only solution to eliminate a reaction in Europe was to form a revolution. Many of his ideas about politics and communism were reflected in his political magazine, which was entitled Modern Times.

The Critique of Dialectical Reason was one of Sartre's main works. In it, he addressed the problem of conciliation of Marxism. Basically, through the book, Sartre tried to make a reconciliation between Marxism and existentialism.

Plays

Being and Nothingness

The work entitled Being and Nothingness was one of Sartre's first texts in which he presented his ideas on existentialism. The book was published in 1943. There, Sartre affirmed that the existence of the individual is prior to the essence of the same.

In the book, he expressed for the first time his statement about "existence precedes essence", one of the most recognized phrases of existentialist thought. In this work, Sartre expressed his point of view on existentialism based on the ideas of the philosopher René Descartes.

Both concluded that the first thing that must be taken into account is the fact of existence, although everything else is doubted. This work was a contribution to the philosophy of sex, sexual desire and the expression of existentialism.

the existentialism is a Humanism

Existentialism is a Humanism was published in 1946, and was based on a conference of the same name that took place the previous year. This work was conceived as one of the starting points of existentialist thought.

However, it is a book that was widely criticized by many philosophers, and even by Sartre himself. In this book, Sartre explained in detail his ideas about existence, essence, freedom, and atheism.

References

1. Who was Jean Paul Sartre ?, Website culturizing.com, (2018). Taken from culturizing.com
2. Jean-Paul Sartre, Wilfrid Desan, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
3. Jean-Paul Sartre Biographical, Portal The Nobel Prize, (nd). Taken from nobelprize.org
4. Jean-Paul Sartre, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
5. Sartre and Marxism, Portal Marxismo y Revolución, (nd). Taken from marxismoyrevolucion.org