The most readable philosophy work of Sartre

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	• Existentialism And Human Emotions (A Philosophical Library Book) Jean-Paul Sartre Citadel, 2000 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The most readable philosophy work of Sartre

This work is readable and clear. In this it is possible to learn more from reading a few pages of it than from reading all of Sartre's major philosophical work 'Being and Nothingness'. The basic idea of Sartre's Existensialism is that we are born into the world without having any prior purpose or meaning. Our life is the story of the meaning we make for ourselves. And we do this through our decisions and choices. We make the meaning by our action. And should we decide not to take action then this too is a meaning and action. For Sartre the rejection of all a priori systems most especially those of the great religions leads to the idea of human dignity as based primarily on human freedom and decision. This is an appealing doctrine in some ways because it would seem to free Mankind of all shackles, liberate it to be itself completely. The problem is that the meaning we make is mortal as we are, and the path of freedom would then seem to lead no matter who we are to an ultimate annihilation and nothingness.
We need God if we are to have a meaning that will endure. But this of course would not be acceptable to Sartre.

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Great book

I first checked this out from the library. I loved the text so much that I ended up reading it in an afternoon. I later bought the book because I liked it so much. If you're interested in Sartre but don't want to dig through his longer books, this is a good start.

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A brilliant work by a brilliant author!

Sartre hass eloquently and brilliantly defended existentialism and elucidated the meaning behind the words. Sartre emphasized the importance of actions and responsibility in defining man. No more excuses. You create yourself and you are responsible for it. Sartre debunks the victim role perpetuated by religion, determinism, and fatalism, and in lieu he accentuates freedom of choice and responsibility.
This book is a must read for any student or lover of philosophy....

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A Good Introduction

This is a very accessible book for anyone who has a passing acquaintance with philosophical terminology and discussion. As a Christian, I of course differ with Sartre in many fundamental ways, but one has to admire the consistency of his thought given his philosophical presuppositions.

Sartre is unafraid to face and even embrace the consequences of the idea of life lived without hope of fundamental purpose or meaning. Life, both corporate and individual, is the outcome of choices we make. Every man carries the burden and freedom of all humanity and in his time through his own actions makes the human race what it is and becomes through him.

The weakest areas of his ethics is when he seeks to divorce them from absolute standards. Though he requires that individual man must necessarily act on his freedom to judge and evaluate the actions of others, and to make statements about his evaluation, yet he seeks to distance such statements from any claim that all should so evaluate them. I think Sartre recognizes the logical tension he creates here but his explanation is not satisfying.

All in all, if someone wants to sample the waters of atheistic existentialism, then you can't go far wrong with this book. It is not light reading but it is worthwhile. After reading it find a similar book on Christian ethics for the other side of the story.

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Most Accessible of Sartre's Philosophy

I give this book 5 stars for its accessibility and clarity of Sartre's philosophy, but I give it 3 for its consistency (hence the 4 stars on the rating).

The first section of the book is his lecture "Existentialism" or "Existentialism is a Humanism." The rest contains excerpts from "Being and Nothingness."

On the surface, Sartre's philosophy seems insightful and profound, especially the chapter on personal responsibility. However, the extreme lengths that Sartre takes to create a coherent atheistic position are enough to drive anyone to their nearest priest. He assumes atheism, but never proves it. At one point he says it is profoundly distressing that there is no God. Later on he says that it doesn't matter if God exists or not because existentialism is about man, not God.

Nonetheless, he says he is trying to create a coherent atheistic philosophy, since the modern philosophers rejected God but tried to keep the a priori ethics that can not exist without God (in the words of Dostoevsky, "If there is not God, all [moral] things are permissible.") He takes this to such a profound extreme (and I think he would be correct if there were no God) that, had I not known better, I would have thought he was a Christian arguing against atheism!

The book is not difficult to read, though it is difficult to reconcile Sartre's apparent contradictions (e.g. do we define our own essence or is it our essence to desire to be God?) There is minimal technical language. I recommend reading this book 1) to understand Sartre's brand of existentialism, 2) to understand why so many other existentialists rejected the label "existentialism" and 3) understand why so many people today live a philosophy of despair (not unlike Sartre's own philosophy, which he described as being full of despair).

Don't think too much of Sartre's supposed "rejection" of this book. Sartre wrote and said a lot of things; he was said to have written 10,000 words a day, mostly garbage, and to have talked incessantly to others (and even to himself). On one hand, he completely lived out his philosophy by engaging in anything he so desired (especially sex with many women, often his students). But on the other hand, he was completely hypocritical because he did not afford the freedom he preached on others (especially his mistresses, and most especially Simone de Beauvoir).

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