Jean-Paul Sartre

1.3 Jean Paul Sartre Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was one of the leading figures in 20th Century philosophy. A French intellectual, writer and activist, he is best known for his pioneering ideas on existentialism. He wrote a number of books, including the highly influential Being and Nothingness, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1964, though he turned it down. Like the work of most other philosophers, Sartre’s contribution to the discipline is difficult to condense, if one must…

In Existentialism and Human Emotions, Sartre addresses specific charges against existential thought, defends existentialism, and situates his own ethics of existential thought among other thinkers. Sartre begins addressing the charge that existential thought is in the same ethical realm as nihilism, meaning that if there is no transcendent meaning or objective standard then there is no inherent meaning in the world and, in result, that nothing matters. Sartre explains this nihilistic view of…

The distinction between autonomy and dependency is one of great importance in the field of philosophy and in answering the question of what it means to be human. Autonomy is the state of functioning independently, and it is known that the idea of autonomy is central to how human beings are understood. The rules of autonomy state that we can influence our own life and that we are shaped by our own decisions— by who we are and how we live. Therefore, it is difficult to think without any notions of…

1.2 Yalom’s model of existential psychotherapy Yalom believed life has arisen from random events, we are finite and we are responsible for our own destiny (Yalom, 2008), and he identified “four ultimate concerns” as the key to all human existence; death, freedom, isolation and meaningless, and stated, “The individual’s confrontation with these facts of life constitutes the content of the existential dynamic conflict” (Yalom, 1980 p. 8). Death is the central part of Yalom’s philosophy, as we are…

Maryam Yaso The Actual Problem In 2004, the banning of all conspicuous religious signs became an official law in France. The law applied to all types of religions in France, but it targeted mostly Muslims. In particular, Muslim women were targeted for the use of headscarves, which is a piece of fine material worn by Muslim women to cover up their hair; the veil is a cloth that covers the whole body except the eyes. The law was made to ban all types of religious signs, but in reality, it was…

significance in life, and endeavor to settle on valuable choices regardless of existing in a nonsensical universe. Both the ballad "The Man Had No Useful Work" and the painting "Lady and Bicycle", indicate Sartre principles of existentialism. The reason that I feel like they both show existentialism is because Sartre expresses that people are special, putting forth the expression that "human instinct" isn't settled and consistent, demonstrating that no individual is the same. Both the poem and…

Expectations and standards for women in society are unrealistic and outrageous. These thoughts of what a woman should be like and how they should behave have been around for centuries. Woman are often times looked down upon when they don’t look like how society tells them to and this can cause a number of things to go wrong in their self image and life. Unfortunately these high expectations have had an extremely negative impact on females. In Margie Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” she discusses the…

1. Would you agree that Beckett’s Waiting for Godot perfectly encapsulates all the uncertainties of modernity? Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot belongs to the Theatre of the Absurd. The absence of a meaningful plot, of objective dialogues and of absolute certainty is the state of absurdity. Beckett utilizes absurdity to play around with the concept of existential nullity which saw man trapped in a hostile world. Human life is meaningless and this created a sense of alienation, despair and…

The idea of existence precedes essence is a notion of existentialism that is hard to understand. The best way to understand this is to use the concept of death. It is impossible however, to make any sense out of death. Death is something that is outside our realm of understanding. Death is ontologically inseparable from existence. Death is always something in our lives and is the end of perception. Monsieur Meursault in the final hours of his life finally begins to understand the notion of…

what it means to exist. Sartre believes that we all struggle from authenticity. He also believes we suffer from bad faith. Bad Faith is often called lying to oneself, self deception, or denying to oneself the truth of something one “really” knows is true. Having said that Beauvoir is in bad faith because she believes women are in a constant discriminatory struggle even though their uniqueness might even enhance their power as a collective. Furthermore…