Jean-Paul Sartre

(1905-1980) Life Born in Paris in 1905. Became Professor of Philosophy at Le Havre in 1931. Also wrote novels and plays. Taught the work of Heidegger in a war camp during WW2, and was briefly involved in a resistance group. Travelled in the USSR and was involved in promoting Marxist ideas, and was a high-profile figure in the Peace Movement. Turned down the Nobel prize for literature in 1964. Claimed to no longer be a Marxist in 1977 but continued political activity until his death in 1980.

Philosophy, Works and Existentialism Central philosophical work: LEtre et le nant (Being and Nothingness) (1943) massive structuralisation of his concept of being. Two types of reality, which lie beyond our conscious experience: the being of the object of consciousness and that of consciousness itself. Formulated and popularised existentialism, which reached a climax in the 40s. Influenced by phenomenology (Sartre studied the philosophies of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger). Atheism is taken for granted in his work; the loss of God is not mourned. Man is condemned to freedom, which he may seek to evade and deny but which he will have to face if he is to be moral. The meaning of life is not established before existence man has to make his own meaning.