French Novelist, Playwright, Screenwriter, Political

activist, Biographer, Literary critic, and Philosophe

Place among the most influential Western

philosophers of the 20th century and beyond

Prominent person of Philosophy of existence

known as existentialism

Nausea (1938)
Being and Nothingness (1943)
Existentialism and Humanism (1946)
For Sartre, there are philosophically significant
differences between the states of being between things in
the world and people.

Being-in-itself
Things that are not conscious, such as rocks,
chairs, or can openers.

Being-for-itself
Can distinguish itself from other beings and
objects and in doing to discover itself.
(Human Being)
For Sartre, it means that man exist first, finds himself,
ventures into the world, and then defines himself.

“Man condemned to be free”

It means, if a man thrown into the world, he is
responsible for everything he does. So we invent our
purpose, and our own essence.
One of Sartre’s most controversial contributions to
philosophy is his claim that we are “radically free”.
Radically free to define our essence, also free to choose,
act, and even change our emotions.

To deny our radical freedom is what Sartre referred as

“bad faith”. We act in bad faith any time we refuse to
take responsibility four our actions, beliefs, and
emotions.
Sartre believed that there are certain facts about
ourselves which we cannot change no matter how
radically free we are, which make up our “facticity”.

 It includes, where a person was

born, their social class, and their
bodily condition.
The state of excelling or surpassing, or going beyond
usual limits.

Sartre proposed that even though we cannot change our

facticity, we can choose to not let those things define us.
Defining ourselves – our essence – is a unique feature of
Sartre’s philosophy, which can be empowering.
However, it also comes with responsibility.

Human nature is something we must individually decide

upon. We define what human nature is, and therein lies
our responsibility.