Sarte Essay, Research Paper

Sartre, which we place among atheists, stress that central concern of philosophy is human existence. He says that human being is a special kind of consciousness (being-for- itself). Everything else is matter (being-in-itself). He believes that human being has no God-given essence and is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. According to him, anguish is the result of the absolute freedom and responsibility. He also says that human existence is absurd and unjustified. Therefore, the goal of human being is to justify his/her existence.(2) Sartre believes that there are those in our history who have established a religion to reassure nothing more than what he calls a “fundamental project.” That means that when we become anguished by the affairs of life we pursue a fundamental project in attempt to flee this anguish. He says that we try to make ourselves Gods in hopes that others would see us divine, and hold us in higher regard. To pursue a fundamental project according to Sartre is to act in a bad faith. “To act in a bed faith is to manifest our freedom inauthentic ally.”(3) Sartre believes that man experiences two primary phases of consciousness in his life, the spontaneous phase in which man does nothing more than pursue a particular task which means that man is in shallow mode of being, and the reflective phase of consciousness In reflective phase, man realizes that he is not alone in this world and this realization is not without consequences. When men acknowledges that there are others that makeup the society in which he exists, the man discovers that he has identity. People know who he is and what he does, then he discovers that he is “a being in the world of others”(4) If man can acknowledge his facticity situation, that is accept that he is a being with biological and social past, that means that he is according to Sartre acting clear headed, and in good faith. This means that man manifests his freedom authentically and therefore his freedom is real. I think that Sartre’s tenets are applicable to life. I can think of many occasions in which we face realizations we are not prepare for and act without a clear head, and this not allows us to achieve peace of our minds. Once a clear head is put to use, Sartre says, the reconciliation and peace of mind will come (5) As atheist, Sartre states that no one can escape from his/her freedom, and that the human being is absolute free, and as he believes there is no Got, that means that our freedom is unrestricted. We and only we are responsible for our own life and choices we make every each day and emotions, motives, and social and political institutions can’t limit it. We, and only we are responsible for accepting others opinion about ourselves and other things. A person, who is labeled as ugly, for example, doesn’t have to accept this opinion, like we don`t have to accept that abortion is bad. Ethical choices we make through our life are our own and are very subjective. But our responsibility extends far beyond this personal dimension. Our responsibility reaches other human being, or maybe, entire human race. By deciding the way we act, we create of image of ourselves, which we want others to accept, approve and follow. But most people try to avoid this responsibility, the painful anguish by falling into, like Sartre says, bad faith, or self-deception. The painful truth is that no one else but we are responsible for our actions.

NOTES 1) Barnes, Wesley. “Is Existentialism Definable?” The Philosophy and Literature of Existentialism. Woodbury: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 1968 2) Douglas W. Shrader, Ashok K. Malhotra. “Pathways To Philosophy”. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1996. p. 83-86, 87-93, 97-100 3) Sartre’s Thoughts On Personality, http://library.thinkquest.org/18775/sartre/pers.htm 4) As above 5) Roberts, David E. “Introduction” Existentialism and Religious belief” New York: Oxford University Press, 1959. 6) Robert C. Solomon. “The Big Qestions” Harcourt Brace College Publishers, New York, 1998, p.241-273. 7) Soren Kierkergaard, wysiwyg://16/http://www.fortunecity.com/263/exist/kierk.html 8) Existentialism And Soren Kierkergaard, http:www.tameri.com/csw/exist/kierk.html.