It appears to me and to all of those that read Existentialism that athiestic existentialism denies the notion that mans essence precedes its existence. In “being and nothingness”, Satre talks of how “if God does not exist, then there is atleast one being whos existence precedes its essence”.
Here is the tricky part,
Is Satre really sorrowful for what he had written? It has taken me by quite a shock after reading his book.
who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…
I am not sure if he had an actual change of heart at the end or not… perhaps he heard pascal’s wager again and at the last minute, decided to grasp at one straw in an infinite sea of godly straws…
then again, perhaps it is the result of a dementia that may have gripped him towards the end of his existence…
or perhaps propagandists for the church have exploited his doctor’s privacy priviledge…
jean paul ain’t talkin…
-Imp
Yes, I agree and what is the source for that quote?
Also, when people are going to die some get frightened and some get very rational. I’m not sure that dying words can be used to abolish the words of the once healthy person. Who knows what his state of mind was, if he indeed said those things.
I believe Sartre was referring to the fact that the rampant individualism (which based on a careless notion of selfhood) of his earlier work (which he overcame in his later work) became such a tool of decadence and relativism, rather than the basis for a socialistic society (Sartre’s preferred political ideal). I could be wrong.
J-P Sartre was pretty pessimistic, so perhaps this comment is simply a reflection of that. It was inevitable given his outlook that towards the end of his life he’d regret various things.
Who knows.
Does “Man is condemned to be free” mean that Man does not want to be held responsible for himself since he was just “thrown into the world”?
If not please clear up the meaning for me.
Ram1
some men may not want to be held responsible, but they don’t have the choice not to choose and with that choice, they reap the reward…
clear as mud I’m sure…
-Imp
regarding
angelfire.com/az/experiment/ … alism.html
Nietzsche didn’t spend the last 11 years of his life thinking he was Jesus, or at least not only Jesus, he did sign letters ‘Umberto Umberto’ for a while, and claimed he was emperor of Rome.
I think he was having a laugh and no-one got it, he wasn’t mad at all
I find it fascinating that the agenda seems to be of prime importance. The fact that Sartre may have experienced a new understanding leading to a profound experience should make friends and fans happy. But it seems that, assuming the incident to be true, his happiness and concern for truth as he currently experienced it is secondary to maintaining the agenda. And this from his partner in open relationship.
Okay, this does not make sense to me. We have stated that men regret their freedom since they are “thrown into the world”, you are saying that men do not have the choice to regret or abandon their freedom and i agree with that. But you also say that “with that choice they reap their reward”, you just said that men do not have ANY choice?
that is correct… no choice… they are condemned (no choice) to be free to choose…
-Imp
…I’m there.
Except of course for Bad Faith, where one chooses not to choose. Sartre’s attempt at tidying up this little problem (chapter 2 sec III Being and Nothingness) wasn’t very good, and he never attempted a reformulation, to my knowledge.
but one could choose to be in bad faith…
but not much of sartre was good IMHO…
-Imp
Indeed, I suppose one could choose to choose to not choose
I’ve never found Sartre’s views of the world particularly inspiring, though stylistically his novels are interesting and have given me plenty of ideas. I’m still looking at Lovecraft.
at least the insanity behind Cthulu is obvious 
-Imp
Not “choose”, if you do not “choose” then you are not in bad faith. If you do not know that you are lying to yourself then you are not acting in bad faith.
and if you choose to deny knowledge there can be no “bad faith”…
but you cannot “know” you are acting in any way…
-Imp
Bad Faith isn’t simply an issue of lying to oneself, one can knowingly lie to oneself without being in Bad Faith.
I saw a lot of adds for Christian stuff on that page (where the article was at) and believe that it is Christian propaganda.