Sartre 1

I need coffee

Remind students to bring homework (from week of Nov. 20).


A. Mini Test
B. Focus on Anguish, Forlornness and Despair. Review existence precedes essence.
C. The following Monday, do the other stuff.

Religious interpretation: http://www.cracked.com/blog/isis-wants-us-to-invade-7-facts-revealed-by-their-magazine/
What in Sartre would prevent this from being someone's project?

1. (a) Explain what "existence precedes essence" means (p. 15).
(b) Give 2 examples of essence preceding existence.
(c) Why does Sartre think there is no human nature?
(d) In terms of answering the question of the meaning of life, what does existence precedes essence imply?
(e) Is this a good thing or a bad thing or both? Why/Why not?

2.  On p. 10, Sartre says "By existentialism we mean a doctrine which makes human life possible and, in addition, declares that every truth and every action implies a human setting and a human subjectivity."
(a) What does this mean?
(b) Do you agree or disagree? Support your answer.

3. Sartre says "man will be what he will have planned to be, not what he wants to be."
(a) What does this mean? What is the difference between wanting and planning?
(b) Apply this advice to your own life. Think about some of the things you want to be. What would it mean to plan to be these things? How would you go about doing it?

4. Sartre says "man is responsible for what he is" (p. 16).
(a) What does this mean?
(b) Why does he believe this?
(c) Do you agree or disagree with his position? Support your argument.
(d) Are you responsible for what you are?

5. Sartre says that by "man is responsible for what he is" that this doesn't only apply to the individual person but also to all of humanity (p. 16-17).
(a) What does he mean?
(b) Do you agree? Support your position.

6. "Man is anguish" (p. 18)
(a) What does he mean?
(b) Have you experienced anguish in the sense he describes?
(c) Is he right that man is anguish?
(d) Is he right that people engage in self-deception? Do you?

7. One charge against existentialism is that 'anything goes'. At the bottom of p. 18 and top of p. 19 he partially addresses the charge.
(a) How successful is this response?
(b) Defend your position.

8. On p. 19 and 20, Sartre discusses Kierkegaard and the story of Abraham.
(a) How does this story relate to "man is anguish"?
(b) How does this story relate to subjectivism?

9. If Sartre is right about the themes in question 8, how do we make our first 'movement'.
(a) How do we decide which of the infinite directions we can take our lives, the millions of possible ways to 'be'?  If I'm a student, doctor, engineer, mother, etc... I have a framework from within which to make my choices (Sartre calls this an 'ethic'). However, how do I choose my ethic?