Jean-Paul Sartre

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Jean-Paul Sartre
Western Philosophy
20th-century philosophy
Full name Jean-Paul Sartre
Birth 21 June 1!" #Paris, France$
Death 1" %pril 1&! #aged '($ #Paris, France$
School/tradition)*istentialism, +ar*ism
Main interests
+etaphysics, )pistemology, )thics, Politics,
Phenomenology, ,ntology
Notable ideas
-)*istence precedes essence-
-.ad faith-
-/othingness-
n!luenced by0sho12
n!luenced0sho12
Jean-Paul "harles #ymard Sartre #21 June 1!" 3 1" %pril 1&!$, commonly kno1n
simply as Jean-Paul Sartre #pronounced [ pol sa t

]$, 1as a French e*istentialist

philosopher, play1right, novelist, screen1riter, political activist, 4iographer, and literary
critic5 6e 1as one of the leading figures in 2!th century French philosophy5
7n 18( he 1as a1arded the /o4el Pri9e for :iterature, 4ut he declined it
012
stating that -7t
is not the same thing if 7 sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if 7 sign Jean-Paul Sartre, /o4el Pri9e
1inner5 % 1riter must refuse to allo1 himself to 4e transformed into an institution, even if
it takes place in the most honora4le form5-
"ontents
0hide2
1 .iography
o 151 )arly life and thought
o 152 Sartre and World War 77
o 15; Politics
o 15( :ate life and death
2 <hought
o 251 :a /aus=e and e*istentialism
o 252 Sartre and literature
o 25; Sartre as a pu4lic intellectual
; Sartre in popular culture
( Selected 4i4liography
" Further reading
8 >eferences
' Sources
& )*ternal links
o &51 .y Sartre
o &52 ,n Sartre
$edit% Bio&raphy
$edit% 'arly li!e and thou&ht
(his section needs additional citations !or )eri!ication*
Please help improve this article 4y adding relia4le references5 ?nsourced material may 4e
challenged and removed5 (May 2007)
Jean-Paul Sartre 1as 4orn in Paris to Jean-.aptiste Sartre, an officer of the French /avy,
and %nne-+arie Sch1eit9er5 6is mother 1as of %lsatian origin, and 1as a cousin of
@erman /o4el pri9e laureate %l4ert Sch1eit9er5 When Sartre 1as 1" months old, his
father died of a fever5 %nne-+arie raised him 1ith help from her father, Aharles
Sch1eit9er, a high school professor of @erman, 1ho taught Sartre mathematics and
introduced him to classical literature at a very early age5
%s a teenager in the 12!s, Sartre 4ecame attracted to philosophy upon reading 6enri
.ergsonBs Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness5 6e studied in Paris at the elite
Ccole /ormale Sup=rieure, an institution of higher education 1hich 1as the alma mater
for several prominent French thinkers and intellectuals5 Sartre 1as influenced 4y many
aspects of Western philosophy, a4sor4ing ideas from 7mmanuel Dant, @eorg Wilhelm
Friedrich 6egel, )dmund 6usserl and +artin 6eidegger among others5 7n 12 at the
Ccole /ormale, he met Simone de .eauvoir, 1ho studied at the Sor4onne and later 1ent
on to 4ecome a noted thinker, 1riter, and feminist5 <he t1o, it is documented, 4ecame
insepara4le and lifelong companions, initiating a romantic relationship,
022
though they
1ere not monogamous5 Sartre graduated from the Ccole /ormale Sup=rieure in 12
1ith a doctorate in philosophy and served as a conscript in the French %rmy from 12 to
1;15
<ogether, Sartre and de .eauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and
e*pectations of their up4ringings, 1hich they considered 4ourgeois, in 4oth lifestyle and
thought5 <he conflict 4et1een oppressive, spiritually-destructive conformity #mauvaise
foi, literally, -4ad faith-$ and an "authentic" state of "being" 4ecame the dominant theme
of SartreBs early 1ork, a theme em4odied in his principal philosophical 1ork L't!e et "e
#$ant #%eing and #othingness$ #1(;$5 SartreBs introduction to his philosophy is his 1ork
E&istentia"ism is a 'umanism #1(8$, originally presented as a lecture5
$edit% Sartre and World War
7n 1; Sartre 1as drafted into the French army, 1here he served as a meteorologist56e
1as captured 4y @erman troops in 1(! in Padou*, and he spent nine months as a
prisoner of 1ar E in /ancy and finally in Stalag 12F, <rier, 1here he 1rote his first
theatrical piece, %a!ion() fi"s du tonne!!e, a drama concerning Ahristmas5 7t 1as during
this period of confinement that Sartre read 6eideggerBs *ein und +eit later to 4ecome a
maGor influence on his o1n essay on phenomenological ontology5 Fue to poor health #he
claimed that his poor eyesight affected his 4alance$ Sartre 1as released in %pril 1(15
@iven civilian status, he recovered his position as a teacher of Lyc$e ,asteu! near Paris,
settled at the 6otel +istral near +ontparnasse at Paris and 1as given a ne1 position at
:yc=e Aondorcet, replacing a Je1ish teacher 1ho had 4een for4idden to teach 4y Hichy
la15
%fter coming 4ack to Paris in +ay 1(1, he participated in the founding of the
underground group Socialisme et :i4ert= 1ith other 1riters Simone de .eauvoir,
+erleau-Ponty, Jean-<oussaint, FominiIue Fesanti, Jean Danapa, and Ccole /ormale
students5 7n %ugust, Sartre and .eauvoir 1ent to the French >iviera seeking the support
of %ndr= @ide and %ndr= +alrau*5 6o1ever, 4oth @ide and +alrau* 1ere undecided,
and this may have 4een the cause of SartreBs disappointment and discouragement5
*ocia"isme et "ibe!t$ soon dissolved and Sartre decided to 1rite, instead of 4eing involved
in active resistance5 6e then 1rote %eing and #othingness, -he ."ies and #o E&it, none
of 1hich 1as censored 4y the @ermans, and also contri4uted to 4oth legal and illegal
literary maga9ines5
%fter %ugust 1(( and the :i4eration of Paris, he 1rote /nti0*emite and 1e2 in the 4ook
he tries to e*plain the etiology of hate 4y analy9ing antisemitic hate5 Sartre 1as a very
active contri4utor to Combat, a ne1spaper created during the clandestine period 4y
%l4ert Aamus, a philosopher and author 1ho held similar 4eliefs5 Sartre and .eauvoir
remained friends 1ith Aamus until he turned a1ay from communism, a schism that
eventually divided them in 1"1, after the pu4lication of AamusB -he 3ebe"5 :ater, 1hile
Sartre 1as la4elled 4y some authors as a resistant, the French philosopher and resistant
Hladimir Jankelevitch critici9ed SartreBs lack of political commitment during the @erman
occupation, and interpreted his further struggles for li4erty as an attempt to redeem
himself5 %ccording to Aamus, Sartre 1as a 1riter 1ho resisted, not a resistor 1ho 1rote5
When the 1ar ended Sartre esta4lished Les -em4s Mode!nes #Mode!n -imes$, a monthly
literary and political revie1, and started 1riting full-time as 1ell as continuing his
political activism5 6e 1ould dra1 on his 1ar e*periences for his great trilogy of novels,
Les Chemins de "a Libe!t$ #-he 3oads to .!eedom$ #1("31($5
$edit% Politics
Jean Paul Sartre #middle$ and Simone de .eauvoir #left$ meeting 1ith Ahe @uevara
#right$ in 18!
<he first period of SartreBs career, defined in large part 4y %eing and #othingness #1(;$,
gave 1ay to a second period as a politically engaged activist and intellectual5 6is 1(&
1ork Les Mains *a"es #Di!ty 'ands$ in particular e*plored the pro4lem of 4eing 4oth an
intellectual at the same time as 4ecoming -engaged- politically5 6e em4raced
communism, and defended e*istentialism, though never officially Goining the Aommunist
Party, and took a prominent role in the struggle against French rule in %lgeria5 6e
4ecame perhaps the most eminent supporter of the F:/ in the %lgerian War and 1as one
of the signatory of the Manifeste des 5255 Furthermore, he had an %lgerian mistress,
%rlette )lkaJm, 1ho 4ecame his adopted daughter in 18"5 6e opposed the Hietnam War
and, along 1ith .ertrand >ussell and others, organi9ed a tri4unal intended to e*pose
alleged ?5S5 1ar crimes, 1hich 4ecame kno1n as the >ussell <ri4unal in 18'5 7ts effect
1as limited5
%s a fello1-traveller, Sartre spent much of the rest of his life attempting to reconcile his
e*istentialist ideas a4out free 1ill 1ith communist principles, 1hich taught that socio-
economic forces 4eyond our immediate, individual control play a critical role in shaping
our lives5 6is maGor defining 1ork of this period, the C!iti6ue de "a !aison dia"ecti6ue
#C!iti6ue of Dia"ectica" 3eason$ appeared in 18! #a second volume appeared
posthumously$5 7n C!iti6ue, Sartre set out to give +ar*ism a more vigorous intellectual
defense than it had received up until thenK he ended 4y concluding that +ar*Bs notion of
-class- as an o4Gective entity 1as fallacious5 SartreBs emphasis on the humanist values in
the early 1orks of +ar* led to a dispute 1ith the leading Aommunist intellectual in
France in the 18!s, :ouis %lthusser, 1ho claimed that the ideas of the young +ar* 1ere
decisively superseded 4y the -scientific- system of the later +ar*5
Sartre 1ent to Au4a in the B8!s to meet Fidel Aastro and spent a great deal of time
philosophi9ing 1ith )rnesto -Ahe- @uevara5 %fter @uevaraBs death, Sartre 1ould declare
him: -/ot only an intellectual 4ut also the most complete human 4eing of our age-
0;2
and
the -eraBs most perfect man5-
0(2
Sartre 1ould also compliment Ahe @uevara 4y professing
that: -6e lived his 1ords, spoke his o1n actions and his story and the story of the 1orld
ran parallel5-
0"2
Follo1ing the +unich massacre in 1hich eleven 7sraeli ,lympians 1ere killed 4y the
Palestinian organi9ation .lack Septem4er in +unich 1'2, Sartre said terrorism -is a
terri4le 1eapon 4ut the oppressed poor have no others5- Sartre also found it -perfectly
scandalous that the +unich attack should 4e Gudged 4y the French press and a section of
pu4lic opinion as an intolera4le scandal5-
082
$edit% +ate li!e and death
7n 18(, Sartre renounced literature in a 1itty and sardonic account of the first ten years
of his life, Les mots #7o!ds$5 <he 4ook is an ironic counter4last to +arcel Proust, 1hose
reputation had une*pectedly eclipsed that of %ndr= @ide #1ho had provided the model of
"itt$!atu!e engag$e for SartreBs generation$5 :iterature, Sartre concluded, functioned as a
4ourgeois su4stitute for real commitment in the 1orld5 6e 1as the second /o4el :aureate
to voluntarily decline the /o4el Pri9e #after .oris Pasternak, literature, 1"&$, and he had
previously refused the :=gion dBhonneur, in 1("5 <he pri9e 1as announced 18( 22
,cto4erK on 1( ,cto4er, Sartre had 1ritten a letter to the /o4el 7nstitute, asking to 4e
removed from the list of nominees, and that he 1ould not accept the pri9e if a1arded, 4ut
the letter 1ent unreadK
0'2
on 2; ,cto4er, Le .iga!o pu4lished a statement 4y Sartre
e*plaining his refusal5
6o1ever, :ars @yllensten, long time mem4er of the /o4el pri9e committee has claimed
in his auto4iography that Sartre later tried to access the pri9e money, 4ut 1as
su4seIuently turned do1n5
0&2
%llegedly, the French philosopher in 1'" 1rote a letter to
the /o4el Pri9e committee saying that he had changed his mind a4out the pri9e, at least
1hen it came to the money5 %t 1hich point the pri9e committee is said to have declined
the reIuest, stating that the funds had 4een reinvested in the /o4el institute5
<hough his name 1as no1 a household 1ord #as 1as -e*istentialism- during the
tumultuous 18!s$, Sartre remained a simple man 1ith fe1 possessions, actively
committed to causes until the end of his life, such as the student revolution strikes in
Paris during the summer of 18& during 1hich he 1as arrested for civil diso4edience5
President Fe @aulle intervened and pardoned him, commenting that "you don't a!!est
8o"tai!e9"
02
7n 1'", 1hen asked ho1 he 1ould like to 4e remem4ered, Sartre replied: -7 1ould like
0people2 to remem4er #ausea, 0my plays2 #o E&it and -he Devi" and the :ood Lo!d) and
then my t1o philosophical 1orks, more particularly the second one, C!iti6ue of
Dia"ectica" 3eason5 <hen my essay on @enet, *aint :enet5557f these are remem4ered, that
1ould 4e Iuite an achievement, and 7 donBt ask for more5 %s a man, if a certain Jean-Paul
Sartre is remem4ered, 7 1ould like people to remem4er the milieu or historical situation
in 1hich 7 lived,555ho1 7 lived in it, in terms of all the aspirations 1hich 7 tried to gather
up 1ithin myself5- SartreBs physical condition deteriorated, partially due to the merciless
pace of 1ork #and using drugs for this reason, e5g5, amphetamine$ he put himself through
during the 1riting of the C!iti6ue and the last proGect of his life, a massive analytical
4iography of @ustave Flau4ert #-he .ami"y Idiot$, 4oth of 1hich remained unfinished5
6e died 1" %pril 1&! in Paris from an oedema of the lung5
SartreBs grave in the AimetiLre de +ontparnasse
SartreBs atheism 1as foundational for his style of e*istentialist philosophy5 7n +arch
1&!, a4out a month 4efore his death, he 1as intervie1ed 4y his assistant, .enny :=vy,
and 1ithin these intervie1s he e*pressed his interest in Judaism 1hich 1as inspired 4y
:evyBs rene1ed interest in the faith5 <hrough SartreBs study of Je1ish history he 4ecame
particularly interested in the messianic idea of the faith5 Some people apparently took this
to indicate a death4ed conversionK ho1ever, the te*t of the intervie1s makes it clear that
he did not consider himself a Je1, and 1as interested in the ethical and -metaphysical
character- of the Je1ish religion, 1hile continuing to reGect the idea of an e*isting @od5
7n a separate 1'( intervie1 1ith Simone de .eauvoir, Sartre said that -7 do not feel that
7 am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, 4ut someone 1ho 1as
e*pected, prepared, prefigured5 7n short, a 4eing 1hom only a Areator could put hereK and
this idea of a creating hand refers to @od5- .ut immediately adds that -this is not a clear,
e*act idea555-
Furing his life, Sartre tried to dra1 all possi4le conclusions from the idea that there is no
@od5 -+an,- he 1rote in 1(;, -is a useless passion5- 6e also 1rote -everything that
e*ists is 4orn for no reason, carries on living through 1eakness, and dies 4y accident5-
Sartre lies 4uried in AimetiLre de +ontparnasse in Paris5 6is funeral 1as attended 4y
2!,!!! mourners5
$edit% (hou&ht
<he 4asis of SartreBs e*istentialism is found in -he -!anscendence of the Ego5 <o 4egin
1ith, the thing-in-itself is infinite and overflo1ing5 Sartre refers to any direct
consciousness of the thing-in-itself as a -pre-reflective consciousness5- %ny attempt to
descri4e, understand, historici9e etc5 the thing-in-itself, Sartre calls -reflective
consciousness5- <here is no 1ay for the reflective consciousness to su4sume the pre-
reflective, and so reflection is fated to a form of an*iety, i5e5 the human condition5 <he
reflective consciousness in all its forms, #scientific, artistic or other1ise$ can only limit
the thing-in-itself 4y virtue of its attempt to understand or descri4e it5 7t follo1s,
therefore, that any attempt at self-kno1ledge #self-consciousness - a reflective
consciousness of an overflo1ing infinite$ is a construct that fails no matter ho1 often it is
attempted5 Aonsciousness is consciousness of itself insofar as it is consciousness of a
transcendent o4Gect5
<he same holds true a4out kno1ledge of the -,ther5- <he -,ther- #meaning simply
4eings or o4Gects that are not the self$ is a construct of reflective consciousness5 ,ne must
4e careful to understand this more as a form of 1arning than as an ontological statement5
6o1ever, there is an implication of solipsism here that Sartre considers fundamental to
any coherent description of the human condition5
01!2
Sartre overcomes this solipsism 4y a
kind of ritual5 Self consciousness needs -the ,ther- to prove #display$ its o1n e*istence5
7t has a -masochistic desire- to 4e limited, i5e5 limited 4y the reflective consciousness of
another su4Gect5 <his is e*pressed metaphorically in the famous line of dialogue from #o
E&it, -6ell is other people5-
<he main idea of Jean-Paul Sartre is that 1e are -condemned to 4e free5-
0112
<his theory
relies upon his atheism, and is formed using the e*ample of the paper-knife5 Sartre says
that if one considered a paper-knife, one 1ould assume that the creator 1ould have had a
plan for it: an essence5 Sartre said that human 4eings have no essence 4efore their
e*istence 4ecause there is no Areator5 <hus: -e*istence precedes essence-5
0122
$edit% La Nause and e,istentialism
%s a Gunior lecturer at the :yc=e du 6avre in 1;&, Sartre 1rote the novel La #aus$e
##ausea$ 1hich serves in some 1ays as a manifesto of e*istentialism and remains one of
his most famous 4ooks5 <aking a page from the @erman phenomenological movement, he
4elieved that our ideas are the product of e*periences of real-life situations, and that
novels and plays descri4ing such fundamental e*periences have as much value as do
discursive essays for the ela4oration of philosophical theories5 With this mandate, the
novel concerns a deGected researcher #>oIuentin$ in a to1n similar to :e 6avre 1ho
4ecomes starkly conscious of the fact that inanimate o4Gects and situations remain
a4solutely indifferent to his e*istence5 %s such, they sho1 themselves to 4e resistant to
1hatever significance human consciousness might perceive in them5
<his indifference of -things in themselves- #closely linked 1ith the later notion of -4eing-
in-itself- in his %eing and #othingness$ has the effect of highlighting all the more the
freedom >oIuentin has to perceive and act in the 1orldK every1here he looks, he finds
situations im4ued 1ith meanings 1hich 4ear the stamp of his e*istence5 6ence the
-nausea- referred to in the title of the 4ookK all that he encounters in his everyday life is
suffused 1ith a pervasive, even horri4le, taste E specifically, his freedom5 <he 4ook
takes the term from Friedrich /iet9scheBs -hus *4o;e +a!athust!a, 1here it is used in the
conte*t of the often nauseating Iuality of e*istence5 /o matter ho1 much >oIuentin
longs for something else or something different, he cannot get a1ay from this harro1ing
evidence of his engagement 1ith the 1orld5 <he novel also acts as a terrifying reali9ation
of some of DantBs fundamental ideasK Sartre uses the idea of the autonomy of the 1ill
#that morality is derived from our a4ility to choose in realityK the a4ility to choose 4eing
derived from human freedomK em4odied in the famous saying -Aondemned to 4e free-$
as a 1ay to sho1 the 1orldBs indifference to the individual5 <he freedom that Dant
e*posed is here a strong 4urden, for the freedom to act to1ards o4Gects is ultimately
useless, and the practical application of DantBs ideas prove to 4e 4itterly reGected5
<he stories in Le Mu! #-he 7a""$ emphasi9e the ar4itrary aspects of the situations people
find themselves in and the a4surdity of their attempts to deal rationally 1ith them5 %
1hole school of a4surd literature su4seIuently developed5
$edit% Sartre and literature
Furing the 1(!s and 1"!s SartreBs ideas remained am4iguous, and e*istentialism
4ecame a favoured philosophy of the 4eatnik generation5
01;2
SartreBs vie1s 1ere
counterposed to those of %l4ert Aamus in the popular imagination5 7n 1(&, the >oman
Aatholic Ahurch placed his complete 1orks on the 7nde* of prohi4ited 4ooks5 +ost of his
plays are richly sym4olic and serve as a means of conveying his philosophy5 <he 4est-
kno1n, 'uis0c"os ##o E&it$, contains the famous line -:Benfer, cBest les autres-, usually
translated as -6ell is other people-5
%side from the impact of #ausea, SartreBs maGor contri4ution to literature 1as the -he
3oads to .!eedom trilogy 1hich charts the progression of ho1 World War 77 affected
SartreBs ideas5 7n this 1ay, 3oads to .!eedom presents a less theoretical and more
practical approach to e*istentialism5
$edit% Sartre as a public intellectual
(his section has multiple issues* Please help impro)e the article or discuss
these issues on the tal- pa&e5
7t may contain ori&inal research or unverifia4le claims5 <agged since
/ovem4er 2!!'5
7ts tone or style may not 4e appropriate for Wikipedia5 <agged since
Fecem4er 2!!'5
<he grammar of this article needs to 4e improved5 Please do so in accordance
1ith WikipediaBs style guidelines5 <agged since %ugust 2!!&5
Sartre has 4een called -the most 1ritten a4out t1entieth-century author5-
01(2
%t the same
time, his relationship 1ith the media is not only fraught from his individual perspective
4ut is indicative of the societal issue of the intellectual as a su4Gect of kno1ledge and the
concrete su4Gect of an intellectual and their role5 What Sartre encapsulates is the
-comple* and parado*ical role of the intellectual in post-industrial 1estern societies, and
sym4olic of the voice of political and cultural dissidence struggling for the freedom of
e*pression in an environment increasingly su4Gect to rapid technological change5-
#Scriven 1;: 1$5
Whilst the 4road focus of his life revolved around the notion of human freedom, a
sustained intellectual participation in more pu4lic matters 4egan in 1("5 Prior to this,
4efore the Second World War, he 1as content 1ith the role of apolitical li4eral
intellectual, -/o1 teaching at a lyc=e in :aon 05552 Sartre made his headIuarters the Fome
caf= at the crossing of +ontparnasse and >aspail 4oulevards5 6e attended plays, read
novels, and dined 01ith2 1omen5 6e 1rote5 %nd he 1as pu4lished- #@erassi 1&: 1;($5
6e and his lifelong companion, Simone de .eauvoir, e*isted in her 1ords 1here Mthe
1orld a4out us 1as a mere 4ackdrop against 1hich our private lives 1ere played out5 #de
.eauvoir 1"&: ;;$5
Sartre portrayed his o1n pre-1ar situation in the character +athieu, chief protagonist in
the -he /ge of 3eason #completed during SartreBs first year as a soldier in the Second
World War$, the first episode of the 3oad to .!eedom trilogy5 .y forging +athieu as an
a4solute rationalist, analysing the minutiae of every situation, and functioning entirely on
reason, he removed any strands of authentic content from his character and as a result,
+athieu could -recogni9e no allegiance e*cept to myself- #Sarte 1(2: 1;$, though he
reali9ed that 1ithout -responsi4ility for my o1n e*istence, it 1ould seem utterly a4surd
to go on e*isting- #Sartre 1(2: 1($5 +athieuBs commitment 1as only to himself, never to
the outside5 >estraining him from action each time 1as that he had no reasons for acting
thus5 Sartre then, for these reasons, 1as not compelled to participate in the Spanish Aivil
War, and it took the invasion of his o1n country to motivate him into action and the 1ar
itself to provide a crystalli9ation of these ideas he had so eloIuently 1ritten a4out5 7t 1as
the 1ar that gave him a purpose 4eyond himself, and the atrocities of the 1ar can 4e seen
as the turning point in his pu4lic stance5
<he 1ar 1as to 4e the most formative e*perience of SartreBs life 3 it opened his eyes to a
political reality he had not yet understood until forced into this continual engagement
1ith it: -the 1orld itself destroyed SartreBs illusions a4out isolated self-determining
individuals and made clear his o1n personal stake in the events of the time- #%ronson
1&!: 1!&$5 >eturning to Paris therefore in 1(1 he formed the -Socialisme et :i4ert=-
resistance group and later, in 1(;, after a lack of Aommunist support forced the
dis4andment of the first, he Goined a 1ritersB >esistance group, in 1hich he remained an
active participant until the end of the 1ar5 6e continued to 1rite ferociously also, and it
1as due to this -crucial e*perience of 1ar and captivity that Sartre 4egan to try to 4uild
up a positive moral system and to e*press it through literature- #<hody 18(: 21$5
<he sym4olic initiation of this ne1 phase in SartreNs 1ork is packaged in the introduction
he 1rote for a ne1 Gournal, Les -em4s Mode!nes, in ,cto4er 1("5 6ere he aligned the
Gournal, and thus himself, 1ith the :eft and called for 1riters to e*press their political
commitment #%ronson 1&!: 1!'$ and yet this alignment 1as indefinite 3 directed more
to the concept of the :eft than a specific party of the :eft5
SartreBs philosophy lent itself aptly to his 4eing a pu4lic intellectual5 6e envisaged culture
as a very fluid concept 3 neither pre-determined, nor definitely finished 3 instead, in true
e*istential fashion, -culture 1as al1ays conceived as a process of continual invention and
re-invention-5 <his marks Sartre, the intellectual, as a pragmatist, 1illing to move and
shift stance along 1ith events5 6e did not dogmatically follo1 a cause 3 other than the
4elief in human freedom - preferring to retain a pacifistBs o4Gectivity5 7t is this over-
arching theme of freedom that means his 1ork -su4verts the 4ases for distinctions among
the disciplines- #Dirsner 2!!;: 1;$ and therefore, in the fashion of a pu4lic intellectual,
he 1as a4le to hold kno1ledge across a vast array of su4Gects: -the international 1orld
order, the political and economic organisation of contemporary society, especially France,
the institutional and legal frame1orks that regulate the lives of ordinary citi9ens, the
educational system, the media net1orks that control and disseminate information5 Sartre
systematically refused to keep Iuiet a4out 1hat he sa1 as ineIualities and inGustices in
the 1orld- #Scriven 1: *ii$5 +ost often too, his vie1s 1ere divergent from the
prevailing political situation5 <he most clear e*ample of this is in his post-1ar attitude to
the French Aommunist Party #PAF$, 1ho, follo1ing :i4eration 1ere infuriated 4y
SartreBs philosophy and opposition, 1hich appeared to lure young French men and
1omen a1ay from the ideology of +ar*ism into SartreNs o1n e*istential nihilism
#Scriven 1: 1;$5 6ere 1e see Sartre telling his o1n truths to po1er, a fundamental role
of the pu4lic intellectual5 6is trou4led and varied relationship 1ith Aommunism and
+ar*ism in particular 1as a conseIuence of their doctrines that 1ould have prevented his
freedom of e*pression 3 indeed, to align himself too rigidly 1ith any political movement,
1ould have circumscri4ed the very freedom he 1as searching for through, initially his
1ritings and, especially after the Second World War, his pu4lic activities, 1hich he had
4egun to regard as more significant upon recognition of the futility of 1ords in contrast to
action5 #Dirsner 2!!;: 8!$5
7n the aftermath of a 1ar that had for the first time properly engaged him in political
matters, Sartre set a4out a 4ody of 1ork 1hich -reflected on virtually every important
theme of his early thought and 4egan to e*plore alternative solutions to the pro4lems
posed there- #%ronson 1&!: 121$5 <he greatest difficulties that he and all pu4lic
intellectuals of the time faced 1ere the increasing technological aspects of 1orld that
1ere outdating the printed 1ord as a form of e*pression5 So, although in SartreBs opinion,
-traditional 4ourgeois literary forms remain innately superior- there is -a recognition that
the ne1 technological Bmass mediaB forms must 4e em4raced if SartreBs ethical and
political achievements as an authentic, committed intellectual are to 4e achieved: the
demystification of 4ourgeois political practices and the raising of the consciousness, 4oth
political and cultural, of the 1orking class- #Scriven 1;: &$5 <he struggle for Sartre 1as
against the monopolising moguls 1ho 1ere 4eginning to take over the media and destroy
the role of the intellectual5 6is attempts therefore to reach a pu4lic 1ere mediated 4y
these po1ers, and it 1as often these po1ers he had to campaign against5 6e 1as skilled
enough ho1ever, to circumvent some of these issues 4y his interactive approach to the
various forms of media 3 advertising his radio intervie1s in a ne1spaper column for
e*ample, and vice versa5 #Scriven 1;: 22$5
<he role of a pu4lic intellectual often leads to the individual placing themselves in danger
as they engage 1ith heatedly disputed topics5 7n SartreBs case this 1as 1itnessed in June
181 especially, 1hen a plastic 4om4 e*ploded in the entrance of his apartment 4uilding5
6is pu4lic support of %lgerian self-determination at the time had led Sartre to 4ecome a
target of the right-1ing campaign of terror that mounted as the colonistsB position
deteriorated5 % similar occurrence took place the ne*t year and he had 4egun to receive
threatening letters from ,ran5 #%ronson 1&!: 1"'$5
Sartre clearly held himself and his kind in a high regard, pronouncing the intellectual to
4e the moral conscience of their age, their task 4eing to o4serve the political and social
situation of the moment and to speak out, freely, in accordance 1ith their consciences5
#Scriven 1;: 11$5