The radical project

by Bill Martin

These "Sartrean Investigations" are an attempt at a political reckoning with Sartre. They are an attempt to inhabit some of the central political questions of the twentieth century alongside Sartre. Now that the twentieth century is over, Bill Martin asks whether his radical spirit can still help us to understand and change the world that is emerging.
For people of a certain generation, Sartre embodied the spirit of May 1968, a rebellion that was also a revolt against alienation in the West and against the actions of Western colonialism and imperialism in the East and South. The radical project attempts to integrate these two sides of Sartre's political theory and activism, emphasizing his anti-imperialism. Areas discussed Sartre's theory of the Stalin period; Sartre's engagement with Maoism and Judaism; and Sartre's legacy for radical intellectuals. Martin aims to contribute toward the transcendence of a time of historical impasse. In the end this means assimilating Sartre's thought to what the author calls the "postsecular," those forms of theory and activism that resist the overwhelming pointlessness of capitalism.

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2000

About the author

Bill Martin (born 1956) is a professor of Philosophy at DePaul University whose academic work concerns Derrida, Sartre, Marxist theory, Aesthetics, and critiques of Richard Rorty. Martin has also written on progressive rock bands including Yes