Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness': A Reader's Guide

by Sebastian Gardner

Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness marked the beginning of the rise of French existentialism in the twentieth century. In this work Sartre offers a complex and profound defense of human freedom. The topics discussed by Sartre range from traditional problems of metaphysics and epistemology to the roots of human motivation and the nature of human relationships. It is a hugely important text in a long and distinguished tradition of philosophical reflection going back to Kant. Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness': A Reader's Guide is an invaluable companion to the study of this influential philosophical text.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2008

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are dumb like me and still ridiculous enough to try and read B&N I strongly suggest picking up a copy of this readers guide. If there is a readers guide to this readers guide you should go ahead and grab it too while you're at it. Very helpful.

[Alina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The issues I take with this book would probably be applicable to any book that tries to explain Sartre's thought chapter-by-chapter in Being and Nothingness. Gardner doesn't seem to have faults as a philosopher; his writing is clear and in-depth, and he takes time to unpack complicated concepts that often philosophers in the continental tradition may just toss around presumptuously. But Gardner's interpretation is so partial. He focuses on specific topics and tensions in Sartre's writing, and makes only those salient. I found that what I took to be the richest or most profound points in Sartre as often totally overlooked by Gardner.

For example, in Gardner's explication of the central chapter "Being and doing," Gardner focuses on teasing apart two concepts of reflection, pure and impure reflection. It is pedantic and technical; Gardner brings in Hegel's concept of reflection as a contrast. But in reading this chapter myself, I found other points about reflection, its relation to freedom, far more important and fascinating. Sartre talks about how reflection is constrained by prior motives and reasons, which in turn are grounded in an original act of freedom made possible by non-positional consciousness; so reflection is not the highest expression of freedom by any means. But nonetheless reflection is capable of introducing a dynamism to our reasons by its capacity to misrepresent our reasons and motives.

I had this similar feeling for most of Gardner's analyses of each of Sartre's chapters. Again, I don't think Gardner is misrepresenting the text, but he is only making salient parts that he finds interesting, which don't match my intuitions of what is interesting. I bet any philosopher who explicates Sartre in such a close manner would be partial in the same way.

I wouldn't recommend this text to readers interested in Sartre. I think Being and Nothingness is quite readable straight-up -- just go for it. If a reader is really needing an introductory text, I found Webber's general introduction to existentialism extremely insightful, and it'd be potentially helpful as providing context for Being and Nothingness.

[Millie]

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