The Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre

by Jonathan Webber

Webber argues for a new interpretation of Sartrean existentialism. On this reading, Sartre is arguing that each person’s character consists in the projects they choose to pursue and that we are all already aware of this but prefer not to face it. Careful consideration of his existentialist writings shows this to be the unifying theme of his theories of consciousness, freedom, the self, bad faith, personal relationships, existential psychoanalysis, and the possibility of authenticity. Developing this account affords many insights into various aspects of his philosophy, not least concerning the origins, structure, and effects of bad faith and the resulting ethic of authenticity. This discussion makes clear the contributions that Sartre’s work can make to current debates over the objectivity of ethics and the psychology of agency, character, and selfhood. Written in an accessible style and illustrated with reference to Sartre’s fiction, this book should appeal to general readers and students as well as to specialists.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jonathan Webber is a philosophy professor working at the intersection of moral philosophy and the philosophy of psychology. He is especially interested in what contemporary social psychology can offer to current debates in moral philosophy, and in how philosophy and psychology can be informed by twentieth-century French existentialism.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 3 out of 5]

140312: this is a difficult read, seeming to claim counter to some other texts i have read on sartre- notably heter- but making assertions through critical reassessment of translations and other interpretations, primarily to offer a coherent position of sartrean ethics. he asserts that a key way to understand sartre is on character, in the end, this is contrasted to freudian and aristotlian models of character…

this is one of those deceptively slim books that actually expect you to have read many other texts, and it helps if you read french, or follow logic of translations. some philosophy makes me feel smart, some philosophy makes me feel stupid- like this one. i do not read fluent french…