269
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Martin Heidegger
252–55 ■ Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Albert Camus 284–85
Jean-Paul Sartre
Born in Paris, Sartre was just
15 months old when his father
died. Brought up by his mother
and grandfather, he proved a
gifted student, and gained
entry to the prestigious École
Normale Supérieure. There he
met his lifelong companion
and fellow philosopher Simone
de Beauvoir. After graduation,
he worked as a teacher and
was appointed Professor of
Philosophy at the University
of Le Havre in 1931.
During World War II, Sartre
was drafted into the army and
briefly imprisoned. After his
release in 1941, he joined the
resistance movement.
After 1945, Sartre’s writing
became increasingly political
and he founded the literary
and political journal Modern
Times. He was offered, but
declined, the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1964. Such was
his influence and popularity
that more than 50,000 people
attended his funeral in 1980.Key works1938 Nausea
1943 Being and Nothingness
1945 Existentialism and
Humanism
1960 Critique of Dialectical
Reasoncircumstances, possess the same
fundamental qualities and are
guided by the same basic values.
For Sartre, however, thinking about
human nature in this way risks
missing what is most important
about human beings, and that is
our freedom.
To clarify what he means by
this, Sartre gives the following
illustration. He asks us to imagine
a paper-knife—the kind of knife
that might be used to open an
envelope. This knife has been made
by a craftsman who has had the
idea of creating such a tool, and
who had a clear understanding of
what is required of a paper-knife. It
needs to be sharp enough to cut
through paper, but not so sharp as
to be dangerous. It needs to be easy
to wield, made of an appropriate
substance—metal, bamboo, or
wood, perhaps, but not butter,
wax, or feathers—and fashioned
to function efficiently. Sartre says
that it is inconceivable for a paper-
knife to exist without its maker
knowing what it is going to be used
for. Therefore the essence of a
paper-knife—or all of the things
that make it a paper-knife and not
a steak knife or a paper airplane—
comes before the existence of any
particular paper-knife.
Humans, of course, are not
paper-knives. For Sartre, there is
no preordained plan that makes ❯❯THE MODERN WORLD
We have to create our
purpose for ourselves.When we make something
we do so for a purpose. There isno^ God.The purpose (or essence)
of a made thing comes
before its existence.We are not made
for any purpose......so our existence
precedes our
essence.We are not
made by God.