САРТР ЖАН-ПОЛЬ
Sartre Jean-Paul (1905–1980)
Theoretically Weak Article
Lacks class analysis of existentialism as bourgeois ideology despite noting futility of Marxist synthesis.
French philosopher and writer. Sartre is an exponent of so-called "atheistic existentialism". His main works: L'Être et le Néant (1943), L'Existentialisme est un Humanisme (1947), Critique de la raison dialectique (1960). His views were shaped under the influence of Husserl and Heidegger. There is also a definite connection between his philosophy and the doctrine of Kierkegaard; Freud's method of psychoanalysis also exerted a certain influence on Sartre.
Anthropocentrism and subjectivism are characteristic of his philosophy. He conceives man as "being for himself" from which there are such derivative forms as "being in itself" (i.e., the objective world), space and time, quantity and quality, etc. Thus, the objective world, being irrational and determinated, is the opposite of human activity, which is free and does not depend on objective laws. Such an idealist concept of freedom (its essence is expressed in the principle: "Man is what he makes himself") underlies Sartrian ethics.
In a number of his works Sartre makes the futile attempt to prove existentialism with the help of Marxist philosophy. Sartre was in the ranks of the French Resistance during the 2nd World War; he is waging an active struggle against the revival of fascism and for peace; Sartre is a member of the World Peace Council.