Being and Nothingness Essays

  • Being And Nothingness Essay

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    certain relationship between being-in-itself, matters, and being-for-itself, human beings with consciousness in his book Being and Nothingness. According to Sartre, Nothingness is a transcendent being, which means something lack, caused by asking questions. First, to understand what nothingness, it is important to know different between Sartre’s idea of being-in-itself and being-for-itself, because For-Itself contains consciousness, which is the vital for explaining nothingness. Sartre defines matter such

  • The Body as Anstoss in Sartre's Account of Constitution

    3932 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Body as Anstoss in Sartre's Account of Constitution ABSTRACT: Of all the German idealists, Jean-Paul Sartre refers the least to Fichte-so little in fact that there have been long-standing suspicions that he was not even familiar with Fichte's writings. It is perhaps ironic, then, that Fichte's writings are as helpful as they are for clarifying Sartre's views, especially his views on subjectivity and inter-subjectivity. Here I want to look closely at a key concept in Fichte's mature writings:

  • Language as Freedom in Sartre's Philosophy

    4153 Words  | 9 Pages

    alter being, but that has the capacity of altering consciousness; on the other hand, language, more particularly written text, is a mode of communication that is delayed, hence that occurs outside the present, i.e. in a different space and a deferred time. As such, it preserves the subjectivity of both writer and reader. The argument is as follows: first, I present Sartre’s definition of freedom and subjectivity in terms of his definition of consciousness of the For-itself and In-itself in Being and

  • Love and Freedom

    3678 Words  | 8 Pages

    desirable; it is something that we want. So what do people want? Many philosophies pose answers; but those answers frequently lead to more questions. Examining Sartre’s idea of love from Being and Nothingness, we find a love that is an action in the form of a project. The goal of the project is to attain a totality of being through the use of another. This differs from the love outlined by Socrates in Plato’s Symposium. Through Socrates, Plato characterizes love as a desire to partake in the beautiful

  • William Faulkner’s Quentin Section: Time Motif

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stanford Editors. Derrida, Jacques’s “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” (1966). February 18, 2011. (www.stanford.edu). Welzel, Martin. “Jean Paul Sartre's Philosophy in ‘The Transcendence of the Ego’ and ‘Being and Nothingness.’” March 19, 2011. (www.mwelzel.de/sartrebeing/#vorbezeit). Johnduff, Mike. “Time and Derrida.” March 19, 2011. (www.mikejohnduff.blogspot.com/2008/03/time-and-derrida.html). Olson, Robert, G. “The Three Theories of Motivation in the

  • Comparison: Jean-Paul Sarte & Martin Buber's Theories

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    the progression that Sartre takes in Being and Nothingness. I will first distinguish between “being-for-itself” and “being-for-others”. Second, I will provide an explication of the subject’s encounter with the Other as an object. Third, I will explain the significance of “the look”. Here I will show how the look provides the foundation for the self. I will also show how the look of the Other affects the subject’s freedom. One of the aims of Being and Nothingness is to describe consciousness, or human

  • Jean Of Jean Paul Sartre

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    not in fact last long, but Sartre decided to continue with his writing in place of participating in active resistance. Shortly after theories and writing he published two of his writings he had been working on. They are famously known as “Being and Nothingness” and “The Flies and No Exit”. The existentialist works that would make him well known. In Europe philosophy, the existentialism varies in a complete different way which was mainly by the existentiliast according to Kants... ... middle of

  • Jean-Paul Sartre - Problems with the Notion of Bad Faith

    4319 Words  | 9 Pages

    Jean-Paul Sartre - Problems with the Notion of Bad Faith In Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre presents the notion of "bad faith." Sartre is a source of some controversy, when considering this concept the following questions arise. "Of what philosophical value is this notion? Why should I attend to what one commentator rightly labels Sartre's 'Teutonically metaphysical prose' (Stevenson, p. 253), in order to drag out some meaning from a work so obviously influenced by Heidegger? Is

  • Sartre and the Rationalization of Human Sexuality

    2690 Words  | 6 Pages

    for considering human existence. Descartes comes immediately to mind when one focuses on Sartre's major categories. In Sartre's case however, it is not mind and matter but consciousness and its opposite: "nothingness" and "being." This irreducible dualism is the key to the trouble human beings have with existence. Humans try to deal with the tensions implied by this dualism by trying to pretend people are not subjects but objects. Sartre calls this "bad faith." He begins by attempting to take human

  • Sartre's Philosophy

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    faith. Consequently, to act in bad faith, according to Sartre is to manifest our freedom inauthenticaly. Sartre assessed how when man acknowledges and accepts that he is a living being with a biological and social past. He can transcend beyond that to nothingness, the realm of the etre pour soi (the “being-for-itself”). At this point he is, according to Sartre, clearheaded and in good faith. Because he is acting in good faith, he is not pursuing a fundamental project in an attempt to ci

  • The Concept of 'Bad Faith' in the Philosophy of Sartre

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    Faith’ in the Philosophy of Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre was the French philosopher and a versatile thinker and writer. He is today known for two systematic and extraordinary works in the field of philosophy. Besides these two phenomenal works- ‘Being and Nothingness’ and ‘Critique of Dialectical Reason’- Sartre developed some shorter philosophical versions including; several screenplays, plays, and novels; essays on art and literary criticism; short stories; an autobiography; scores of journalistic and

  • Jean-Paul Sartre and Our Responsibility for Teaching History

    5485 Words  | 11 Pages

    Jean-Paul Sartre and Our Responsibility for Teaching History ABSTRACT: Historical research was one of Jean-Paul Sartre's major concerns. Sartre's biographical studies and thought indicate that history is not only a field in which you gather facts, events, and processes, but it is a worthy challenge which includes a grave personal responsibility: my responsibility to the dead lives that preceded me. Sartre's writings suggest that accepting this responsibility can be a source of wisdom. Few historians

  • Jean Paul Sartre and the Fundamental Project

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jean Paul Sartre and the Fundamental Project In this paper I am addressing Jean Paul Sartre premise of the fundamental project. In my presentation I will first give a brief over view of Sartre's existentialism. Next Sartre's a notions of the spontaneous and reflective phases of consciousness will be my focus Upon discussing the reflective phase I will go into depth about the fundamental project, and why it is pursued, and I will give examples from No Exit. I will conclude by making a brief contrast

  • The Meaning Of Being And Nothingness By Jean Paul

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Being and Nothingness” by Jean Paul, taken from the book Being and Nothingness. Jean Dean claims that Being is existing. Since being manifests to everyone, there has to be a manifestation of being as well. The theory of being is too large from our point of knowing that we don't see what its true meaning is, but like most things being must have a counterfeit which is Nothingness, Jean also claimed the idea of Nothingness meaning NOT. Nothingness has no being and can manifest itself to idea of being

  • Jean-Paul Sarte's Being And Nothingness

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout his existentialist Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sarte expresses his belief of the “bad faith” and attempts to impose on others how we should live our own lives. In the personal narrative, Sarte explains that anyone in “good faith” allows themselves to be individualistic and free, and as a result, believes that nobody should belong to any type of classification system. Sarte’s beliefs appear to be appropriate and somewhat helpful as it is always a great idea to be individualistic and

  • Creative Writing: Nothingness

    538 Words  | 2 Pages

    01. Nothingness It was through the discipline of meditation that Nothingness maintained equilibrium. Hundreds of eons could trundle by and Nothingness endured with perfected calm. Meditation allowed for an higher consciousness, and such enlightenment made eternal existence tolerable—if not pleasant for Nothingness to endure. Though she led a solitary existence Nothingness was content. A testament to this was her habit of humming. Though unaware of this habit, the pleasant sound being an unconscious

  • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    man. The younger waiter suggests to the older waiter that the old man would have been better off if he had succeeded in killing himself. The younger waiter wants the old man to leave the café, so the young waiter won’t have to consider the nothingness in his own life (Hemingway). The older waiter is more empathetic towards the old man. The older waiter sees how his own life is similar to the old man’s life. For this reason, the older waiter is kinder than the younger waiter towards the old

  • Theme Of Nothingness In King Lear

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quite literally, the term “nothing” tends to not hold any value to us. But Shakespeare’s King Lear, offers a contrasting interpretation of the concept of “nothingness.” Shakespeare uses the imagery of emptiness to represent the inherent value of absolutely nothing, as characters are reduced to destitution and great loss to realize the true meaning of humanity. The use of the term “nothing” in the play, often refers to or prefaces a character’s complete loss of everything in their life, diminishing

  • Postmodernism In Hemingway's A Clean Well-Lighted Place

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    In it, fact meets fiction, revisiting history, revising previous texts, and resistance to traditional writing in the text. This is shown when religion is being acknowledged and repurposed for the story. In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Hemingway suggests that life has no meaning and that man is an insignificant speck in a great sea of nothingness. The older waiter makes this idea as clear as he can when he says, “It was all a nothing and man was a nothing too.” Rather than pray with the actual words

  • Existentialist Perception Of The Human Condition: With Special Reference To Sartre

    2430 Words  | 5 Pages

    but the future is uncertain and so one has no escape from anxiety and despair. We are always under the shadow of anxiety; higher responsibility leads to higher anxiety. The pursuit of being leads to an awareness of nothingness, nothingness to an awareness of freedom, freedom to bad faith and bad faith to the being of consciousness which provides the condition for its own possibility. Concluding his thought, Sartre says that existentialism is not pessimism. He says that existentialism does not aim