Aristotle and Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre (1906-1980) was born in Paris, France. Aristotle (384 B.C – 322 B.C) said that we are happy when we fulfill our essence. Sartre can be viewed as the anti-Aristotle. Sartre says that there is no such thing as a human essence. He explains that it is what we choose to do that determines who we are, not our essence. He also states that we convince ourselves we do not have choices, known as self-deception. At the end of the day, Sartre and Aristotle are on opposite sides of the coin when it comes to essence, and happiness.

Sartre believed in a do what you what attitude. He coined the phrase, “Existence Precedes Existence” Which basically says, you are your choices. He said that humans should be able to do what they want to do. They should have full freedom over their actions. There are reasons why humans feel they cannot do what they. Society does have an effect, but this is not the vital role in reasoning. Sartre says that people convince themselves that they cannot do something, these people do not have “freedom”. So Sartre would say that humans are completely free to act as we choose, but most do not choose to exercise this inner freedom.

Sartre says that there is no meaning to life for anyone. Sartre says that life is absurd and gives three reasons why. He states that the supposedly meaning of life varies across cultures. He says that the meaning of life and religion is an invention. Furthermore, he claims that the meaning of life differs across time. Also life is absurd because of personal tragedies.

Sartre would not agree with Kant in the terms of ethics. Sartre felt that we are free to make whatever choice we want, ww just have to live with the consequences. In the handout on page 442, “According to Sartre, since nothing limits our choices, we are not psychologically required to be this or that person. We are not chained to the past through heredity or environmental conditioning. Science and nature cannot tell us what to do, Sartre thought, and neither can God.”

Sartre was unique in the way that he claimed everyone is automatically self-centered. Even when they appear to be doing something good they are actually it for an ulterior motive that is not seem by the impartial observer. He argued that it is not possible to love another person and love is just a made up idea. What appears to be love is actually a relationship that has two people that are trying to dominate the other person. All relationships are power struggles. During the mid 1900s Sartre brought a somewhat strange philosophical approach to philosophy, in a way that proves to be a selfish thought.