Sartre in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Jean Paul Sartre: Add a description of this character.
• Simone de Beauvoir

Quotes edit see section history

• “Sartre was on the brink of fame, but Europe seemed to be on the brink of war. Sartre, however, had spent a year in Berlin and knew the reality behind Hitler's aggression. "I know the state of mind of the German people; Hitler couldn't possibly dream of going to war," he assured his friends. "He's definitely bluffing." Next day Hitler invaded Poland, and the French army was mobilized. Within twenty-four hours Europe was at war and Sartre was in uniform. "The war divided my life in two," Sartre wrote later. He was to emerge from this experience completely transformed (in all but the acumen of his political judgment.)"”

• “Meanwhile, unaware that he was merely a pawn in the existential condition of a meteorological private in the French army, Hitler overran Belgium, outflanked the Maginot Line, and invaded France.”

• “This was to be no ordinary book of philosophy, as he explained to de Beauvoir: "There will be a few boring passages, but there will also be a few spicy ones: one concerns all holes in general, and the other focuses on the anus and love Italian style." To avoid disappointment, I had better reveal that we will be concentrating on the philosophical rather than the speleological aspects of this work.”

• “For Sartre, being is the conscious being of the individual who has the power to organize his awareness of the world. Husserl's phenomenology had returned consciousness to the vivid and intense awareness of artists and biblical prophets. Once again consciousness became "awe-ful, threatening, hazardous, with havens of grace and love." But Sartre goes beyond this. We do not arrive at a fundamental awareness of ourselves by simply being more profoundly conscious - as, say, in a mescaline induced vision. No, we do this by our actions. And such choice and action takes place not in any trance of heightened awareness but in reality: "on the street, in a town, in the midst of a crowd: a thing among things, a person amongst people."”

• “As Sartre puts it: "consciousness chooses itself as desire." In other words, consciousness actually creates itself through its choices.Sartre's entire philosophy hinges upon the freedom of the individual to choose. In doing so, he chooses himself. And this freedom remains, even when the individual finds himself in a historical situation that appears to hold him captive.”

• “If there is no such thing as ultimate Good and Evil, ultimate value, then no human activity is intrinsically better than any other. We must accept that they are indeed all equivalent. We choose to make one act better than another, and we do so by our own choice. This boils down to the very opposite of some casual wooly liberalism where anything goes. With each choice I make I am creating not only myself but implying an entire morality whether I like it or not.”

First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Paul Strathern (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 194

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Nonfiction › Philosophy › Movements › Existentialism
• Books › Nonfiction › Philosophy › Modern
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Professionals & Academics › Philosophers

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