Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre is widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in 20th century philosophy, literature, and political activism. He was a French existentialist philosopher, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic who is widely thought of as having laid the groundwork for modern existentialism. He also laid the groundwork for the philosophies of post-structuralism and deconstruction, though rejecting both.

Born in 1905 in Paris, Sartre was a precocious child whose father, Jean-Baptiste Sartre, died before he was two. Raised by his overbearing mother, Anne-Marie, Sartre was interested in philosophy and the sciences from a young age and was especially drawn to the works of Henri Bergson and Friedrich Nietzsche. After excelling in school, he attended the elite École Normale Supérieure, where he studied philosophy.

At the École Normale, Sartre began to form his foundational philosophical ideas. He developed his own system of existentialism, rooted in the concept of individual freedom. He argued that our lives and choices should be based on taking responsibility for our choices and making the best out of them. Existentialism argued against traditional, rationalist philosophies that denied the importance of human subjectivity and instead focused solely on objective truth.

After completing his studies in 1929, Sartre published his first book, The Imaginary, which was an exploration of the moral implications of theism. This was the first of Sartre's philosophical works, in which he outlined the framework of his existentialist philosophy. His other works from this time include Being and Nothingness, an exploration of the ontology of consciousness and Being and Nothingness, an ethical treatise on the nature and purpose of human experience.

By the early 1940s, Sartre was well-known both in philosophical and literary circles. He also became heavily involved in politics and wrote strongly critical works of the Nazi occupation of France. During this time, he also helped to establish the French Communist Party and other leftist organizations, though he eventually ceased his involvement in the party after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

In the late 1940s, Sartre wrote his magnum opus, Being and Nothingness. In this book, Sartre laid out the framework of his existentialist philosophy, which evolved into the foundation of modern existential thought. In Being and Nothingness, Sartre sought to define human existence in terms of the individual's relationship to the world. This led him to develop the model of existentialism which emphasizes the importance of individual freedom, personal responsibility, and subjective experience in comprehending the world around us.

Sartre's work was also heavily influenced by literature and the works of writers such as Marcel Proust, Henrik Ibsen, and William Faulkner. He developed the concept of the "literary imagination," which argued that fiction can reveal truths about the nature of human existence. He developed this concept further in his plays, novels, and essays, which were encountered with great acclaim in the literary world.

Throughout his life, Sartre was an outspoken critic of colonialism and imperialism, as well as continued to express his philosophical views in essays, novels, and plays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, but refused to accept it, citing his commitment to "serial and committed writing." He died in 1980 at the age of 74, leaving behind a vast body of work that continues to shape the way we view humanity and the world around us.