Existentialism Is a Humanism

63 Pages·2007·4.56 MB·English

by  Jean Paul Sartre

Existentialism
Is a Humanism
Existentialism
Is a Humanism
(L'Existentialisme est un humanisme)
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
i11~1udin~CAo mmentary on The St?-anger
(Explication de L'Ew~Fz~~.~~)
'Itanslated by CAROL hlACOMBER
Lnaoducuon by ANNlE COHEN-SOLAL
Notes and Preface $ARI.EI"TF ELKhTM-SAR'llRE
Edlted by JOHN KULW
YALE UNIT'FRSITY PRESS / NEW IIAVEN & LONDON
English-language translation rapFight D 2007 hp Yale University
Introtluction copyright O 2007 hy h111ieC ohen-Solal.
L'Ezu-trntralirnze ert irn humaizrriire D ~ditionCs rallimard, Parrs, 1'196.
"Explication de .L@ti.'angm" O ~dimonsG allrmard, Paris, 1947,
in Sitriatrow, vol. 1.
A1 riglit5 reserved. This hook ]nay not be reproduced, in whole or in part, Contents
including ~llustrationsI,n any form (beyond that copying per~nittedb p
Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyfight 1,aw and except by reviewers for
the pulilic press), without wniten permission from the publishers.
Designerl by Mary Valencia.
Set in Janson type by I<eystone Typesetting, Iilc
Plrl~tedin the United States ofkntnca.
L~brnryo f Congr-essC atirlqging-m-Publrcatim Dntn
Sartre, Jem-Paul, 1905-19RO.
Prefu~eto the 1996 French Edition
[Existential~sniee st un l~umanismeE. ngl~sh]
Existentialism is a humanism ; includmg, A commentary on the stranger l by Arlette Elkutm-Sa~t~-ev 11
Jeao-Paul Sartre ;t ranslated by Cald Macomber ; introduction by Annie
Cohen-Solal ; notes and preface by Arlette ElLiitu-Sartrr.
p. Cm. Introduction by Amlie Cohen-Solal 3
lndudes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-11546-8 (alk. paper)
I. Exisrential~sm2. . Camus, hlbzrt, 1 91 3 19 60.E tranger. 1. Macomber, Ca~rd. Exlstent~alismIs a EIumanistn 17
11. Elkim-Sarue,Arlette. 111. Sartre,Jean-Paul, 1905-1980. Explication de
L!Btr-anger. E~iglishI.\ .! Tide.
R819.S32 2007 h Commentary on The Strenge? 73
142'.78-dc22
2007002684
Noter 95,
A ca~alogurse cord for this bookis avarlalle froin ths Bnt~shL ibrary
About theAuthor 103
The paper m this book ~lleetsth e guidelines for pemlanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longer~ltyo f
the Council on Library Resources.
Index 105
Preface to the 1996 French Edition
ARLEITE ELKAh1-SARTRE
"Existentialism Is a Humanism" is a stenographer's uan-
script, originally written in shorthand and scarcely altered by
Sartre, of a lecture he gave in Paris on Monday, October 29,
1945. He was invited to speak by the Club Maintenant,
which was founded during the Liberation by Jacques Caltny
and Marc Beigbeder to promote "literary and intellectual
discussion." The text of the lecture was published the follour-
ing year by ~ditionNs ageI. Why was the author of Beirzgnnd
Nothingness (1943) so determined to convince people of the
humanistic nature of his doctrine?
It should be remembered that the publication of the first
two volumes of The Roads to F.rredo?z earlier the same year
had been marred by scandal. Ren eed not delve into all the
reasons why these two novels, The Age of Reason and The
Reprieve, so shocked the conformists of the day. The main
character was perceived to be either spineless or cynical.
Sartre wrote, "I think what bothers people most about my wandered into the tabloids and were bandied about like so
characters is their lucidity. Thcy how what they are, and many sinister slogans.
that is what they choose to be." Without moorings and lack- As for the criticisms voiced by intellecttials, who were not
ing confidence, his character Mathieu obviously has little in above casting insults, these were not yet based on a very
cornlnon with an epic ligure or a positive hero; his sole asset thorough study of Being ualzd ATotbinpzcss.' Christians chas-
in his obstinate search for a genuinely free life - echoed by tised Sarn-en ot only for his atheism but for being a material-
the philosophical quest of Being arzd NiithPngnessis his own ist, while Conmunists reproached him for not being one.
particular brand of (try lucidity, which is also a sourcc of The former charged him with "arbitrarily making a ailt of
anguish. What happens to him, or what he does, matters very Being-in-itself"; the latter accused him of subjectivism. His
little, for he has not yet begun to really live. What people did ideas on contingency, abandonment, and anguish repelled
not fully grasp is that the first of these books merely set the both sides. Could it be that the violent expression of this
stage for the intellectual and moral draina of an emerging rejection, which Sartre experienced as hatred, had every-
consciousness not yet fully mature by the end of the second thing to do with the fact that the nation -- after the cataclysm
volume. The reason for this may be that these two novels- of war-was (as one of his detractors put it) "preocalpied
which, indeed, had their share of staunch defenders-were with defining man in accordance with l~istoricacl ontingen-
easier to read than the author's philosophical works, and that cies, in a way that would allow man to overcome the current
their publication had the effect of amplifying and distorting crisis"? In actuality, these objections were more often moral
Sartrean existentialism. -even ultimately utilitarian - than purely philosophical.
The controversies surrounding Sartre's assertiu~~wse re No one was tliat interested in a debate over how the ideas in
intensified arld rnuddled by what we would call today a rnedia his ~vorlcw ere orchestratetl, or in the relevance of his argu-
circus -hype and misunderstanding met by open or latent ments. "Not everyone can read ReinganilNothing~zess,"w rote
hostility and priggishness. The result of it all was a quasi- the same critic.*N onetheless, in many people's minds, Sartre
mutual invasion: of the writer by a notoriety that dumb- was heconling the anti-humanist par excellence: be demoral-
founded him, and of the public by existentialism. Expres- ized the French at a time when France, lying in ruins, most
sions taken out of context, such as "Hell is other people," needed hope.
"Existence precedes esse~~ceo,"r "Man is a useless passion," Itwas therefore to present the public with a consistent and
more accurate perspective on his philosophy that Sarve nothing to prevent the feeling of po\verless under the Nazi
agreed to give the lecture reproduced 11ere.~T he event was occupation nf France. If he aspired to collective action, it is
attended by a large and overzealous crowd that pushed its because he felt the weight of history and acknowledged the
way into the lecture hall, and Sartre was certain it included at importance of social matters.
least as many ~~~rioonuloso kers drawn by the nefarious repu- In the same ruonth as Sartre's lectxre, Octoher 1945, the
tation of existentialis~na nd its author as listeners who had a first issue of Les Temps modernes appeared. The aim of this
sincere interest in Disconcerted, he declared ex- review, founded by Sartre, was to support the social and eco-
jstentialism to be a doctrine strictly reserved for philoso- nomic struggles of the Left-which was represented, pri-
phers - even though he was about to make it more or less marily, by the "Party of Firing Squad Victims" (the name
accessible to the general public. Beyond a public he under- assumed by the French Comtnunist Party) - and, through its
stood poorly, he was addressing his remarks to the Co~nmu- columns, feature articles, and studies, to promote the libera-
nists, with whom he wished to establish a closer relationship. tion of mankind. Nonetheless, the editors of LPST evzp~m od-
In fact, just a few months earlier, he had beellwriting in their ernes reserved the right to criticize: "We are siding with those
underground newspapers, but now those ties were severed who want to change both the social condition of mankind
and their hostility seemed to be increasing with the growing and its conception of itself. Furthermore, as far as future
popularity of existentialism. political and social events are concerned, our publicatio~wl ill
It was not, however, theoretical reasoning that had led take a position on a case-by-case basis. It will not do sopoliti-
Sartre to seek a reconciliation. Being and Nothinpesr, a rigor- cally, which means that it will not serve any party."4
ously written and dense text, improperly understood and This freedom of judgment was sotnething the Communist
often distorted, had become sometlung beyond his control, Party's theorists wanted no part of; it "is playing into the
although he still assumed responsibility for it. He had been hands oftl~ereactionaries,"w as L'Huvza~zzte"ss tockphrase for
worlcing on the book for years, composing it in a kind of it.' The idea of freedom posed a problem on the theoretical
solitary euphoria during a period of involuntary idleness plane aswell. In his lecture, andat this pointin hisphilosophi-
brought about by the "phony war" of 1939-1940 and then cal search, Sartre would have liked to be able to convince the
by the year he spent in a German prisoner-of-war camp. But Communist Party's Marxists that freedom did not coi~tratlict
all of his intellectual energies bent on discovering a truth the Marxist idea that man is determined by his economic
about the state of Being and man's purpose in the worltl did cotlditions. "A man who is free and one who is enslaved
ca~lr~Roet p erceived from the same perspective," lie protested from any other philosopby.':"~~ reali~yS, artrean existerltial-
in Miztel-inlimn 1172d Revol~ttionw, herein he uninhi bitedly ex- ism, which appealed to young peoplc, was being refi~tedn ot
pressed his differences of opinion wit11 the Communists.fi so inuch for any of its theories hot above all else to keep it
After reading BeZPlgand Nothiagie~sc~ri tics insisted that he frnm stirring up conft~siona nd hesitation. "You are keeping
morally justifjr his commim~ent;w orse still, they reached people front joining our ranks," Roger hrauciy told hlm; and
some rather negative moral conclusions that they then in- Elsa Triolet said: "You are a philosopher, therefore an anti-
mediately reproached him witl~.'I n the hope of dispelling Marxist." Indeed, if the Corn~nunistth eorists felt that debat-
such misconceptions, Sartre felt compelled in his lecture to ing Mamisrn weakened the certitude indispensable to mili-
simplify his own theories, stressing only those that people tants in order to fight (pointlessly, moreover, since Marxism
were likely to understand. In the process, he resorted to toil- contained all tile truths necessary to change the world), then
ing down the rlralnatic aspect of the indissoluble link be- they had failed to grasp the substance of the philosophical
tween human reality and Being: his personal co~lcepto f approach that Sartre would reaftinn in 19LtS: "To seekTruth
angiusb, for example, derived from IGerkegaard and Hei- is to prefer Being above all else, even in a catastrophic forin,
degger, is reduced here to the ethical anguish of a military si~riplyb ecause it exists. "lnL ater, he endeilvored to show that
leader sending troops into battle. This reconciliation effort the cxistentialist concept of man tl~ath e proposed-ex-
would fail miserably: the Marxists refused to give in. panded on, in the interim, in his biographical essays -is not,
But had there really been a misunderstanding? Perhaps unlike Maixism, an excessive philosopliy.J1
not, if we heed what Sartre's Marxist critic Pierre Naville said In any case, it is hardly surprising chat Sartre very soon
during the discussion that followed the lecture: "I choose to regretted permitting the publicatioll of "Exisrencialisln Is a
ignore ally particular questiolis about philosophical tecll- IIuinanisin." Many have read this text and though it is often
niq~e."It~ is not easy for a philosopher to carry on a dialog if considered an adequate introduction to Being and Nothi~zg.-
the person he is tallung with gives no credence to his doc- ness, it is not: the lecture is a clear but simplistic discourse
trine while refiising to engage in philosophical discussion! that reflects the conaadictiolls Sartre was struggli~~wgit h in
Naville also wrote a review of the event that paid tribute to 1945. I-le passionately wanted to be involved in collective life
this vague discussion: "Pierre Naville pointed out the contra- alongside the Com~iiunisPt arty, which was bringing hope to
diction. . . . Even vtzore clearly than in denser discowrses, we can millions of people in that first postwar year, when even the
see here what distinguishes Marxisin horn existentialism al~d most radical social changes seemed possible; but this stance
PREFACE
was not philosophically informed. Marxists hastily criticized
his work wirhout having read it, and there was the issue of
accounting for hlarx himself whose work Sartre had not
seriously studied; he had only just begun to furmulate his
thoughts on the social and historic dimension of man. More-
over, was phenomenological eidetics the right tool for think- Existentialism Is a Humanism
ing about collective existence? "One essential factor in phi- and
losopl~yis time," mote Sartre in "Search for a Method." "A A Commentary on The Stranger
great deal of it is required to write a theoretical work." That
particular year, he was caught at an inopportune moment.
"Existentialism Is a Humanism," timely though it was in
many ways, reveals - to those fanuliar mth Sartre's earller
literary and phllosoph~calw ork-a turnlng polnt in the au-
thori intellectual life. A new cycle of ph~loso~h~mcqaml ry
was about to begin. As vet ~nuddleda nd hosule as criuclsIns
of hls wo~kw ere (whrch he tried to answer in tl11s lecture),
they raised new philosophs~alq uestions that he would ad-
dress in h15 Cntzque ofDzalectzcnl Reasun, following an nnhm-
dered process of maturation ev~denced,a mong oher ways,
in his posrhumous works.
Introduction
M ECO I1EN SSOLL4L
In 1943, when Jean-Paul Sartl-eb "A Commentary on The
S~arjgev"a ppeared in La Cahzersdz~sildF, renchwiters stifled
by Nazi censorship for the past three years were end~~rinonge
of the most diflicult periods ul their lives. "We hacl lost all our
rights, beginning with OIU right to speak," explained Sartre.
"Because Nazivenom had seepedinto our very thoughts, every
true thought was avict~ry."P~rl blislled in u~loc~u~F~raieiicde ,
1,es Cahicvl du n~edsc aped Nazi venonl, and it was from w1th111
the c~mmmscribedf reedom of its pages that Sartse first saluted
Camus.
Five years earlier, with the debut of Nausea and The mll
and Other. Stories only lnontlls apart, Sartre made his own
noted entry into the world of French literature. "Who is this
new Jean-Paul?" Andri Gide asked, iilvoking praise like
"splendor" and "masterpiece." Members of the old guard of
French letters -J ean Cassou, Gabriel Afarcel, Manrice