Jean-Paul Sartre

To be confronted with challenging predicaments is an inevitable part of the human experience. Although each person must make their own individual “journey” through life’s course, there remain universal principles that unite all living beings. William Stafford’s poem “Traveling Through the Dark” reveals that when one is given the space to reflect upon these simultaneously simple yet compelling principles, only then can one see the chain of events that can occur as a result of a single action. It…

In this subsection, an introduction about false cognates, or better known, false friends, will be provided. The term "false friends" first appears in the book Les Faux Amis ou Les Trahisons Du Vocabulaire Anglais (1928) by Maxime Koesler and Jules Decrocquigny. These authors used the following definition: [Elle] désigne les mots d'étymologie et de forme semblable mais de sens partiellement ou totalement différent. The term faux amies was used in the field of translation to refer to those terms…

Christopher McCandless, the protagonist of the movie Into the Wild sheds his identity and life behind in exchange for the life of Alexander Supertramp who lives by transcendentalist values and ideals. He as well as the people he meets adopt beliefs similar to transcendentalist philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In Into the Wild both philosophers and Christopher believe that a man must live and think truly independent of himself, modest and in pursuit of knowledge. They…

When Socrates finds out that Euthyphro is charging his own father with the negligent homicide of a slave, he asks Euthyphro what Piety is. Euthyphro believes that prosecuting his father is his responsibility as he believes that he must act with piety. He declares that no matter what the case, even if it is family who killed someone who was not a relative, this is his first reasoning for the prosecution. Socrates responds to Euthyphro’s reasoning saying that this definition is too broad. Socrates…

Michel Foucault (1926-84) was a great French philosopher, thinker, theorist and a literary critic in the second half of the twentieth century. His theories are largely concerned with the relationship between power and knowledge. He was born in Poitiers in France where his father was a prominent surgeon. Foucault was well versed in French, Latin and Greek. He focussed much on the study of Philosophy and studied deeply Kant, Marx, Hegel, Nietzsche and most importantly, Heidegger and Althusser. He…

A man’s life is a journey that has been pre-destined by the gods. There is always a human will towards a desire, but in the end destiny plays its own course, and makes sure that the will leads the way to the fate. No matter how much the man wants to assert his own will, in the end a man is powerless against his fate. As per the ancient Greek theatre, Sophocles play’s normally have emphasis on individual characters, the role of chorus has always been reduced, there are complex characters who are…

In the genre of philosophical literature, Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger examines the life of an ordinary man, whose actions portray the concept of Absurdism. The main character, Meursault, feels like an observer of the world and lacks purpose and strives toward nothing more than having the freedom of personal choice. His choices define his personality when he is forced to face death and murder, to which he reacts in a way that shows his perception and understanding of human mortality.…

“Existentialism is a Humanism” is based on a lecture that Sartre gave in Paris on Monday, October 29, 1945. This short exposition is the perfect student’s guide to existential thought in philosophy. For Sartre, existentialism is primarily defined by the idea that “existence precedes essence (22).” At the start of his lecture, he discusses how objects are manufactured with a pre-determined purpose or “essence” in mind thus, their essence precedes their existence. He states that many people’s…

Sartre describes the responsibilities of freedom through three principles of ideas in the passage written by John-Paul Sartre “Existentialism Is a Humanism.” Therefore, providing the understanding that we are free to make choices and have a responsibility to make choices as individuals with the absence of God. These principles or concepts regarding Sartre’s Existentialism of radical freedom and responsibility include that man exists and along the way defines himself, man is accountable for all…

not least, Simone de Beauvoir, a Brilliant thinker in her own achievements. She made significant contributions to literature, feminism, and existentialism. Lastly, Albert Camus is the conscience of existentialism. His philosophy of existentialism was centered on what he considered the universe's greatest injustice -- death. He also wrote the greatest novel and most accessible of all existential novels. As a result to all the existentialists, they came together under one idea that’s growing…