Being And Nothingness

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Being And Nothingness

published

August 1st 1993 by Washington Square Press

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binding

Paperback, 864 pages

isbn

0671867806 (isbn13: 9780671867805)

description

Jean-Paul Sartre, the seminal smarty-pants of mid-century thinking, launched the existentialist fleet with the publication of Being and Nothingness ...more

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All ratings | 5 stars (271) | 4 stars (425) | 3 stars (309) | 2 stars (74) | 1 star (17) | avg 3.80

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Tyler

Tyler rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

04/29/08

bookshelves: philosophy

Read in January, 2003

By far the most cold-serious work I've ever read, this opus exerts a strange power that forces you to keep reading, despite the dense subject matter and poor English translation.

The subject is reality itself, and man's place in it. One encounters a rigorous and complete examination of the subject, resulting in a proof of human freedom so thorough that you'll never fool with hard determinism again. I have never seen the specific points shown in this book refuted by any other writer.

Ever...more

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Charmless

Charmless rated it:

08/08/08

bookshelves: classics

Read in January, 1990

recommended to Charmless by: Some chain-smoking Euro-wannabe
recommends it for: someone who has extra time to read.

You have to deal with existentialism at some point and this book essentially gives you one of the best starts on the subject. Some people think that you'll feel like killing yourself after reading Sartre but honestly, this book had the opposite effect on me. I took it more as if Sartre was telling me that human life still has value even if there's no point in having a life.

Read it and you'll see what I mean. It takes a while to plow through it but it's worth the wait. Even before fully r...more

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Mathias

Mathias rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

03/24/07

bookshelves: existentialism

Read in June, 2001

recommends it for: Only for the committed

The only time I ever passed out in my life was during the reading of this book. I actually felt and heard my brain pop and awoke on the floor next to the couch.

This is an extremely difficult text. I recall spending an entire week on just one paragraph. I still do not fully understand this work but will eventually have to revisit it to complete something I am writing on Free Will.

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toshie

toshie rated it:

12/21/07

Read in July, 2007

Do you like to read words? This book has alot.
Maybe Sartre and I have a connection beyond the limits of consciousness. I think so.
This took me a very long time to digest.
i love you.
But don't take my word for it!

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Krissy

Krissy rated it:

07/26/07

recommends it for: the brave

I was 11 the first time I read Sartre. The theory of existentialism in his words made me wiser and more afraid. I am still terrified but would rather be that than oblivious.

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Sophia

Sophia rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

10/12/07

In Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, he promotes the existentialist outlook that existence precedes essence. It’s a view that opposes the Aristotelian quest for the meaning of something by asking after its function, and defining its virtue based on how well it performs that function. Sartre argues that although the function of something can be used to define an object, it does not define a Being in that a Being is not an object, but a subject. Unlike inanimate objects Beings are in constant...more

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Ryan

Ryan rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

09/20/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 2001

recommends it for: teens

dear reader,

character limit!

REVIEW:

where do you even begin?
first of all: the common subtitle "a phenomenological essay on ontology" is incorrectly translated from the french, and should read "an essay on phenomenological ontology."
undoubtedly one of the most significant books of the 20th century, and of modern history itself.
significant ideas:
1. being-in-itself: matter, existence, the world, the chair, the table, the tree. undifferentiated in itself, wit...more dear reader,

character limit!

REVIEW:

where do you even begin?
first of all: the common subtitle "a phenomenological essay on ontology" is incorrectly translated from the french, and should read "an essay on phenomenological ontology."
undoubtedly one of the most significant books of the 20th century, and of modern history itself.
significant ideas:
1. being-in-itself: matter, existence, the world, the chair, the table, the tree. undifferentiated in itself, without essence, naked, stark, overwhelming, forcing itself into every crevice. without consciousness.
2. being-for-itself: conscious. human existence. gives essence to the world, to being-in-itself. also without essence, but allowed to define its own essense. lots more. wants to be god, can't.
3. bad faith: a lack of authenticity, the most central, perhaps only, existential "moral." being what one is not. famous example: the waiter: playing at being a waiter: too friendly, too quick, too eager: all traits he would not have were he to truly be himself. for sartre, action is the only measure of value or worth, and so only opinions or feelings that are acted upon are valid. so if one thinks, "well, i was going to fight for my fellow man's rights, but i didn't have the money" and still holds themself in high regard for at least having a good intent, they are acting in bad faith. no exit is all about this, esp. garcin: he holds himself to be a hero, even though his heroic intentions were thwarted and he was executed. he (and common morality) think that since he had the right intentions, he is still heroic, yet sartre says that he instead is acting in bad faith and is actually a coward. yeah bad faith is really central for sartre, and is a very noble standard of living. one does not make a moral choice in one's head, but with one's actions.
4. the other: fascinating concept, largely if not entirely borrowed from husserl (see: logische Uuntersuchunge and die krisis der europaischen wissenschaften...). subjectivity is central to sartrean existentialism (and almost all other forms). it is our experience of the world. i am the subject, all else is object to me. yet there are other consciousnesses, who are also subjects, and to them, *gasp*, i am the object. the look of the other attempts to objectify my (and to the other, does), while the look of the subject attempts to objectify the other. this creates, in a word, tension. this is another great example of how what begins as a phenomenological discover bleeds into already obvious conclusions elsewhere: psychology, sociology, romance, even theology (wanting to be ultimate subject). we try to import others into our subjective value system, and are terrified (well, 99.9% of people are just in denial (bad faith)) that others are importing us into their subjective value system.

yep. that's it i guess. sartre went on to write the critique of dialectical reason, which reconciles (very poorly, actually, it fails) the ontological system developed here with marxism.

more importantly, sartre, as promised at the end of being and nothingness, went on to attempt to develop an ethical system, or at least explore the ethical implications of the system developed here. the result of this is perhaps one of the most underrated works of philosophy: two notebooks in which he tries to work out a system of ethics. he never finished - it's been argued, for obvious reasons, that an ethics of his existentialism is impossible - and these notebooks weren't published until after his death.

VERDICT:

you're reading a review of "being and nothingness." seriously....less

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Ali

Ali rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

05/25/07

bookshelves: philosophy

One of the most sufficient book of 20th. century. One can not think about 20th. century without naming Sartre. He had influence on very many concepts and social institutions such as human rights and freedom. His ideas changed human life in many aspects.

مهم ترین اثر فلسفی قرن بیستم شناخته شده. اصل فلسفه ی "اصالت وجود"(اگزیستانسیالیسم)که با نام ژان پل سارتر گره خورده است، در این کتا�...more

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Chris

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0415278481)

03/20/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in September, 1999

recommends it for: People who like dense texts they can reflect on.

It's kind of tough to get through and decipher at times. I read it in a class and that helped. But there's no book I've ever read that has made me think so much. I've read it close to 10 years ago now and there's not a month that goes by where I don't think aobut some situation JP covers in this his major philosophical work. It's kind of like those cd's "The Essential." Kind of like how you only really need Springsteen's "Born To Run." He obviously did more well known s...more

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krisztina

krisztina is currently reading it (review of isbn 0415278481)

11/05/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

He might be confusing some things, or he might be totally right, who knows, but still some parts remain a little too arrogant.

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Nick Black

Nick rated it:

06/26/08

bookshelves: likely-reread

Read in January, 1998

About two thirds of the way through, I started wanting to put a bullet in my head. I don't remember anything after page 600 or so.

There's a lot of good material in here, but it's rather deeply flawed by the inevitable hatred one begins feeling for Sartre, and furthermore none of it's as witty as Clive James's essay in Cultural Amnesia about Sartre being a spineless douche who...more

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11/17/08

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11/16/08

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11/15/08

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11/14/08

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avg rating (all editions): 3.80 (1097 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.72 (272 ratings)
number of reviews: 80

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