Situations Philosophiques

by Jean-Paul Sartre, Gallimard

Ce recueil obéit à un double principe : il rassemble les textes proprement philosophiques, répartis dans les divers volumes des Situations, de 1939 à 1968, et il fait droit au talent le plus manifeste de Sartre : celui d'essayiste qui mêle rhétorique de la persuasion, acuité critique et rigueur polémique.Sartre traite de Husserl, du langage, de la liberté chez Descartes et du matérialisme ; il fait le portrait le plus extraordinaire qu'on ait brossé de Merleau-Ponty et de l'époque des années 1950 ; bien entendu, sa réflexion revient sans cesse sur la question de la nature et du rôle des «intellectuels» confrontés au déclin du stalinisme comme à la nécessité de prendre position face à la guerre du Viêt-nam ou aux événements de mai 1968.Ces Situations philosophiques dessinent aussi les contours de l'existentialisme sartrien, en indiquent les sources (Kierkegaard notamment) et les thèmes dominants : liberté, responsabilité, engagement.

Genres: Philosophy, Literature, Nonfiction, Essays

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the main problems is that it is so hard to care about some of the people in this book today, for example, Merleau-Ponty, Nathalie Sarraute, and Paul Nizan. And Sartre is just not a likable person. His griping really can be a bit much, I said, griping.

His complaints about Albert Camus also ring false. Of the two men, I leave no doubt who I would support: Camus, no problem. Sartre made excuses for Stalinist Russia for way too long. Ideologies can be dangerous, as we are witnessing today with the so-called "conservative" or "libertarian" movement.

There were a few essays on famous artists. I especially liked the one about Giacometti. Here is a quote:

"Some have painted the chestnut tree beneath my window as a round quivering unity, while others have painted the leaves one by one, with every vein. Do I see a leafy mass or a multiplicity? Leaves or foliage? In reality, I see both, but not quite either one, with the result that I am tossed from one point of view to the other. I certainly do not see leaves, since I am incapable of seeing each one of them in its entirety. Just as I am about to apprehend them, they escape, and when I am about to apprehend the foliage, it decomposes. In short, what I see is teeming cohesion, contained dispersal. Now try and paint that!"

[Karlo Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent essays on Sartre's personal and political engagements with French thinkers who were his contemporaries (Camus, Nizan, Merleau Ponty, etc.) and aesthetic and literary matters from the Life of Venetian Renaissance painter Tintoretto, Giacometti's style, to Nathalie Sarraute's novels. Sharp, articulate, and always critical even of his own positions.

[William Loughridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okeyyy so i didn’t read all of the essays BUT I read a good number and my favorite was by far the artist and his conscience. very interesting examination of the place of artist in a capitalist vs a socialist/communist society

[Marita Mazanishvili · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the absurd and perilous world, where anything can happen, Sartre explores through the minds of his contemporary intellectuals - Paul Nizan, André Gide, Camus, Merleau-Ponty, Nathalie Sarraute and even those who lived in artistic Venice of middle ages. However, i was more interested in the 20th century desperate and lost souls. Sartre’s friendship with Paul Nizan seems not only inspiring, but also very close to you as you read: “He said to me, you don’t look very cheerful, to which I replied, - neither do you, with which we went off drinking, put the world on trial, delighted that our friendship had resumed” :) Sartre portrays Nizan as a person that was overwhelmed by the shattering evidence of death and horror of “awakening” in everyday life. Unlike this, his reply to Camus reveals less sentiments of “brotherhood”. It seems that Sartre wanted Camus to revolt not only against god and nature, but against men and to create one’s life as an "act of justice” in the terms of supporting left and revolution. As an active public figure, Sartre talks too much about Marxism and political parties which is a little boring, but on the whole, the book is still very amusing.

[Kostas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Απλά υπέροχο διαβάζεται απνευστί....

[Fabiola · Rating 4 out of 5]

the Camus diss track was my fave part

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

stretches of excellent writing here.