Name: Existentialism Is a Humanism
ISBN: 9780300115468

Existentialism Is a Humanism

"It was to correct common misconceptions about his thought that Sartre accepted an invitation to speak on October 29, 1945, at the Club Maintenant in Paris. The unstated objective of his lecture ("Existentialism Is a Humanism") was to expound his philosophy as a form of "existentialism," a term much bandied about at the time. Sartre asserted that existentialism was essentially a doctrine for philosophers, though, ironically, he was about to make it accessible to a general audience. The published text of his lecture quickly became one of the bibles of existentialism and made Sartre an international celebrity." "The idea of freedom occupies the center of Sartre's doctrine. Man, born into an empty, godless universe, is nothing to begin with. He creates his essence - his self, his being - through the choices he freely makes ("existence precedes essence"). Were it not for the contingency of his death, he would never end. Choosing to be this or that is to affirm the value of what we choose. In choosing, therefore, we commit not only ourselves but all of mankind." "This edition of Existentialism Is a Humanism is a translation of the 1996 French edition, which includes Arlette Elkaim-Sartre's introduction and a Q & A with Sartre about his lecture. Paired with "Existentialism Is a Humanism" is another seminal Sartre text, his commentary on Camus's The Stranger.

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tyreDec 2020

This is a great list.

Why no Greeks? Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics at least!

I would add Sartre’s “Existentialism is a Humanism” as a short and readable intro to existentialism, followed by kierkegaard’s Being and Nothingness and Nietzche…maybe The Gay Science? (I am biased towards existentialism)

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I’m sure to get carried away, but some utilitarians would be good. Bertrand Russell is quite readable. His essays on Happiness are quick and impactful. John Stuart Mill, too, is a marvel of rationality (and progressivism (not on everything)) and sometimes prophetic. There’s value, I think, especially for those in tech to see the limits of rationality.

Spicy hot take, I think Ayn Rand is great for this. She takes hyper rational philosophy as far as it can go. It ends up being absurd precisely because it is so divorced from the irrational sides of humans. She’s fascinating, in my opinion. Understanding why she’s both revered in some parts of society and a bit of a meme in “serious” philosophy is a valuable exercise.

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coldteaDec 2020

Here's a quick, fun, path, that goes all over the place, but covers lots of areas, while being accessible to a tech guy:

1) Plato's dialogues. They are easy to find, including online, and easy to read.

A.N Whitehead once commented on Plato’s thought: “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them”.

And that's not some liberal arts philosopher that doesn't understand science. That's the genius writer and mathematician A.N Whitehead that worked with Bertrand Russell on Principia Mathematica.

2) Aristotle, The Metaphysics

3) Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

4) David Hume's: A Treatise of Human Nature and/or An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

5) Nietchze, The gay science (meaning "the joyful science")

6) Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

7) Existentialism Is a Humanism, Sartre

8) The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper

9) Against Method, Paul Feyerabend

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gkyaFeb 2018

I don't believe a book or anything similar can keep me "motivated" (that depends on one's will and outlook), but some can definitely help. A very influential text that helped me advance quite a bit in shaping my world view was the Anarchist Banker of Pessoa. It gives an interesting answer to the question of "existing in a world as a single individual that can hardly ameliorate the world on his own". Combining that with a reading of "Existentialism is a Humanism", and general free thinking, do help to build a strong defence mechanism to the facts of the outer world that can demotivate you. I'm quite an outlier in this community of mostly engineers and entrepreneurs, groups with which my thoughts usually conflict (especially the latter ones), but reading philosophy and philosophically-charged literature can furnish a sort of critical thinking, skepticism and/or quasi-nihilism that can actually boost one's confidence in pursuing some ends.

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gkyaFeb 2016

"existentialism is concerned with the emptiness, horrors and anxieties of being alive"

You're mistaken to think so about existantialism. I suggest you read "Existentialism is a Humanism [1]", which is a document I've studied very recently and one that I'll study again, and one has been influential to me. Existantialism is an idea based on the hypothesis that man exists without a purpose, without a creator and without predefined values, i.e. he comes to exist before his essence, that which he is responsible of and confined to defining and creating by himself; and that he "in fashioning himself, fashions man", i.e. with his decisions, he demonstrates what he thinks is apt for all the humanity. The linked text explains it all better than my humble summary.

[1] https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exis...

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gh02tAug 2015

You might like to read the transcription of Sartre's lecture "Existentialism is a Humanism." It's available online at https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exis... . He wrote a lot on how to reconcile living in a world that he believed was devoid of inherent meaning and the sense of despair that this causes most people.

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winterismuteOct 2010

On the philosophical side, I sugget "Existentialism Is a Humanism" by Sartre: it explains in a clear and simple way the idea of Existentialism, which is a great philosophy based on strong principles, and a key idea in the modern philosophical debate. It somehow changed my life, and made me think a lot more about life principles that can actually guide one's life.

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