Being & Nothingness

[RascalPuff]

What is the crux/outline of existentialist, Jean Paul Sartre's magnum opus:
Being and Nothingness?

(For which he won - and refused - the Nobel Prize for literature.)

Best regards,
- RP

[austintorn@aol.com]

Although and because we are thrown into this world without our asking, man must make himself what he will be by defining his own reality, for existence precedes essence; in other words, man does not exist to fulfill a purpose. An existentialist counters the feeling of no purpose by embracing reality. Even consciousness is not primary because it is always conscious of something. Existentialism asserts that people actually make decisions based on what has meaning to them rather than what is rational.

[RascalPuff]

Although and because we are thrown into this world without our asking, man must make himself what he will be by defining his own reality, for existence precedes essence; in other words, man does not exist to fulfill a purpose. An existentialist counters the feeling of no purpose by embracing reality. Even consciousness is not primary because it is always conscious of something. Existentialism asserts that people actually make decisions based on what has meaning to them rather than what is rational.

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Amazon.com
Jean-Paul Sartre, the seminal smarty-pants of mid-century thinking, launched the existentialist fleet with the publication of Being and Nothingness in 1943. Though the book is thick, dense, and unfriendly to careless readers, it is indispensable to those interested in the philosophy of consciousness and free will. Some of his arguments are fallacious, others are unclear, but for the most part Sartre's thoughts penetrate deeply into fundamental philosophical territory. Basing his conception of self-consciousness loosely on Heidegger's "being," Sartre proceeds to sharply delineate between conscious actions ("for themselves") and unconscious ("in themselves"). It is a conscious choice, he claims, to live one's life "authentically" and in a unified fashion, or not--this is the fundamental freedom of our lives. Drawing on history and his own rich imagination for examples, Sartre offers compelling supplements to his more formal arguments. The waiter who detaches himself from his job-role sticks in the reader's memory with greater tenacity than the lengthy discussion of inauthentic life and serves to bring the full force of the argument to life. Even if you're not an angst-addicted poet from North Beach, Being and Nothingness offers you a deep conversation with a brilliant mind--unfortunately, a rare find these days. --Rob Lightner
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Post Script

Whereas, I merely copied and pasted a pertinent editorial review, IMHO, Austin rates commendation for his apparently self-composed, characteristically beneficial entry.

Best regards,
- RP