Existentialism Is a Humanism

It was to correct common misconceptions about his thought that Jean-Paul Sartre, the most dominent European intellectual of the post-World War II decades,accepted an invitation to speak on October 29, 1945, at the Club Maintenant in Paris. The unstated objective of his lecture ( and ldquo;Existentialism Is a Humanism and rdquo;) was to expound his philosophy as a form of and ldquo;existentialism, and rdquo; 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 lecturequickly became one of the bibles of existentialism and made Sartre an international celebrity.The idea of freedom occupies the center of Sartre and rsquo;s doctrine. Man, born into an empty, godless universe, is nothing to begin with. He creates his essence and mdash;his self, his being and mdash;through the choices he freely makes ( and ldquo;existence precedes essence and rdquo;). 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 book presents a new English translation of Sartre and rsquo;s 1945 lecture and his analysis of Camus and rsquo;s The Stranger, along with a discussion of these works by acclaimed Sartre biographer Annie Cohen-Solal. This edition is a translation of the 1996 French edition, which includes Arlette Elka and iuml;m-Sartre and rsquo;s introduction and a Q and A with Sartre about his lecture.