The Humanism of Existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre

After reading Sartre's first novel, Nausea, we will now take a closer look at an overview of Sartre's philosophy expressed in the essay The Humanism of Existentialism. In this essay, Sartre offers a remedy to the deep feeling of anxiety which comes from the realization that we are alone in this universe, with no ultimate guide to tell us what to do, by calling us to be empowered by the overwhelming freedom present in this reality. Often nicknamed the freedom philosopher, Sartre has a way of inspiring us to take seriously our existence, reject nihilism, and embrace the responsibility of the individual freedom we have accidentally fallen into. In order to get a better understanding of some of the influences on Sartre, we will also read for this week the essay Phenomenology and Anthropology by Edmund Husserl, the founder of the philosophical movement called Phenomenology.

Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. I will be reading from this version here and a free copy can be found here. We will read the entirety of the essay by Husserl (~10 pages) and the entirety of the essay by Sartre (~20 pages) for this weeks discussion.

For questions please send me a message or post to meetup.

Best,

Brian