Product Description

The often criticized philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre encompasses the dilemmas and aspirations of the individual in contemporary society. This work of power and epic scope provides a vivid analysis for all who would understand one of the most influential philosophic movements of this or any age. Reissue.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10557 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 864 pages

Amazon.com Review
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

Review
'Being and Nothingness is a magnificently imaginative redescription of the human situation. Sartre follows up on leads provided by Hegel and Heidegger in order to replace the Platonic/Aristotelian account of human beings as primarily knowers with a neo-Nietzschean conception of humans as self-creators.' - Richard Rorty

'Being and Nothingness is a philosophical masterpiece, and a document of what life in the twentieth century was about. It is rare for a work to present such exquisitely abstract thought made vivid through examples imagined by a great novelist.' - Arthur C. Danto, Columbia University

'A fascinating and intriguing work providing a full-blown metaphysic backed by, and at the same time providing the basis for, a complete theory of man.' - Times Literary Supplement

'Full of fascinating and profound analyses of human devices and desires.' - Iris Murdoch

'Rooted in the tragic circumstance of war and occupation, profoundly marked by Heidegger yet also written against him, Sartre's treatise remains a classic. What accounted for the impact of the work on successive generations was the tension between philosophic argument, social insight and the genius for narrative, for the concrete particular, distinctive of Sartre.' - George Steiner

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Customer Reviews

Sartre's magnum opus
If you are up to the task of reading Being and Nothingness then you should read Sartre's earlier works first. It is very important to understand his ideas on phenomenology and consciousness by reading "The Transcendence of the Ego", "The Imaginary", "The Emotions", and "Nausea" before reading his magnum opus. Also, I do not think one can understand this book entirely without having a background of the world Sartre lived in, so a brief understanding of France during WWII and the resistence movement will be helpful. Furthermore, Sartre is weighing heavily on the works of Husserl and Heidegger so an understanding of their works is also very helpful. Sartre's introduction is the most difficult part of the book so do not become discouraged. In fact, it may be helpful to read his introduction last. This book is very abstract but all of this should help. A good summary of Sartre's works can be found in Gary Gutting's "French Philosophy in the 20th century" and I used Gary Cox's "Sartre: A Guide for the Perplexed" and it was also helpful.

A bad edition of a great book
Being and Nothingness is a difficult but great book. This edition is terrible. It omits some of the central passages of this classic. For instance, the beautiful section on the 'Patterns of Bad Faith' are deleted. If you carefully read the inside of the jacket, it does say it is an abridged edition. That would not be bad if they deleted unimportant sections. Instead the publisher deleted key sections which they reprinted in their edition of Essays in Existentialism. So you are forced to buy two of their books.
If you want a copy of Being and Nothingness, get the Washington Square Press edition or the Routledge edition.

I liked being, I skipped nothingness.
This book is really a propaganda piece whose primary objective was to rouse French people to resist German occupiers. Published under enemy censorship, it reads between the lines as an appeal to French guilt about not facing up to their responsibilities. Sartre risked his life in the underground and hoped that his fellow countrymen would get the same message. It was written deliberately in a pseudo-Germanic, Heidegger-type complicated style to fool German censors into thinking that it was a work of philosophy. Philosophy really seeks knowledge. But being is not apprehended through knowledge and has nothing even to do with philosophy. The very word "ontology" is an oxymoronic joke. It means "knowledge of being," but being by definition cannot be known. As Sartre says, being does not exist, it simply is.

In one passage, Sartre uses as an example of free will a person who chooses not to associate with Jews. Sartre knew that this obvious burlesque of Nazism would have been taken seriously only by a censor brainwashed under the Hitler Youth movement. The book is a classic example of how to write in code and make it appear something else. It serves as an inspirational guide for authors and speakers living in controlled societies.

Here is an example of how such code words could be applied. It is almost impossible to be heard on a radio talk show, unless you agree with the host and heap praise on him or her. Suppose that the host favors intervention in Iraq and you oppose it. What can you do to get on air? The answer is to agree with the host but in an absurd way so as to expose subtly the illogicality of the policy. For example:

Host: Jane in Toledo, go ahead.
Caller: Love your show, Fred. I just wanted to say that it doesn't matter how many of us must die. The important thing is that finally we have peace in the Middle East.

Do you get the idea how to achieve being and avoid nothingness?