Sartre For Beginners

Sartre For Beginners is an accessible yet sophisticated introduction to the life and works of the famous French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre was a member of the French underground during WWII, a novelist, a playwright, and a major influence in French political and intellectual life.

The book opens with a biographical section, introducing the significant events in the life of the man who coined the term existentialism.

Then it examines Sartre s early philosophical works. Ideas from Sartre s other fictional and dramatic works are discussed, but the greatest part is the presentation of the main concepts from Sartre s Being and Nothingness (1943). These include the topics of consciousness, freedom, responsibility, absurdity, bad faith, authenticity, and the hellish confrontation with other people.

Finally, the book deals with Sartre s modification of his early existentialism to compliment his conversion to a kind of existential Marxism.

Sartre For Beginners summarizes the work of the most renown philosopher of the 20th Century.