Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre shared a great friendship with philosopher and feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir. Though it turned into a romantic relationship later on, neither of them were monogamous.

He also had an Algerian mistress known as Arlette Elkaim, whom he later adopted as a daughter in 1965.

Sartre passed away on 15 April 1980 due to severe lung problems.

Jean-Paul Sartre was born on 21 June 1905 in Paris. His father was Jean-Baptiste Sartre, a French Naval officer, and his mother was Anne-Marie Schweitzer. His mother was also a cousin to the famous medical missionary, Albert Schweitzer.

His father passed away when Jean-Paul was only two, and his mother raised him on her own with her father’s help. It was Sartre’s grandfather who introduced him to literature at a very young age.

It was after he read the famous essay of Henri Bergson, ‘Time and Free Will’ that he became interested in philosophy. He learned various subjects such as history of philosophy, general philosophy, sociology, and ethics, before he finally earned his doctorate in Philosophy in Paris at ‘Ecole Normale Superieure.’

In 1939, Jean-Paul Sartre was drafted into the French army during the World War II. The next year, he was captured by German troops and had to stay as a prisoner of war for nine months.

During this period of imprisonment, he read ‘Being and Time’ by Martin Heidegger, which influenced him to a great extent. This influence was reflected later in his essay on phenomenological ontology.

After his release in April 1941, he resumed as a teacher at Lycee Pasteur, situated near Paris. Then along with other renowned writers such as Dominique Desanti and Simone de Beauvoir, he also took part in the formation of a group named ‘Socialism and Liberty.’ However, later he felt discouraged and decided to focus on writing instead of active resistance. Shortly after, he wrote and published ‘Being and Nothingness’, ‘The Flies’, and ‘No Exit’, all of which became quite popular and made Sartre famous.

After the liberation of Paris, he wrote the book ‘Anti-Semite and Jew’ where he discussed and analyzed anti-Semitic hate, as well as its origins. During this time, he also contributed to a newspaper named ‘Combat’, which was created by Albert Camus, a philosopher with beliefs much similar to his.

After the end of the World War II, Jean-Paul Sartre fully embraced Marxism, and shortly after, he went to Cuba, where he met with Fidel Castro and Che Guevera. He opposed the Vietnam War and along with many famous intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell, he also took part in a tribunal that aimed to expose war crimes of the US. It later became known as the Russell Tribunal.

’The Age of Reason’ which was published in 1945, can be considered one of Jean-Paul Sartre’s most important works. The novel, which is the first part of a trilogy ‘The Roads to Freedom’, is about three days in a philosophy teacher’s life, who is short of money for an abortion for his mistress. This novel explores Sartre’s concept of freedom, which according to him, is the ultimate aim of human existence.

’The Respectful Prostitute’ is one of the important plays by Jean-Paul Sartre. Released in 1946, the story which takes place during a racially tense period of American history, is about an incident on a train concerning a prostitute who becomes the victim of a crime. A black man is falsely implicated and made a scapegoat, though it was a white man who actually committed the crime. Sartre was accused of anti-Americanism when the play was released in the United States. It was later adapted into the 1952 French film, ‘La Putain respectueuse.’

’The Transcendence of the Ego’ was an essay by Jean-Paul Sartre, which was written in 1934 and published in 1936. This philosophical essay explains in detail how different people can contemplate the same thing, yet one cannot contemplate the intuitive apprehension of another. Thus, it explores how we are responsible for our own doings and how one consciousness cannot reflect how another consciousness is conscious of the same thing.

’Anti-Semite and Jew’ was one of his most famous essays. It was published in 1946. He explains why ‘Anti-Semitism’ is not just an idea, but also a point of view based upon rational thought, empowered with deep passion. He also talks of people of Jewish origin whom he knew had suffered because of ‘Anti-Semitism’ and discusses how this harms society as a whole.