100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 90 High-Level Works in Philosophy
Chapter 89 A high-level work in the field of philosophy: "Existence and Nothingness"

The American philosopher Danto commented on Sartre's philosophical system in the preface of "Sartre's Biography": "No matter in terms of its scope and originality, the structure
His theoretical boldness and logical sophistication, the strength of his arguments and the degree of his concern for human beings are all the same in terms of his entire ideological vision.

Broad and broad, etc., are enough to compare with the systems of Plato and Descartes, Spinoza and Kant, Hegel and Russell.this is zhe
the highest level in the field of science".

Existence Prior to Essence Idealism System

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905～1980), French philosopher, drama writer and novelist, his theoretical works include: "The Superman of the Self"

Yue", "A Brief Introduction to the Theory of Emotion", "Psychology of the Imagination", "Existence and
Nothingness", "Existentialism is a Humanism", "What is Literature", "Critique of Dialectical Reason".

The masterpiece "Being and Nothingness" was written during World War II and published in 1943.

The book "Being and Nothingness" is created on the basis of predecessors' viewpoints. The main content of the book tells about "the fundamentals of
Ontology”, “Theory of Liberty”. The subtitle of this book is “Ontology of Phenomenology”, and it is clearly a work of philosophy.

The book "Being and Nothingness" proposes to establish the ontology of phenomenology, thereby eliminating some dualisms that make philosophy feel troublesome,

Replace it with a monism of phenomena.

The logical starting point of the book's theory is the phenomenon.He believes that Husserl's phenomenology starts from the thing itself, that is, thinking from the phenomenon.

Thinking is a great achievement: "Modern thought has achieved a great advance in the attribution of existence to a series of appearances."

The phenomenon itself is existing, realistic, and concrete.To study existence and essence, one must start with phenomena.

The appearance of is the essential intuition of existence.According to Sartre, there is no abstract, transcendent essence, but essence
Determined by a series of manifestations that reveal beings.

To study the essence of human beings, we must start with phenomena, because the essence of human beings is revealed by phenomena.Appearance does not hide essence

, but to reveal the essence, which is the essence.Therefore, using phenomena as the essence of "existence" is the monism of phenomena
.

To demonstrate this, the book points out that dualism can be eliminated through "self-thinking before reflection".According to Sartre, the existence of reality is always

Surrounded and permeated by an emotional and subjective atmosphere (subjectivity), this emotion and atmosphere is the "cogito before reflection".it

So it is self-evident that it is "before reflection", because it precedes reflection, in the state of not being aware of the self, not asserting the self, not being
There is a separate state that distinguishes subject and object, so it is also "thinking of the unthinking", so before reflection, the consciousness of the unthinking,

It is nothingness, it is the absolute source of human existence, and at the same time, this self-thinking before reflection is the autonomy beyond the self.

Consciousness is a "pure consciousness" that excludes the content of consciousness and cannot distinguish between subject and object at all. It does not depend on the self,
exists in the self.This purely conscious activity itself has an intentionality, which points to the external object, to the self, and is controlled by

This discovery and inclusion of the foreign object as the object of consciousness gives the object its essence and meaning, when consciousness has reached beyond itself to the object
, that is, to directly "show" and "indicate" the object, at the same time, it also puts the "outside" and "inside", essence and
Phenomena are fused together so that consciousness becomes contentless, and pure meaning as "thought of the thoughtless"

Consciousness also eliminates the initial premise of consciousness external to human beings, eliminates the separation of subject and object in classical philosophy, and eliminates
The "disease" of dualism.Sartre regards this intentionality or pure subjectivity of pure conscious activity as original, by virtue of which

Dualism, that is, materialism and idealism, is ruled out.

Here, Sartre uses the "phenomenological reduction method" to separate consciousness from the material that produces consciousness, and then pushes consciousness to the extreme

, into an abstract concept without content, into an abstract consciousness that is the source of all existence, and material existence is transformed from "

Appearance” decides, so he regards the abstract “pure consciousness” as the starting point to understand the world. However, this is not
What a new invention, it's exactly what all idealists claim, the primacy of consciousness, irrational intuitionism
s things.Therefore, the philosophical world outlook and methodology in the book are still subjective idealism and irrationalism.

According to the phenomenological principle of "phenomenal monism", Sartre proposed two different fields and different types of "being";

"existence for itself" and "existence for itself". That is to say, the existence of the chaotic world faced by individuals, that is, the material world, is called "existence for itself".

The existence of human consciousness is called "existence for itself".

If "being-in-itself" is complete and substantial, then "being-for-itself" is nothingness, that is, Roquentin and

His illusory life.

Sartre pointed out that "in-itself" and "for-itself" do not reflect and contain each other, but there is only a distance of "position".

from relationship.

In the book "Existence and Nothingness", the issues of human freedom and human nature occupy a prominent position.to clarify human freedom
, the essence of human beings, Sartre believes that it is necessary to emphasize that existentialism has a common proposition: "Existence precedes essence." What is ""

Existence precedes essence"? The book says, "First of all, people exist, show up, and appear on the scene, and then explain themselves." "Because people

, is nothing; only afterwards man becomes something, and man makes himself according to his will.so
, there is no human nature in the world, because there is no God who prescribes human nature in the world.Man is not only what he imagines
, and it is only what he wishes to become after he enters into existence.Man is nothing but a thing made by himself, which is
It is the first principle of existentialism.This principle is what is called subjectivity.”

However, this is only a superficial statement and cannot reveal the principle of "existence precedes essence".
principle.And this principle is not isolated in Sartre's philosophical system, it is an integral part of his entire existential theory

In terms of theoretical composition, Sartre applied Husserl's phenomenological reduction method to human beings; it is Sartre's so-called "existence for itself"

The extension of "; human existence is a series of human activities, which is called by phenomenology, and existence can be reduced to a series of manifested existence.
In the appearance of being, the essence of human beings is manifested in this series of appearances, which can only be seen intuitively, but cannot be understood by "understanding"

.

As far as the essence of Sartre's "existence precedes essence" is concerned, it fundamentally distorts and separates the relationship between human existence and human essence.

The system regards man as an isolated biological individual, as a purely conscious individual that transcends society, era, and class;

Sartre denies the sociality of man by regarding the essence as something completely determined by individual subjectivity; and methodologically, Sartre denies

He believed that he abstracted the universal essence of human beings from many individuals, and replaced the universal with the individual, so his theory fell into metaphysics.not only

In this way, the book also equates human nature with human freedom, and endows this freedom with ontological meaning, which also becomes
personal awareness.

He believes that personal consciousness is the condition for the existence of the world, and consciousness is primary; personal consciousness constitutes the essence of human beings and their existence

;Individual consciousness is not only the condition of human existence, but also the source of human freedom; without freedom, human beings become nothingness, so he believes that
Because freedom is the destiny of man, "man is judged to be free".

Sartre also introduced his theory of freedom into the field of ethics, linking it with "responsibility".He emphasized that one must be right
Take full responsibility for your own existence, be in charge of yourself, and take full responsibility no matter what happens.

The question of responsibility is an ethical question, and in the field of ethics Sartre puts human

Existence - It is very important to associate freedom with "responsibility", which makes people realize that they should be responsible for their own existence and behavior.
Serious responsibility.

However, when Sartre emphasized that individuals take responsibility for themselves, others, and society, they absolutely opposed individual responsibility.

And he tried to restrict the absolute freedom of individuals and make people honest, which made his theory about the absolute freedom of people fall into a ambiguity.
The law is against the law.On the one hand, Sartre advocates that people have complete responsibility for their own actions and for others, but on the other hand, he denies the responsibility of individuality.
The objectivity of ethical standards when people make free choices.Sartre does not admit that the objective environment has an impact on individual subjective will and personal responsibility
restrictive; does not recognize that the capitalist system is responsible for the consequences of human actions;

The sense of moral responsibility is opposed to the class nature of morality, so it is impossible not to deny the social and historical roots of the sense of moral responsibility.
The inevitable result is that his theory of responsibility becomes nonsense in moral practice.

Linked with Sartre's theory of freedom is Sartre's "philosophy of action".Sartre believes that existentialism advocates human self-awareness, human
It must not be called a philosophy of quietness and inaction, because it explains people by actions; nor can it be called
It calls it a pessimistic outlook on life, because it maintains that people's fate lies in themselves, and existentialism is optimism, a kind of

Doctrine of Action.Because it tells people: don't be afraid to act, man's only hope is in his actions, and actions make people
The only thing to live on, so existentialism is an ethics of action and involvement.

Develop the high-level philosophy of predecessors

The main ideas of the book "Being and Nothingness" are existence prior to essence, free choice, and the absurdity about the world.this kind of handle
The idea of ​​separating existence from essence is obviously a metaphysical sophistry.Emphasizing the free choice of individuals, isn't it subjective?
Idealism, voluntarism?But our evaluation of his philosophical thoughts must be related to his writers and social activists.

Together.The publication of the philosophical work "Being and Nothingness" is precisely the "evil" of the fascist forces, which is becoming more and more rampant in Europe.
when a great disaster is being wrought.Under the conditions at that time, this treatise was precisely of the nature of opposing this "evil".
.A critical understanding of the relationship between human beings and society, which contains the author's denial of social phenomena at that time.

In particular, the strength of existential philosophy lies in that it points out the absurdity of reality on the one hand, and gives
People struggling with it point to a way out: self-choice.To some extent, it gives people a way to get rid of depression and
Disappointed mental strength.This is the society where existential philosophy was all the rage in post-war France, Western Europe and some countries of the world
psychological basis.The ideas in the book are complex and vacillating, and deeply permeated with realism and optimism.but
His attempt to describe life truthfully clashed with his pessimistic existential metaphysics.From this it can be seen that the book

Worldviews are contradictory.The book tries to overcome subjectivism, but the view of existentialism makes him in epistemology and morality

On the one hand, it denies the objective standard of truth and determinism in social life.

In short, the book "Existence and Nothingness" is a philosophical work of subjective idealism.However, this work does not
Sithism has made some profound revelations, and it has also made great contributions to the cause of peace and progress of mankind.
career writings.

(End of this chapter)