SARTRE - MAN

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>SARTRE</FONT><BR> THE EXISTENTIALIST</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Man</B></FONT><P> In a very real sense, <A HREF="../t03/g018.html" TARGET="_top">existentialism</A> sees man as creating himself. Existence precedes <A HREF="../t03/g016.html" TARGET="_top">essence</A>. You exist - what you do with that existence, what you actually become as a conscious individual, as a "being-in-itself", is up to you. The individual must accept total responsibility for all thoughts and actions.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>ANGUISH AND BAD FAITH</B></FONT><P> <TABLE ALIGN=Left BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="2308a.jpg" WIDTH="180" HEIGHT="213" ALT="ANGUISH"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> The constant need to define and remake ourselves is a source of anguish. We totter on the brink of nothingness, experience dizziness, nausea. The emptiness has to be filled. It will be filled by whatever we plan to do, or think, or be. But often we seek to escape from our freedom and responsibility, the painful truth about ourselves. We pretend that affairs are unavoidable, that we have no control over them. We pretend that we are not conscious subjects, but objects. This is "bad faith"; this is self deception. We must have the courage always to seek moral authenticity.<BR><BR clear=left> <FONT SIZE=4><B>RELATIONSHIPS</B></FONT><BR> Each of us is both subject - the me that is me, and object - the me that others perceive. Therein lies a source of inevitable conflict. When the Other looks at me, I know that he organizes me into the pattern of his own consciousness. Each, by existing, limits the other's freedom. And so it is that conflict is the meaning of all human relations - conflict and hopelessness. "Hell is other people."<P> Of all human relationships, love is the most hopeless and contradictory. Love seems to offer us a foundation, an answer to our emptiness, a justification for our existence. But as in all relationships, individual freedoms are in conflict. I can either assume the role of master and make the loved one an object to be manipulated, or allow myself to be an object, enslaved, possessed by the lover. In Sartre's terms, in love relationships one tends to adopt either a sadistic or a masochistic stance, to be a manipulating subject or a manipulated object. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>