Jean-Paul+Sartre's+Theory+of+Responsibility

Sartre: Responsibility Some believe that our lives have been pre-determined since birth-every action and choice we make has already been decided and in fact we have no free will- Jean-Paul Sartre believed otherwise. He believes, as humans, we have the ability to make our own choices and decide what path in life we wish to take.


 * Predetermination or Free Will?**

Sartre disagrees with the notion that our genetics designate who we become. While we cannot choose who our parents are or where we are born, he believes that we hold the power to decide who we become. He upholds the supposition that our physical constitution doesn’t make us who we are but rather the choices we make in life. As such, he states that humans are ‘condemned to be free’ in that this freedom and responsibility bears a tremendous weight upon our shoulders. With the freedom to make our own choices we bear the responsibility of these choices along with the consequences that may follow- we are unable to deflect the responsibility onto others, human nature, or previous circumstances-the responsibility is ours and ours alone.

Even if we find ourselves at a crossroads in life and decide to seek advice from another, we choose the person whom we wish to seek advice from. Before seeking this person we are already aware of their viewpoints and disposition on certain ideas and as such their advice is already biased. Sartre continues on to state that since man is free he also holds the power to reject any advice that is given- along with the ability to choose an action for a given situation; man also has the ability to choose inaction within that same situation.

As a free human being, man holds the responsibility of his actions as an example to his fellow man. Sartre rejects the theory of relativism in that one is good for one may not be good for another. As a subjectivist and believing that what is good for one in a given situation is good for all in that same situation. So not only is man responsible for his choices, but also is responsible for the example he displays for others.


 * Anguish, Abandonment, Despair**

From such responsibility Sartre describes three states of being that man will experience. The first state is anguish. Anguish is the burden man feels for bearing the responsibility of his own actions as well as serving as an example for others and having to accept his choices as his own, and no one else’s, for no one else forced him to choose that decision or path, man is made free to make these decisions. The second state is abandonment. Sartre believes that there is no God, and as such man shall feel abandoned for having no moral compass but his own, man shall make his own morality. From knowing that he has no supreme being guiding his consciousness man feels abandoned. Lastly, there is despair. Despair is the result of the anguish from bearing total responsibility of his actions along with the sense of abandonment in knowing that he creates his own morality from the lack of a higher power guiding him through difficult situations.


 * Existence Precedes Essence**

Sartre has stated that a person who makes decisions understanding the full extent of their freedom and the responsibility they bear along with the consequences that may ensue, is acting ‘authentically. ’ Subsequently, Sartre asserts that to act untruthfully is to act in ‘bad faith’, which is to defer the responsibility of one’s choices. Sartre also believes that through these authentic actions man can create their essence, due to his disposition that ‘existence precedes essence’ in that man creates the kind of person they become rather than having it prescribed to them at birth. Many suppose that a person’s choices are based upon their values, but Sartre indicates that the opposite holds true. He states that a person’s values are realized depending upon the choices that they have made. From having free choice we are able to decide what our values are, we aren’t forced to accept the same values that our family and friends ascertained. However, we simply cannot say what our values may be, but they are exemplified through our choices, thereby creating our essence as well.


 * Criticism**

Sartre’s ideas tended to cause a vast deal of controversy for his audacious stances within his theories, which normally greatly contrasted public opinion. Many Western philosophers opposed Sartre’s view on freedom and responsibility on the grounds that God is the moral compass for all mankind and that we receive our values from God. Sartre disputes this notion in that he believes God to be an obstruction on man’s path of freedom and responsibility. Subsequently, divine foreknowledge and predestination would then be in place and therefore contrast the idea of mankind being free and having to bear full responsibility of their choices. As a result of the aforementioned hurdles, man would lack availability of alternative choices, which, in turn, would defer responsibility. Sartre’s theory of responsibility is only valid on the premise that there is no God.

Works Cited "Existentialism Is a Humanism 2." //The University of Rhode Island//. Web. 14 May 2010. . "Jean Paul Sartre on Human Nature, Freedom and Responsibility - by Louise Rusling- Helium." //Helium - Where Knowledge Rules//. Web. 14 May 2010. . Sartre, Jean-Paul. "Freedom and Responsibility." //Being and Nothingness//. 330-33. Print. "Sartre." //Philosophy Pages//. Web. 14 May 2010. .