Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (1905–1980) was a French philosopher, novelist, playwright, and public intellectual. A leading figure in 20th‑century existentialism, he helped shape postwar European thought through his writings on freedom, responsibility, and human self-definition. He spent much of his career at the University of Paris and collaborated with Simone de Beauvoir, with whom he shared both a personal partnership and a long association in literary and political circles.

Central to Sartre's philosophy is the idea that existence precedes essence; humans appear first, and must define themselves through choices. He argued that individuals are radically free, yet bear the burden of responsibility for their actions. He introduced the concept of bad faith as the denial of this freedom and the use of self-deception to escape anxiety. His early phenomenology drew on Husserl and Heidegger, culminating in Being and Nothingness (1943), a foundational treatise on ontology and consciousness. His fiction Nausea (1938) and the play No Exit (1944) popularized existential themes; he also wrote The Roads to Freedom trilogy and major essays including Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946).

Politically, Sartre was associated with leftist movements and resisted Nazism during World War II; later he engaged with Marxist circles and contributed to Les Temps modernes, a journal he co-founded with Beauvoir in 1945. He remained critical of dogmatic communism, supported decolonization and the Algerian struggle, and defended intellectual independence. In 1964 he declined the Nobel Prize in Literature, stating that a writer should not be institutionalized.

His work influenced philosophy, literary theory, and political thought, shaping discussions of freedom, responsibility, and the role of the intellectual in public life. He remains a central reference in debates about existentialism and humanism, alongside Beauvoir's feminist critique.