The Cambridge Companion to Sartre

by Christina Howells (Editor)

Overview

This is one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date surveys of the philosophy of Sartre, by some of the foremost interpreters in the United States and Europe. The essays are both expository and original, and cover Sartre's writings on ontology, phenomenology, psychology, ethics, and aesthetics, as well as his work on history, commitment, and progress; a final section considers Sartre's relationship to structuralism and deconstruction. Providing a balanced view of Sartre's philosophy and situating it in relation to contemporary trends in Continental philosophy, the volume shows that many of the topics associated with Lacan, Foucault, Lévi-Strauss, and Derrida are to be found in the work of Sartre, in some cases as early as 1936. A special feature of the volume is the treatment of the recently published and hitherto little studied posthumous works. Thus new readers and nonspecialists will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Sartre currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Sartre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521388122
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/28/1992
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Philosophy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction Christina Howells; Part I. Phenomenology and Existentialism: 1. Sartre's ontology: the revealing and making of being Hazel E. Barnes; 2. Role-playing: Sartre's transformation of Husserl's phenomenology Robert D. Cumming; 3. Individuality in Sartre's philosophy Leo Fretz; Part II. Psychology and Ethics: 4. Sartre's moral psychology David A. Jopling; 5. Understanding the committed writer Rhiannon Goldthorpe; 6. Sartrean ethics Juliette Simont; Part III. History and Structure: 7. Sartre and the poetics of history Thomas R. Flynn; 8. Sartre on progress Ronald Aronson; 9. Sartrean structuralism? Peter Caws; Conclusion: Sartre and the deconstruction of the subject Christina Howells; Appendix: Hegel and Sartre Pierre Verstraeten.

Editorial Reviews

"...if these essays show anything, it is that Sartre's thinking achieves a level of richness and complexity, and of subtlety and attention to nuance, that is not captured in the popular (and quite accessible) caricature of him as a rip-roaring, nihilistic existentialist, who popularized simplistic clichés about absurdity, meaninglessness, anguish, and despair, and who advocated an extreme and utterly unrealistic theory of freedom and responsibility. The authors and editor are to be commended, not only for effectively countering this mistaken impression, and for replacing it with something both more accurate and more interesting, but also for doing so without excessive apologetics." Ethics

"It is good...to see within the broad scope of this [book] that Being and Nothingness has been accorded a fresh look and that the enduring fertility and influence of Sartre's ideas have been re-established." Philosophical Books

"...for those with some interest in his thought already, the book is well worth dipping into where the essays address topics of interest— and those with a deeper interest in Sartre will want to read it from cover to cover. It certainly is a volume that belongs in every library collection, both graduate and undergraduate." Canadian Philosophical Review

From the Publisher