Introduction

Sartre: Being and Nothingness

In this course, Ms Kate Kirkpatrick (University of Oxford) explores Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘Being and Nothingness’, a text regarded by many as one of the greatest works of 20th-century philosophy. Having introduced Sartre himself and the historical and philosophical context in which he worked in the first module, we then make our way through the text itself, focusing on key concepts and arguments: in the second module, we think about ‘nothingness’, which is followed in turn by ‘anxiety’, ‘bad faith’, ‘the body’, ‘the look’, and ‘freedom’. The final module provides a brief account of Sartre’s long-standing legacy in philosophy, literature, sociology and critical theory.

Note: We use Hazel Barnes's translation of Being and Nothingness (London: Routledge, 2003). Students using a different version of the text may encounter differences in both the translation and page numbers.

Introduction

In this module, we introduce Sartre himself before providing a brief survey of his historical and philosophical context.