NO HUMAN NATURE, NO OBJECTIVE VALUE: A CRITIQUE OF SARTRE'S EXISTENTIALISM

Abstract

No human nature, no objective value: A critique of Sartre's existentialism is what this thesis sets out to unravel. Human nature is that which characterized human person as human. It is that inherent qualities of humans like thinking, feeling, and acting. These were believed as essence of humanity. Man is the one that attached meanings to the above. This demonstrated that human person is a value-laden being. This can only happen in existence. Humans can existentially define their existence, give meaning to their existence, or allow existence to give meaning to them. Whichever way, human person is at the core of existence. The idea of existence is accepted by all philosophers with erratic degree of emphasis. It has been an age long issue of controversy, as it is being analyzed in several dimensions of human experiences. An in-depth reconnaissance has revealed that great philosophers like Aquinas, Husserl, Sartre etc actually delved into existence in their discourse. To understand Sartre's view on, No Hunan Nature, No Objective Value, we shall expose his notion of ontology on which he posited two strands of beings, namely; conscious and unconscious beings. From the analysis of the two beings, and amongst other findings for and against, we anchored more on relevance of his submissions. Sartre's existentialism brought-forth re-awakening of man into more holistic study of his person. Being and nothingness brought about an existentialist stance in philosophy whereby man now examines his fallenness (future) as a transcendental goal which he tried to overcome in his hard works. Sartre's existentialism could also be said to have led man into self-analysis, self-awareness, self-discipline and self-hood. His existentialism could be said to have provided consciousness in man's life. Hence, we established that Sartre's subjectivity should be replaced with objectivity, and his " existence precedes essence" should as well be replaced with "essence precedes existence" since man cannot live above or below his limits or essence