Sartre and Looking Past to Societal Roles
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Publication Date
Spring 3-21-2014
Abstract
Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy is rightly divided by critics into earlier ontological writings and later political philosophy. However, Sartre’s hesitance to apply the ontological concepts in Being and Nothingness to Critique of Dialectical Reason as well as his lack of political commentary in the former work leaves his readers with two incomplete understandings of the world. In this paper, I attempt to inject a degree of the political into Sartre’s famous concept of “the look,” coming to the conclusion that the roles one plays in society directly affects an individual’s possibility of objectification. Ultimately, these societal positions prove to be aspects of individual existence that can allow for the ontological possibility of deflecting the objectifying look through an individual’s distancing of one’s possibilities from one’s present circumstances.
Host
Butler University
Conference/Symposium
Indiana Philosophical Association Spring 2014 Meeting
City/State
Indianapolis, IN
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Recommended Citation
Hamm, R. F., III. (2014, March 21-22). Sartre and looking past to societal roles [Paper presentation]. Indiana Philosophical Association Spring 2014 Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
