5. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80)
5.1. Sartre’s View of the Human Being
Dostoevski said, “If God did not exist, everything would be possible.” 19 The denial of the existence of God is the very starting point of the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. In contrast to Heidegger, who asserted his existentialism without any reference to God, Sartre went further and advocated an existentialism that altogether denied God’s existence. He explained that, in human beings, “existence precedes essence,” as follows:
What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be. Thus, there is no original human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. 20
The use or purpose of a tool, that is, the essence of that tool, is already determined by its manufacturer even before it is produced. In this case, essence precedes existence. In the same way, if God exists, and if He has created human beings based on His idea, then it must be that, in the case of human beings, essence precedes existence as well. But Sartre denied the existence of God; therefore, for him, the essence of the human being is not determined from the very beginning. According to him, people appeared not from essence, but rather from nothing.
Moreover, Sartre says that “existence is subjectivity.” Human beings are accidental beings that appeared from nothing. They are not defined by anyone. Therefore, they themselves plan what they will be like. They choose themselves. This is what Sartre means by “subjectivity.” In other words, human beings choose what they will become―whether they will be Communists or Christians; whether they will choose to marry or remain single.
The fundamental feature of such an existence is “anguish,” according to Sartre. Man chooses himself, which means, at the same time, that “in making this choice, he also chooses all men.” 21 Therefore, to choose oneself means to take responsibility for the whole of humankind―a responsibility that incorporates anguish, according to Sartre. Anguish, however, does not prevent human beings from acting; on the contrary, it is the very condition for their action, and it is a part of that action itself.
In Sartre’s view, human beings are “free” beings. Since existence precedes essence, they are not determined by anything, and are allowed to do anything. Being free, however, implies that the entire responsibility for their deeds lies with themselves. In that sense, being free is a kind of burden for them; therefore, human beings are “condemned to be free.” In other words, human beings experience anguish because they are free. Sartre explained it this way:
Man is free, man is freedom. On the other hand, if God does not exist, we find no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our con-duct. So, in the bright realm of values, we have no excuse behind us, nor justification before us. We are alone, with no excuses. That is the idea I shall try to convey when I say that man is condemned to be free. 22
A human being, who is subjectivity, will exercise his or her subjectivity. In order for a human being to exercise subjectivity, there must exist an object that can receive dominion from him or her. Among the types of beings, there are the “being-in-itself” and the “being-for-itself.” The being-in-itself refers to all things and the being-for-itself is the being which is conscious of itself, namely, the human being. When a person exercises subjectivity, there is no problem so far as he or she deals with a being-in-itself as his or her object. But, once a person faces another person (i.e., a being-for-itself), problems arise. The reason for this is that in such a relationship both will assert their subjectivity.
When one person faces another, their human existence becomes a “being-for-others”; that is, a being that is opposite to another being, according to Sartre. The fundamental structure of the being-for-others is the relationship in which one is either a “being-looking-at” or a “being-looked-at”―that is, a relationship in which “the Other is an object for me” or “I myself am an object-for-the-Other.” 23 This means that human relationships are in constant conflict. As Sartre explained it,
It is therefore useless for human reality to seek to get out of this dilemma: one must either transcend the Other or allow oneself to be transcended by him. The essence of the relations between consciousnesses is not the Mitsein [co-existence]; it is conflict. 24
5.2. A Unification Thought Appraisal of Sartre’s View of the Human Being
Sartre said that “existence precedes essence,” and that human beings create themselves. Along this same line, Heidegger contended that people must project themselves toward the future. For Heidegger, the “call of conscience,” though vague, guides people toward the original self. For Sartre, however, the original self is totally denied. According to Unification Thought, the absence of the original self is a natural consequence of the fact that human beings have become totally separated from God. If we were to accept Sartre’s views, we would be left without any standard at all to judge between good and evil. In that situation, no matter what people did, they would always be able to rationalize their actions by saying that they had acted on their own volition. That would necessarily create a society without ethics.
Sartre also said that the human being is subjectivity. In contradistinction to that, Unification Thought asserts that the human being is both subjectivity and objectivity, at the same time. In other words, a person of original nature is both in the subject position and in the object position. What Sartre calls subjectivity refers to the fact that human beings are free to choose themselves and to objectify others; in contrast, what Unification Thought calls subjectivity refers to the human ability to have dominion over an object being, with love. In order to exercise true subjectivity, people must first establish their own objectivity. In other words, they must first have object consciousness in an object position. Going through the experience of being in an object position, they grow and are promoted to stand in a subject position, and thus become able to exercise subjectivity.
Furthermore, according to Sartre, the characteristic of a mutual relationship between human beings is that of conflict between subjectivity and subjectivity, or a conflict between freedom and freedom. This is similar to Hobbes’ concept of a “war of all against all.” Needless to say, such concepts of subjectivity and freedom are mistaken. Unless such mistaken views regarding subjectivity and freedom are corrected, the confusion now existing in democratic society can not be resolved. Only when people learn to establish both subjectivity and objectivity, whereby harmonious give and receive action between subject and object takes place in every sphere, can a world of love and peace be actualized.
Moreover, Sartre says that human beings are “condemned to be free.” From the viewpoint of Unification Thought, however, freedom is anything but such a sentence. Freedom can not exist apart from the principle, and the principle is the norm for actualizing true love. Accordingly, true freedom is freedom for the sake of actualizing true love.