Temporality and ethics in early Sartre
This thesis concerns the early work of Jean-Paul Sartre. It reconstructs the groundwork for the abandoned first ethics of 'authenticity', taking an unusual focus on his account of knowledge and the nature of temporality - especially the present. In other words, it focuses on the peculiar nature of time, knowledge and action as they allow us to make sense of an early Sartrean ethics. It suggests that existing accounts of bad faith as running off belief and lax standards of evidence become far more intelligible and less problematic when we see knowledge as intuitive, a matter of the (temporally) complicated presence of the object to the world. This unusual focus gives it its novelty; the aim is to show how these issues can take centre stage in our understanding of Sartre and lead to an original exegesis and reconstruction of his system. It also holds that this yields a reading which we can definitively say supports ethical considerations. Along the way, it also engages with contemporary discussions about the status of character in Sartre, reaffirming the importance of views on that topic which are currently moving out of fashion. It defends the idea that, in order to have a strong notion of a Sartrean ethics,
Pickernell, Jeffrey N.
B Philosophy (General)
Temporality and ethics in early Sartre. This thesis concerns the early work of Jean-Paul Sartre. It reconstructs the groundwork for the abandoned first ethics of 'authenticity', taking an unusual focus on his account of knowledge and the nature of temporality - especially the present. In other words, it focuses on the peculiar nature of time, knowledge and action as they allow us to make sense of an early Sartrean ethics. It suggests that existing accounts of bad faith as running off belief and lax standards of evidence become far more intelligible and less problematic when we see knowledge as intuitive, a matter of the (temporally) complicated presence of the object to the world. This unusual focus gives it its novelty; the aim is to show how these issues can take centre stage in our understanding of Sartre and lead to an original exegesis and reconstruction of his system. It also holds that this yields a reading which we can definitively say supports ethical considerations. Along the way, it also engages with contemporary discussions about the status of character in Sartre, reaffirming the importance of views on that topic which are currently moving out of fashion. It defends the idea that, in order to have a strong notion of a Sartrean ethics,
temporality ethic early sartre concern early_work jean_paul_sartre reconstruct groundwork abandon first ethic authenticity take unusual focus account knowledge nature temporality especially present word focus peculiar nature time knowledge action allow make_sense early ethic suggests exist account bad faith run belief lax standard evidence become far intelligible less problematic see knowledge intuitive matter temporally complicate presence object world unusual focus give novelty aim_show issue take centre_stage sartre lead original exegesis reconstruction system also hold yield read definitively say support ethical consideration along_way also engage contemporary_discussion status character sartre reaffirm importance view topic currently move fashion defends idea order strong notion ethic