The concept of perversity as a means towards a non-humanist existentialism in the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche
Existentialism, broadly construed, can be understood in terms of a desire to âreturn to manâ. In other words, underpinning existentialist thought is a sense that modern philosophy has lost touch with the essential goal of allowing man to comprehend his own existence. And it is this aim then, of a return to manâs being as it is concretely lived and experienced, that it seeks to realise. However it will be argued in this thesis that, against familiar criticisms of such a project, this âreturnâ does not simply necessitate a return to, or acceptance of, âhumanismâ. For influenced by Heideggerâs Letter on Humanism, Marxist, structuralist and post-structuralist critics have all suggested this movement is synonymous with a naive or romantic âhumanistâ idea of the subject. That is, they have suggested that existentialismâs âreturn to manâ amounts at best to the radicalisation of a discredited subject-entity concept. As such, against this, we will argue that existentialism and its âreturn to manâ is not simply another humanism. And we will attempt to demonstrate this point, and resolve this apparent contradiction, by exploring the idea of perversity in the work of Sartre and Nietzsche.
Mitchell, David
The concept of perversity as a means towards a non-humanist existentialism in the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche. Existentialism, broadly construed, can be understood in terms of a desire to âreturn to manâ. In other words, underpinning existentialist thought is a sense that modern philosophy has lost touch with the essential goal of allowing man to comprehend his own existence. And it is this aim then, of a return to manâs being as it is concretely lived and experienced, that it seeks to realise. However it will be argued in this thesis that, against familiar criticisms of such a project, this âreturnâ does not simply necessitate a return to, or acceptance of, âhumanismâ. For influenced by Heideggerâs Letter on Humanism, Marxist, structuralist and post-structuralist critics have all suggested this movement is synonymous with a naive or romantic âhumanistâ idea of the subject. That is, they have suggested that existentialismâs âreturn to manâ amounts at best to the radicalisation of a discredited subject-entity concept. As such, against this, we will argue that existentialism and its âreturn to manâ is not simply another humanism. And we will attempt to demonstrate this point, and resolve this apparent contradiction, by exploring the idea of perversity in the work of Sartre and Nietzsche.
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