Paper Example on Jean-Paul Sartre and Free Will

Introduction

Philosopher Jean-Paul believed that humans live in continual suffering not particularly because of the miserable nature of life, but because people are rebuked to be free while the birth and upbringing of human are beyond control. Sartre reasons out that once human beings achieve self-awareness, they have to make decisions of their own that defines their essence. Also through Externalism, Sartre argues that it is concerned with the situations of human as an absolute way of choice. The primary idea is therefore mainly the real meaning of human life. Philosophers such as Ken Miller also agreed with Paul's view of free will. However, there are also many other scientists that criticized the authenticity of freewill and arguing that a there is no such thing as free will and that a person cannot wish for an environmental background or hereditary features by force of consciousness. Arguments have risen whether there is free will or if it is just an illusion. According to Jaen Sartre, man does not first exist then later becomes free and that no difference exists between being human and being free. Jean Paul's issue of freewill makes a lot of sense by emphasizing that only if the human self-relation has freedom, then they can be free from their relations to worldly things and other complexities of ethics, bad faith, responsibility, and essentialism.

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According to Jean-Paul's free will, we give meaning to our lives by existing and acting in a particularly; this is the theory of externalism that denotes that essence comes after existence. There is no specifically designed way of how human should give meanings to their lives, and that there is no God to help provide a purpose. There should be nothing to restrict us from doing things and that we should have the freedom to choose what we desire to be. Free will means that as humans each decision that we take defines who we are and at the same time bringing to our revelation of what a person should be. Existence comes as a result of an accident or just a mere chance. The present and the future and their responsibility are placed in a man's hands. The purpose of existence is not to make humans despaired and anguished but rather the aim of existence s to prepare man for neglect and despaired towards a better life. Among the elements that determine freedom n one's life include consciousness, environmental conditions, and drives of aggressiveness.

Bad Faith

Bad Faith according to Sartre entails three main points. First is dismissing the responsibility for the bad results of one's past. He explains that "man is nothing else but what he makes of himself" . Secondly, a person's future is affected by them refusing to take responsibility for their past actions. Mistakes constitute the destiny of man, and for a better part of human life without a past acceptance they spend struggling against this bad view thirdly, Sartre's brings out the issue of ignoring every factual element of all situations. That some people think they can achieve anything by just wishing for them. He his book on being nothingness say;" you are your life and nothing else." living in bad faith means that how to live has not been figured out despite everything being figured out. People refuse to pursue alternative options meaning they accept things to be in a certain way. People only convince themselves that they have to perform certain things or do particular work to live in a particular place; this is called living in bad faith. We alone as people are responsible for who we are and by not exploring the numerous possibilities that life provides as alternatives.

Critic and Support

Jean Grimshaw supports the idea of essentialism using gender that people are born with what they believe is their fate. For example, for females, their final view of life is get married and have children . This means that both men and women are born first with an essence then later start life with an already formed purpose in life. However, critics point out that a person by the minds free will and consciousness cannot wish for different environmental situations or genetic characteristics. Also, there can be no determination and no prediction of people's behavior because, under essentialism, the purpose comes first then the existence. People's free will excludes decisions that oppress and exploit people. The Sartre's theory thus clinches to the possibility of change and maturity. Money according to Jaen Paul, is a factor that restricts the freedom of people. The lack of money is what gives people the excuse of engaging in wrong life choices to earn a living. The massive potential exists for human beings, and all that we need is to explore. However, determinism criticizes the statement that humans are free and that the freedom is exploited to be used in the way that they please. Most of that times determinists say that this freedom is an illusion and that all actions are determined by specific effects.

Each Man Responsible for all Men

Sartre also argues that each man is responsible for all men. A person's way of thinking can be altered into thinking of adaptation of new ways to follow in the future. He was uncompromising about the personal decisions and the final results produced. Emotions are not viewed as inactive to our experiences but rather are adopted by action. Sartre responds to a critics question of the fate of someone who has rejected all moral completeness. He says in response to this that for a person to desire for change, they have to be born future-oriented. Jean-Paul still adds on his answer to the moral question that there are no apologies for criminals as they have decided to choose that bad way of living. However, critics suggest that the people who are born cowards and the once-born heroes could decide to choose to abandon cowardice and the heroes abandoned this trait according to Sartre argument. Sartre, therefore, explains this that, people are not solely responsible for the actions caused on himself, but they are responsible for all men.

Sartre's View on Ethics

Sartre's views ethics through a person's ego. He denotes that authenticity is achieved through a total conversion that consists of a person abandoning the original choices and adopting the morals that coincide with our mental and therefore free themselves from being connected to their egos . Everyone is responsible for our egos and connect with any entity of our psychology. Selfishness is abusive and therefore is the wrong future instead of the authentic future. The ethical standings of Sartre just like Peter Singer's rests on three major ideas the first one being the externalist ethics. Externalist ethic believes that people live in an oppressive and society of exploitation. Sartre's second ethical believe is the virtue of authenticity. Any decision can be authentic as long as it is survived by a clear awareness and responsibility. The human conditions are developed into two according to Sartre; facticity and transcendence. These two forms of principles and be assumed by the idea of bad faith and inauthenticity. Facticity is the one which ignores the dimensions of fact while the transcendence denies the freedom. Sartre, therefore, holds ethics holds the main proposition of ethics and authenticity.

Conclusion

To conclude, Jean-Paul Sartre gave general views about the condition of the human. His primary assentation is that man is that human beings are condemned to be free. It is clear that there are no limits to our freedom it's just that we don't have the freedom to stop being free. It is concluded that the major characteristic of the human condition is finding freedom by an idea of consciousness. Sartre explained freedom in the negative concept of nothingness. Nothingness stays in the heart of a man as a worm, and the purpose of this nothingness is to bring a relationship between consciousness and freedom. Freedom also involves the freedom to think of other possibilities rather than being rooted in one mindset and using this as an excuse of being dormant for change. Our daily experiences commonly suggest that we have the capabilities as humans to choose, consider and conclude on activities to undertake. Therefore, Sartre insists that choice of action lies within the individual even though the benefit should be to all men.

Bibliography

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Grimshaw, Jean. "Autonomy and identity in feminist thinking." In Feminist perspectives in philosophy, pp. 90-108. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1988.

Odesanmi, A. C. "Jean-Paul Sartre and the concept of determinism." Global Journal of Humanities 7, no. 1/2 (2008): 85.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. "Existentialism and Humanism (1947)." Philosophy: Key Texts (1948): 115.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Notebooks for an Ethics. University of Chicago Press, 1992.

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Warburton, Nigel. Philosophy: the classics. Routledge, 2014.