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Rating: 
Summary: A Lucid Description of the Existential Doctrine
Review: However much Sartre's essay enflamed Heidegger (see Heidegger's 'A Letter on Humanism'), Existentialism is a Humanism is perhaps THE quintessential outline of the existential project and of existentialism proper. If one wishes to gain an understanding of Sartre, the journey should start here. All the primary concerns of Sartrean existentialism are laid out in clear and insightful language - freedom, responsibility, bad faith and other issues are discussed. To this effect the translation does justice to the intent and thrust of Sartre.In particular, Existentialism and Human Emotions is highly recomended for those wishing to begin Being and Nothingness, and those who want a deeper understanding of existential literature. This book has been an invaluable part of my library, often read, referenced and revered.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for starters
Review: If your interest has been picqued by existentialism, whether it be Sartre's or existentialism in general, this is a decent place to start for a theoretical work. This should be read with Nausea, as the latter is his first novel in addition to being a complete work (so is the first essay, however it is a speech and was not intended at first for publication). If you are fairly serious about understanding the complexities of Sartre's philosophy, I would highly recomend Being and Nothingness or, at least, The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, a collection of Sartre's works as edited by Robert Cumming. Nevertheless, this was my first introduction to Sartre and though it failed to give me a full explanation of Sartre's ideas, it will satisfy those desiring a fleeting encounter with a philosophy that speaks more loudly to us even today than it did when it shouted to the resistant spirit of the French in 1943.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent....
Review: Jean-Paul Sartre is a giant of 20th century literature, and his philosophy of existentialism is, along with surrealism, the most important idea of our age. Many people think they know what existentialism means, as I did before I read this work. My half-formed ideas were clarified, misunderstandings sorted out; I found much to think about here. I recommend this because the essays are succint, clear, penetrating: "Man is condemned to be free... because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does." I myself found this book liberating, a challenge to my intellect but not a dreary, endless tract (as "Being and Nothingness" strikes me!) I found much to underline and comment on in my copy. There is much courage in existentialism; and there is much to be learned from this short work.
Rating:
Summary: An easy to grasp outline of Existentialism
Review: Reading Jean-Paul Sartre's "Existentialism and Human Emotions" is a much easier approach to understanding Sartre's philosophy than reading Sartre's more concentrated work such as "Being and Nothingness." Although I think the best introduction to Sartre is through reading "Nausea" and the plays. This book tries to explain what Existentialism is and what it tries to do. Sartre also defends Existentialism against attacks on it by other Philosophies and the public that often assumes Existentialism is a sad philosophy; giving man no meaning and leads him to nihilistic despair. On the contrary, Sartre says that Existentialism is the only way to give man meaning and dignity. The book also touches on the idea of Man wanting to be God in a world where God does no exist. Sartre at the end gives a quick summing up of Existential Psycho-anaylis. A basic thesis of this work could be explained as the following: "Man is free when in total involvement and action and from Freedom man has an ultimate responsibility he must follow as his actions have to do with all mankind." I would recommend "Existentialism and Human Emotions" to anyone who wants to understand Existentialism without getting a headache from reading more complicated works(i.e. "Being and Nothingness," Heideggar etc..) I am an avid reader of Philosophy and I always refer back to this book when pondering a question about Existentialism. A must for anyone who is interested in Philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: An easy to grasp outline of Existentialism
Review: Reading Jean-Paul Sartre's "Existentialism and Human Emotions" is a much easier approach to understanding Sartre's philosophy than reading Sartre's more concentrated work such as "Being and Nothingness." Although I think the best introduction to Sartre is through reading "Nausea" and the plays. This book tries to explain what Existentialism is and what it tries to do. Sartre also defends Existentialism against attacks on it by other Philosophies and the public that often assumes Existentialism is a sad philosophy; giving man no meaning and leads him to nihilistic despair. On the contrary, Sartre says that Existentialism is the only way to give man meaning and dignity. The book also touches on the idea of Man wanting to be God in a world where God does no exist. Sartre at the end gives a quick summing up of Existential Psycho-anaylis. A basic thesis of this work could be explained as the following: "Man is free when in total involvement and action and from Freedom man has an ultimate responsibility he must follow as his actions have to do with all mankind." I would recommend "Existentialism and Human Emotions" to anyone who wants to understand Existentialism without getting a headache from reading more complicated works(i.e. "Being and Nothingness," Heideggar etc..) I am an avid reader of Philosophy and I always refer back to this book when pondering a question about Existentialism. A must for anyone who is interested in Philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: Good for starters
Review: This book of 96 pages is a translation of Jean-Paul Sartre work. Specifically: it countains 7 sections:
* Existentialism (43p)
* Freedom and Responsability (8p)
* The desire to be God (3p)
* The Desire to be God (cont.) (5p)
* Existentialist psychoanalysis (16p)
* The Hole (7p)
* Ethical Implications (7p) The first section "Existentialism" is the translation, by Bernard Frechtman, of the french text by Jean-Paul Sartre "L'Existentialisme est un humanisme" which was originally the text of a conference Sartre gave in Paris on 29 OCT 1945, published later in 1946.
Originally, this text was not intend to explain Existentialism, but to defend it against harsh critics from people who did not fully understand it. It is thus a fairly good introduction for anyone who whishes to recieve a first understanding of Existentialism.
The other sections are extracts from "Being and Nothingness", translated by Hazel E. Barnes, from Sartre's book "L'Être et le Néant" published in 1943.
I did not read the translation, I bought this book for my not-French girlfriend.
Rating:
Summary: Translation details
Review: This book of 96 pages is a translation of Jean-Paul Sartre work. Specifically: it countains 7 sections:
* Existentialism (43p)
* Freedom and Responsability (8p)
* The desire to be God (3p)
* The Desire to be God (cont.) (5p)
* Existentialist psychoanalysis (16p)
* The Hole (7p)
* Ethical Implications (7p) The first section "Existentialism" is the translation, by Bernard Frechtman, of the french text by Jean-Paul Sartre "L'Existentialisme est un humanisme" which was originally the text of a conference Sartre gave in Paris on 29 OCT 1945, published later in 1946.
Originally, this text was not intend to explain Existentialism, but to defend it against harsh critics from people who did not fully understand it. It is thus a fairly good introduction for anyone who whishes to recieve a first understanding of Existentialism.
The other sections are extracts from "Being and Nothingness", translated by Hazel E. Barnes, from Sartre's book "L'Être et le Néant" published in 1943.
I did not read the translation, I bought this book for my not-French girlfriend.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent definition of existentialism
Review: This is a fantastic and very understandable definition of existentialism and how it is applied to metaphysics and ethics. Sartre proves that existentialism is a hopeful and optimistic philosophy in this essay.
Rating:
Summary: Precise formulation
Review: Those not wishing to slog through some of Sartre's weightier work will find "Existentialism and Human Emotions" a very useful statement and summation of the principles of Sartre's beliefs. More than half a century after existentialism came to the fore, I, for one, find the ideas as compelling as ever. Sartre shows on the one hand that existentialism was a movement born out of the rejection of ideology. Ideas that come packaged and defined and handed to the individual for unquestioning acceptance hold no interest for the existentialist. While Sartre makes few, if any, explicit references to the disastrous totalitarian mass movements that gave rise to World War II, it's clear that these -- along with organized religion -- are his targets. The core of Sartre's analysis lies in his assertion that "existence precedes essence." Every other piece of existentialism flows from this idea that Man, at birth, is a being for whom nothing is determined. Man, Sartre argues, creates the story that becomes his life through living, pure and simple. From this it follows that all of our lives are shaped by choice. Another of Sartre's famous contentions emerges from the book, that even if one does nothing, that in itself is a choice. Man cannot escape that responsibility for his actions. There is, as Sartre was to famously and dramatically delineate later, "no exit." For me, the most important idea in the book is that it convincingly refutes the shallow attack often leveled at existentialism: that it is dressed-up nihilism. Sartre shows that the existentialists do not reject meaning; they simply insist that there is no a priori meaning. In fact, in their rejection of ideology and determinism, the existentialists embrace meaning, for what is meaning unless it is that which one discovers on his own, through his own questing? You can read this book in a couple of hours. For some of us, though, its material has given us a lifetime of things to think about.
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