I understand Sartre's ontology to develop in three stages: first, through Being and Nothingness and Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr; second, through the Critique of Dialectical Reason; and, finally, as it unfolds in The Family Idiot. Each stage depends upon the former and deepens the original ontology, while still introducing novel elements. For example, in Being and Nothingness, the in-itself, which is the source of our world-making, develops in the Critique into the practico-inert, which is the world made artifact, and in The Family Idiot, both the in-itself and the practico-inert unite to become the Spirit of the Age, joining our adventure with nature to that of our adventure with our family and our history. My reflection will be developed in four stages: first, a general overview; second, a more extended study of what Sartre calls the problematic of human reality; third, a brief reflection on Sartre's methodology; and finally, a concluding survey.
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Sartre's Ontology from Being and Nothingness to The Family Idiot
Joseph S. Catalano
In Sartre Studies International
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2005
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 17–30 (14 total)
The Meaning and Truth of History: A Note on Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason
Joseph S. Catalano
My goal in writing this article is to give a brief overview of the two volumes of Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason. After a brief introduction, I proceed in three stages that move from the abstract to the concrete. I thus trace the development of such notions as comprehension into the dialectic, praxis into singularity and incarnation, the practico-inert into the totalization-of-envelopment, and the enhancement of the notion of scarcity as a general historical condition into a collective free choice. I also suggest new divisions for Critique II.
In Sartre Studies International
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2007
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 47–64 (18 total)