Problems with Sartre's Ethics

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the problems with Sartre's logic when studying the concepts of authenticity, nothingness, and responsibility. The paper highlights the contradictions in Sartre's logic and some of the assumptions he makes that cause these contradictions.

From the Paper:

"Sartre's doctrine that the self is "nothing" cannot ground any ethical orders because if we follow Sartre's train of logic, we have negated what is. In other words, our own awareness of what we lack, including unsatisfied desires and expectations, is not reality. Because of our own awareness, we have brought nothingness into the world. In addition, Sartre says that nothingness is the basis of all philosophical inquiry. According to this theory, we are not a part of any order because we can choose to withdraw from this order. Bad faith is essentially lying to ourselves, which is closely tied to inauthenticity--both ideas are attempts to escape the truth of what we are as human beings. The problem with this theory is that Sartre gives us no moral guidance if we wish to avoid bad faith. This is problematic because we are not introduced to a way of finding good faith other than our own freedom."

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