Being and Nothingness

915 Pages·2021·6.357 MB·English

by  Jean-Paul Sartre

Being and Nothingness
First published in French in 1943, Jean-Paul Sartre’s L’Être et le Néant is one of
the greatest philosophical works of the twentieth century. In it, Sartre o�ers
nothing less than a brilliant and radical account of the human condition. The
English philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch wrote to a friend of “the
excitement—I remember nothing like it since the days of discovering Keats and
Shelley and Coleridge.” This new translation, the �rst for over sixty years, makes
this classic work of philosophy available to a new generation of readers.
What gives our lives signi�cance, Sartre argues in Being and Nothingness, is not
preestablished for us by God or nature but is something for which we ourselves
are responsible. At the heart of this view are Sartre’s radical conceptions of
consciousness and freedom. Far from being an internal, passive container for our
thoughts and experiences, human consciousness is constantly projecting itself
into the outside world and imbuing it with meaning. Combining this with the
unsettling view that human existence is characterized by radical freedom and the
inescapability of choice, Sartre introduces us to a cast of ideas and characters that
are part of philosophical legend: anguish; the “bad faith” of the memorable
waiter in the café; sexual desire; and the “look” of the other, brought to life by
Sartre’s famous description of someone looking through a keyhole.
Above all, by arguing that we alone create our values and that human
relationships are characterized by hopeless con�ict, Sartre paints a stark and
controversial picture of our moral universe and one that resonates strongly
today.
This new translation includes an insightful Translator’s Introduction, helpful
discussion of key decisions, numerous explanatory footnotes, an index, and a
Foreword by Richard Moran, Brian D. Young Professor of Philosophy, Harvard
University, USA.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) was one of the great philosophers of the twentieth
century and a renowned novelist, dramatist, and political activist. As a teenager
Sartre was drawn to philosophy after reading Henri Bergson’s Time and Free
Will. He passed the agrégation in philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure
in Paris in 1929. His �rst novel La Nausée, which Sartre considered one of his
best works, was published in 1938. Sartre served as a meteorologist in the French
army before being captured by German troops in 1940, spending nine months
as a prisoner of war. He continued to write during his captivity and, after his
release, published his great trilogy of novels, Les Chemins de la Liberté. In 1964,
Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature but declined it. During the
events of 1968 he was arrested for civil disobedience but swiftly released by
President Charles de Gaulle, who allegedly said, “One does not arrest Voltaire.”
He died on April 15, 1980, in Paris, his funeral attracting an enormous crowd of
up to 50,000 mourners. He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
Translated by Sarah Richmond, University College London, UK.
“Sarah Richmond has now produced a meticulous, elegant translation.”
—Jonathan Rée, London Review of Books
“Sarah Richmond’s superb new translation… is supplemented by a wealth of
explanatory and analytical material [and] a particularly detailed and insightful
set of notes on the translation.… The �rst translation of Being and Nothingness
was a major academic achievement that has in�uenced thought across a range of
disciplines for more than sixty years. This new edition has the potential to be at
least as in�uential over the coming decades.”
—Jonathan Webber, Mind
“The publication of this excellent new English translation of L’Être et le néant is
a welcome addition to the library of Sartre scholarship.… There is every chance
that it will also attract nonspecialist readers to Sartre’s early philosophy and will
thus importantly contribute to keeping existentialist thought alive in a context
and era chronically bereft of genuine philosophical enlightenment.”
—Sam Coombes, French Studies
“Translating such a book is manifestly a labor of love—it was as much for Barnes
as for Richmond, and generations of Anglophone Sartre scholars remain
grateful to Barnes, even if, as I expect (and hope) it will, Richmond’s careful,
thoughtful, and thought-provoking translation becomes the standard one for
use by students as well as professionals.”
—Katherine J. Morris, European Journal of Philosophy “Sarah Richmond’s
marvelously clear and thoughtful new translation brings Sartre’s rich,
infuriating, endlessly fertile masterpiece to a whole new English-language
readership.”
—Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Café “Sartre’s philosophy will
always be important. Being and Nothingness is not an easy read, but Sarah
Richmond makes it accessible in English to the general reader. Her translation is
exemplary in its clarity.”
—Richard Eyre
“Sarah Richmond’s translation of this ground-zero existentialist text is
breathtaking. Having developed a set of brilliant translation principles, laid out
carefully in her introductory notes, she has produced a version of Sartre’s
magnum opus that—�nally!—renders his challenging philosophical prose
comprehensible to the curious general reader and his most compelling
phenomenological descriptions and analyses luminous and thrilling for those of
us who have studied Being and Nothingness for years.”
—Nancy Bauer, Tufts University, USA “This superb new translation is an
extraordinary resource for Sartre scholars, including those who can read the
work in French. Not only has Sarah Richmond produced an outstandingly
accurate and �uent translation but her extensive notes, introduction, and
editorial comments ensure that the work will be turned to for clari�cation by all
readers of Sartre. All in all, this is a major philosophical moment in Sartre
studies.”
—Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK
“A new translation of Being and Nothingness has been long overdue. Sarah
Richmond has done an excellent job of translating and clarifying Sartre’s
magnum opus, making its rich content accessible to a wider audience.”
—Dan Zahavi, University of Copenhagen, Denmark “With its scholarly
introduction, up-to-date bibliography and numerous footnotes, Richmond’s
�uent and precise translation will be an indispensable tool even for scholars able
to read Sartre in French.”
—Andrew Leak, University College London, UK
“This �ne new translation provides us with as crisp a rendering as possible of
Sartre’s complex prose. Richmond’s introduction, and a panoply of informative
notes, also invite readers to share with her the intricacies of the task of
translation and assist in grasping many of the conceptual vocabularies and
nuances of this vital text.”
—Sonia Kruks, author of Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of Ambiguity
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CONTENTS
ForewRoiracdrdh Mearn
l(
TranslPaerfatceo tor t'hsUe S E ditSiaornah
XVIII
Rihcmodn,N otoenA b braetvinsio XX
Translaltnoodtrurc'tnsiS oaraRhi hmcond
l()(I
xl
Notsoe n thTear nastlin Soarh Raicmhond Translator's
AcknowleSdagrmRaeihnc thsm ond lxvii
lntroduIcnt isoeonaf:br ecihn g 1
1.Thei dea opfh etnhoem enon 1
11T.hep henomeonfbo eni anngdt hbee ing
oft hpeh enomenon
5
IITIh.ep rerefcloecgatinitdtvo eh b ee ionfg
thpee rcipere 8
,
IVT.heb eintg hpoeef r cipi 6
V.Theo ntolopgriocoafl 20
VIB.eiinngi tself 24
PAROTN ET:H Ee ROBLEOMFN OTl:-IINGNESS 31
Chap1t eTrh eo riogfin ne gation 33
1.Questioning
33
IIN.egations
37
IITIh.ed ialeccotnicceaplot fni ootnh ingness
44
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VIII CONTENTS
IVT.he phenomencoolnocgeipctailo n
ofn otihgnness so
V.Theo riogifnn o thingness 57
Chap2t eBra df aith
87
1 .Badf aiatnhdl ies
87
II. Forms of badf ai1t1h1 .
91.
The" faioftb ha"fda ith
113
PARTTW OB:E ING·FOR·ITSELF 119
ChapteTrh eim medisattreu cotuftr hefeso r-itself
1 121
1.Self-presence
121
11T.hef o-ritsfealcftsi city
129
11T1h.ef or-iatnsdteh bleef i onfvg a lue
136
IVT.hef or-iatnsdte hbleef i onfgp o ssibles
150
V.Mys eainfdt hcei rcoufisitep ity
159
ChapteTre mporality
2 163
1.Phenomenooftl hoeg yt thermepeo ral
'
.
dimensions
163
11T.heo ntolooftg eym porality
192
11O1r.igitneamlp oraanldpi styyc hological
temporraelnietcyt:i on
217
ChapteTrr anscendence
3 244
1.Knowleadsag t ey poefr elation
betwetehfneo r-iatnsdte hliefn -itself
246
11O.nd etermiansan teigoant ion
25
5
11Q1u.alaintqdyu antpiottye,n tainadlity
equipmentality
263
IVW.orld-time
285
V.Knowledge
300
PARTTH REBEE:I NG·FOR·THE·OTHER 305
Chapt1 eTrh eO theerx'iss tence
307
1.Thep roblem
307
IIT.her eeoffs olipsism
309
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.
CONTENTSI X
IIHIu.sseHrelg,eH le,i degger
322
IVT.hel ook
347
ChapteTrh eb ody
2 409
1.Theb odaysb eing-fofra-cittisceiltfy
: 412
11. Tbhoedf yo-r-the-Other
453
11T1h.et hiorndt olodgiimceanls ion of the body
468
ChapteCro ncrete wrietlthah Oteti hoenrs
3 479
1.Ourfi rsatt tittouwdaetr hdOe t helro:v e,
langumaagseo,c hism
482
11T.hes ecoantdt ittouwdaetr hdOe t her:
indifferdeenscihera,et ,rs eadd,i sm
501
11"1B.eing-(wMiitthas"n edti hn"ew) 'e 543
PARFTO URT:O H AVET,OD O,A NDT OBE
567
ChapteBre ianngd doing: freedom
1 569
1.Thefi rscto ndiotfai cotni iosfn r eedom
569
11F.reedaonmdf actitchsieit tyu:a tion
629 '
.
IIFIr.eedaonmdr esponsibility
718
ChapteTro d oa ntdo h ave
2 723
1.Existential psychoanalysis
723
11T.od oa ndt oh avpeo:s session
746
11T1h.er eveloaftb ieoitnnh gr ouqguha lities
777
Conclusion
798
1.1n -itasnedfl ofr -istosmemele ft:a physical
observations
798
IIM.orpaelr spectives
809
Bibliography
Index
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