JEAN-PAUL SARTRE: On the Many Senses of the Political

Jean-Paul Sartre’s life spanned nearly a century of political turmoil that repeatedly marked and catalyzed the development of his thinking. Although Sartre never authored a work of political philosophy per se or a systematic articulation of his political outlook, there is arguably no aspect of Sartre’s voluminous writings that does not bespeak the political realities of his times. The aim of this chapter is to examine Sartre’s political life-rather than merely ascertain his political thought-through his writings, as manifesting plural senses of the political-historically situated and socially shaped-but, most significantly, as aspirational for a better world in which human beings can realize their freedom, individually as well as collectively.