Sartre s Relationship Between Existentialism And Marxism

In Search for a Method, Sartre discusses the relationship between existentialism and Marxism. As according to Sartre, Marxism is the dominant philosophy in the current era, while existentialism is an ‘ideology’ attached parasitically to this theoretical foundation. Personally, as I read along, I get the impression that Sartre sees existentialism more as the savior of Marxism than a parasite. He has a disdain for what contemporary Marxists have become; he uses terms such as lazy, and stagnant to describe what has become Marxism. While he had some questions about Marx himself, he would argue that Marxism is the way forward, but not contemporary Marxism. Their interpretations of Marx is damaged by idealism and individualism. He highlights the case of the Soviet Union using Marxism as a tool to protect its policy and longevity. However, for Sartre, this is not what Marxism is about. Sartre talks about his own experience with Marxism, and how it along with reality affected him. He writes: â€Å"It was at about this time that I read Capital and German Ideology. I found everything perfectly clear, and I really understood absolutely nothing. To understand is to change, to go beyond oneself. This reading did not change me. By contrast, what change me was the reality of Marxism.† This paragraph leads me to think of my own experience. It wasn’t reading Marx nor class struggle, but ‘Sustainable Development’ and what Tourism was doing to Jamaica. During my undergraduate years, I readShow MoreRelatedExistentialism vs Essentialism23287 Words   |  94 PagesEssentialism vs. Existentialism Essentialism: A belief that things have a set of characteristics that make them what they are, amp; that the task of science and philosophy is their discovery amp; expression; the doctrine that essence is prior to existence While, Existentialism:A philosophical theory or approach, that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free amp; responsible agent, determining their own development through acts of the will. Existentialism * isRead MoreThe Crisis Of The Community, Its Dislocation, The Distress Of Most Of Its Members1655 Words   |  7 Pagesdragged up would have sent the neo-existentialists of the Cafe Flore into transports of delight.† (Le Marxisme apres Marx (1956—1965) This starts Lefebvre’s claim of Marxism, and how he sees philosophy: a perilous conscience on real life. Marxism and this view of philosophy situate Lefebvre within his intellectual context. Marxism is a process of socioeconomic analysis, stemming from German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They analyzed class relations and societal conflict using aRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 Pagesworld. Traditional branches are cosmology and ontology. †¢ Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible. Among its central concerns has been the challenge posed by skepticism and the relationships between truth, belief, and justification. †¢ Ethics, or moral philosophy, is concerned with questions of how persons ought to act or if such questions are answerable. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics