Matthew Eshleman

The three articles and commentary that follow began as talks for a book symposium dedicated to Jon Webber's monograph Rethinking Existentialism. The talks were given for a plenary session at the United Kingdom Sartre Society meeting, held at the Maison Française d'Oxford on 3 July 2023. Organised to honour the excellence of Webber's work on Sartre, the Symposium aimed to call attention to the importance of his monograph. Since Rethinking Existentialism centrally addresses Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Frantz Fanon, the division of labour was straightforward. Matt Eshleman addresses Webber's treatment of Sartre, Kate Kirkpatrick his treatment of Beauvoir and Komarine Romdenh-Romluc his treatment of Fanon. For those who have not read Rethinking Existentialism a brief synopsis follows.

Motivated by Jonathan Webber's recent work, this article addresses what I call ‘the normative bridge problem’ in the early work of Jean-Paul Sartre: What justifies the move from an agent explicitly recognising and affirming her freedom to an obligation to respect the freedom of others? Many sympathetic Sartre commentators have argued that Sartre lacks resources to justify this obligation (Anderson, Heter, Webber) and, hence, that Sartre fails to traverse the normative bridge. This article hypothesizes that Sartre does not need to explicitly justify the bridge obligation. In correctly grasping one's metaphysical nature, a Sartrean agent cannot fail to realise that the affirmation of the freedom of others cannot but follow from the affirmation of one's own freedom. I test the hypothesis by sketching two competing interpretations of authenticity and try to show that only under one interpretation can one see why the normative bridge amounts to a theoretical illusion.

This essay addresses ‘the God‐haunted Atheist paradox’ in Sartre's early philosophy and argues against a series of efforts to show that Sartre maintains a ‘secular theology’. It shows that if Sartre's ontology is correct, the God of ‘classic theism’ cannot possibly exist. It argues against two sophisticated efforts to show that theological influences infiltrate Sartre's early ontology and permeate his moral psychology. It also rejects the claim that Sartre's (Existentialism is a Humanism, 1946/2007, Yale University Press) distinction between secular and religious existentialism ‘has no basis in fact’. It shows that Sartre appropriates religious language in order to give debunking secular explanations for religious phenomena and that he inverts traditional Christian values. It concludes that Sartre is an anti‐theologian.

Bruce Baugh, Philosophers’ Walks (New York: Routledge, 2022), 251 pp., $48.95 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-3673-3313-3 Marco Cavallaro and George Heffernan (editors), The Existential Husserl: A Collection of Critical Essays (New York: Springer, 2022), 354 pp., $119.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-3-031-05094-7 Mary L. Edwards, Sartre's Existential Psychoanalysis: Knowing Others (London: Bloomsbury, 2023), 258 pp., $115.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-350-17347-7, $39.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-350-33107-5. Elisa Magrì and Paddy McQueen, Critical Phenomenology: An Introduction (Cambridge and Hoboken: Polity, 2023), 240 pp., $24.95 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-5095-4112-6 Michael J. Monahan, Creolizing Practices of Freedom: Recognition and Dissonance (Lanham: Roman & Littlefield, 2023), 206 pp., $105 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-5381-7461.

Thomas R. Flynn, Sartre: A Philosophical Biography Review by Matthew C. Eshleman Steven Churchill and Jack Reynolds, eds., Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Concepts Review by Eric Hamm Benedict O’Donohoe, ed., Severally Seeking Sartre Review by Eric Hamm Sofia Miguens, Gerhard Preyer, and Clara Bravo Morando, eds., Pre-Reflective Consciousness: Sartre and Contemporary Philosophy of Mind Review by Curtis Sommerlatte Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails Review by Adrian van den Hoven Dan Williams, Klein, Sartre and Imagination in the Films of Ingmar Bergman Review by Adrian van den Hoven Mark Hulliung, Sartre and Clio: Encounters with History Review by Michael Lejman Kris Sealey, Moments of Disruption: Levinas, Sartre, and the Question of Transcendence Review by Diane Perpich

"Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. His influence extends beyond academic philosophy to areas as diverse as anti-colonial movements, youth culture, literary criticism, and artistic developments around the world. Beginning with an introduction and biography of Jean-Paul Sartre by Matthew Eshleman, 42 chapters by a team of international contributors cover all the major aspects of Sartre's thought in the following key areas: Sartre's philosophical and historical context Sartre and phenomenology Sartre, existentialism and ontology Sartre and ethics Sartre and political theory Aesthetics, literature and biography Sartre's engagements with other thinkers. The Sartrean Mind is the most comprehensive collection on Sartre published to date. It is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, as well as for those in related disciplines where Sartre's work has continuing importance such as literature, French studies, and politics"--

This article surveys most of the recent reviews of Sarah Richmond’s excellent new translation of L’Être et le néant. It offers some close textual comparisons between Richmond’s translation, Hazel Barnes’ translation, and the Checklist of Errors of Hazel Barnes’ Translation of L’Être et le néant. This article concludes that Richmond delivers a higher semantic resolution translation that overcomes nearly all the liabilities found in Barnes and does so without sacrificing much by way of readability.

This programmatic essay sketches a few reasons for the elusive nature of conscious experience. It proposes that while neither introspection nor phenomenologically refined reflection delivers direct ‘observational’ access to intrinsic features of conscious experience, intrinsic features of consciousness, nonetheless, manifest themselves in our experience in a liminal way. Overall it proceeds in two movements. Negatively, it argues that implicit self-awareness renders any notion of reflective access methodologically superfluous but existentially irresistible. Positively, it argues that ‘reflective’ access to the liminal dimensions of conscious experience should be construed in purely semantic terms, tied to indirect experiential acquaintance. It concludes by suggesting that what goes by the name mental transparency, even its strong versions, does not rule out liminal manifestation: mental transparency is not mental invisibility.

Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. His influence extends beyond academic philosophy to areas as diverse as anti-colonial movements, youth culture, literary criticism, and artistic developments around the world. Beginning with an introduction and biography of Jean-Paul Sartre by Matthew Eshleman, 42 chapters by a team of international contributors cover all the major aspects of Sartre's thought in the following key areas: Sartre's philosophical and historical context Sartre and phenomenology Sartre, existentialism and ontology Sartre and ethics Sartre and political theory Aesthetics, literature and biography Sartre's engagements with other thinkers. The Sartrean Mind is the most comprehensive collection on Sartre published to date. It is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, as well as for those in related disciplines where Sartre's work has continuing importance such as literature, French studies, and politics.

This essay argues that an adequate account of bad faith cannot be given without taking the second half of Being and Nothingness into consideration. There are two separate but related reasons for this. First, the objectifying gaze of Others provides a necessary condition for the possibility of bad faith. Sartre, however, does not formally introduce analysis of Others until Parts III and IV. Second, upon the introduction of Others, Sartre revises his view of absolute freedom. Sartre's considered view of freedom helps to make sense out of bad faith in a way that does not seem possible were freedom absolute.

Introduction to Global Military History provides a lucid and comprehensive account of military developments around the modern world from the eighteenth century up to the present day. Beginning with the background to the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary wars and ending with the recent conflicts of the twenty-first century, this third edition combines fully up-to-date global coverage with close analysis not only of the military aspects of war but also its social, cultural, political and economic dimensions and repercussions. The new edition includes a fully revised chapter on conflicts during the eighteenth century, updated coverage of events post-1990 and increased coverage of non-Western conflicts to provide a truly international account of the varied and changing nature of modern military history. Covering lesser-known conflicts as well as the familiar wars of history and illustrated throughout with maps, primary source extracts and case studies, it is essential reading for all students of modern military history and international relations.

Although most of the contemporary debates around subjectivity are framed by a rejection of the metaphysical subject, more time needs to be spent developing the implications of abandoning the meta-physics of constraint. Doing so provides the key to approaching our pressing problem that concerns freedom, and only once invisible, ideal "constraints" have been adequately understood will all of the contemporary puzzlement that concerns intentional resistance to power be assuaged. While Sartre does not solve the problem of freedom bequeathed to us by Foucault, it is clear that he struggled with similar issues, and that his work sheds important light on the issue of ideal constraint. Once more, on Sartre's second view, power and freedom are not mutually exclusive, and in this he advances over much contemporary liberal thought. Thus, on the approach of what would be Sartre's hundredth birthday, I invite others to take this opportune moment to reevaluate the early work of this once shining philosophical star, only recently and perhaps prematurely eclipsed by anti-humanism, and recognize that now, more than ever, Sartre's thought is relevant to our very pressing concerns.