Single Idea 22231

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self]

Full Idea

We are always ready to take refuge in a belief in determinism if this freedom weighs upon us or if we need an excuse. Thus we flee from anguish by attempting to apprehend ourselves from without as an Other or a thing.

Gist of Idea

We flee from the anguish of freedom by seeing ourselves objectively, as determined

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943], p.82), quoted by Christine Daigle - Jean-Paul Sartre 2.4

Book Reference

Daigle,Christine: 'Jean-Paul Sartre' [Routledge 2010], p.61


A Reaction

I would have thought we blame social pressures, or biological pressures, rather than metaphysical determinism, but it amounts to the same thing. If we are not free then probably nothing else is.