Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher,
playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He
was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and
phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy
and Marxism.
His work has also influenced sociology, critical theory,
post-colonial theory, and literary studies, and continues to influence these
disciplines.
Sartre was also noted for his open relationship with
prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher and writer Simone de
Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social
assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered
bourgeois, in both lifestyle and thought. The conflict between oppressive,
spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, "bad
faith") and an "authentic" way of "being" became the
dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal
philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's
introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism and Humanism
(L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.
He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but
refused it, saying that he always declined official honours and that "a
writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution".
He died on April 15, 1980 at the age of 74.
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