Product Description

This first collection of Sartre's key philosophical writings provides an indispensable resource for all students and readers of his work, which has been extremely influential in philosophy, literature and politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #628509 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
'This immensely useful volume makes it possible for readers to get a substantial and comprehensive knowledge of Sartrean philosophy. It is a remarkable achievement.' - Hazel E. Barnes, University of Colorado at Boulder

'... this is a worthwhile and illuminating book.' - Baroness Mary Warnock

'... brings together just the right texts, ordered in the right way, to draw the student into Sartre.' - John J. Compton, Vanderbilt University

'Stephen Priest's succinct, analytical introductions are invaluable ... a wide-ranging collection of extracts. - Christina Howells, Wadham College, Oxford

From the Back Cover
Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the most famous philosophers of the twentieth century. The principal founder of existentialism, a political thinker and famous novelist and dramatist, his work has exerted enormous influence in philosophy, literature, politics and cultural studies. Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings is the first collection of Sartre's key philosophical writings and provides an indispensable resource for all students and readers of his work. Stephen Priest's clear and helpful introductions set each reading in context, making the volume an ideal companion for those coming to Sartre's writings for the first time.
A key feature of the anthology is that it includes the full text of Sartre's famous Existentialism and Humanism.
The selections are from:
Existentialism and Humanism
Being and Nothingness
Transcendence of the Ego
The Psychology of Imagination
What is Literature?
Search for a Method
Notebooks for an Ethics
The Family Idiot
Critique of Dialectical Reason

About the Author
Stephen Priest is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and a visiting scholar of Wolfson College, Oxford. He is the author of The British Empiricists, Theories of the Mind, Merleau-Ponty and The Subject in Question^n and also editor of Hegel's Critique of Kant.

Customer Reviews

Over ambitous or valuable introduction?
This book is something of a pied piper that will entice the novice reader into unfamiliar territory. It is primarily intended as an introduction to Sartre's writings, providing a bite size introduction to the wide-ranging output of Existentialism's chief protagonist. My only concern is that Priest oscillates between analysis and explanation, where this occurs the author's style of writing becomes over ambitious: attempting to analyse the specific philosophical problems posed by Sartre's writings is beyond the grasp of such a short anthology. Ultimately, there is the possibility that the language employed will deter some readers from pursuing Sartre's own writings on the same basis, when in fact this is clearly not the case. It must be acknowledged that reading this anthology cannot substitute reading Sartre's original texts, which are themselves highly accessible.

Considering that the book is intended to provide the reader with the tools to approach Sartre's writings with a fundamental grasp of his philosophy, it is something of a shock to find that Priest makes little reference to Sartre's literary works; writings that ultimately provide a better and more useful introduction to Sartrean philosophy than the body of philosophical writing that provides its framing discourse. Such scant disregard for Sartre's key literary texts denies the reader access to Sartre's most profound works of philosophy. It is unfortunate that the book lacks extended notations and an index, qualities that would facilitate its use in academic study. The bibliography is similarly poor considering the intentions of the book, however, reference is given to a number of extensive bibliographies on related subjects. Priest's primary aim and indeed success, is in capturing the essence of Sartre's major area's of concern and explaining them concisely with reference to the specific bodies of theory/philosophy to which they belong. Priest makes a worthy attempt of over viewing phenomenology and ontology, philosophical doctrines that usually require extensive elucidation. I would recommend this book to anyone being introduced to Sartre as part of college/undergraduate study, only on the pretext that it is read in relation to the key texts, and not as an all-encompassing introduction to Sartrean philosophy.

Douglas Leman

Over ambitous or valuable introduction?
This book is something of a pied piper that will entice the novice reader into unfamiliar territory. It is primarily intended as an introduction to Sartre's writings, providing a bite size introduction to the wide-ranging output of Existentialism's chief protagonist. My only concern is that Priest oscillates between analysis and explanation, where this occurs the author's style of writing becomes over ambitious: attempting to analyse the specific philosophical problems posed by Sartre's writings is beyond the grasp of such a short anthology. Ultimately, there is the possibility that the language employed will deter some readers from pursuing Sartre's own writings on the same basis, when in fact this is clearly not the case. It must be acknowledged that reading this anthology cannot substitute reading Sartre's original texts, which are themselves highly accessible. Considering that the book is intended to provide the reader with the tools to approach Sartre's writings with a fundamental grasp of his philosophy, it is something of a shock to find that Priest makes little reference to Sartre's literary works; writings that ultimately provide a better and more useful introduction to Sartrean philosophy than the body of philosophical writing that provides its framing discourse. Such scant disregard for Sartre's key literary texts denies the reader access to Sartre's most profound works of philosophy. It is unfortunate that the book lacks extended notations and an index, qualities that would facilitate its use in academic study. The bibliography is similarly poor considering the intentions of the book, however, reference is given to a number of extensive bibliographies on related subjects. Priest's primary aim and indeed success, is in capturing the essence of Sartre's major area's of concern and explaining them concisely with reference to the specific bodies of theory/philosophy to which they belong. Priest makes a worthy attempt of over viewing phenomenology and ontology, philosophical doctrines that usually require extensive elucidation. I would recommend this book to anyone being introduced to Sartre as part of college/undergraduate study, only on the pretext that it is read in relation to the key texts, and not as an all-encompassing introduction to Sartrean philosophy.

Douglas Leman