Summary Search for a Method

1 summary

1.1 marxism , existentialism
1.2 problem of mediations , auxiliary disciplines
1.3 progressive-regressive method

summary
marxism , existentialism

sartre s opening chapter discusses relationship between marxism , existentialism. sartre sees marxism dominant philosophy current era of history , existentialism reinforcing complement. of chapter discusses how existentialism fails stand on own school of thought while marxism has become corrupted soviets , other orthodox communists abuse system of thought. sartre sees existentialism reaction abuse.

sartre opens first chapter defining philosophy. argues there many philosophies , current, active philosophy unifies current knowledge , represents rising class becoming conscious of itself. sartre breaks modern philosophy down 3 eras: mercantile john locke , rené descartes, industrial immanuel kant , georg wilhelm friedrich hegel, , contemporary karl marx. sartre classifies existentialism ideology instead of philosophy since failed establish independent system of thought , did not establish conscious of new class. existentialism, represented søren kierkegaard, did not stand on own unified system of thought. instead, kierkegaard s work stood opposition hegel s. existence of kierkegaard s thought depended on existence of hegel s since solely reaction it. karl jaspers failed establish existentialism in place of historical importance since theories directed inward, toward self instead of outward, society.

sartre turns own experience marx. describes attraction marx s thought since did better job of describing condition of proletariat optimistic humanism being taught @ university. despite affinity toward marx s works, sartre claims generation s interpretation of marxism remained tainted idealism , individualism until world war ii broke down dominant societal structures. despite apparent victory of marxism, existentialism persisted because marxism stagnated. marxism became tool security , policies of soviet union. soviets halted organic conflict , debate develops philosophy, , turned marxist materialism idealism in reality made conform priori, ideological beliefs of soviet bureaucrats. sartre points hungarian uprising of 1956 soviet leaders assumed revolt must counter-revolutionary , anti-marxist when, in fact, hungarian revolt came directly working class. in contrast inflexible mode of thinking, sartre points marx s writings on revolutions of 1848 , french coup d état of 1851 in marx examined class relations instead of taking them given. sartre notes contemporary marxists maintained focus on analysis criticizes analysis superficial study focused on verifying marxist absolutes ( eternal knowledge ) instead of gaining understanding of historical perspective, marx himself did.

sartre turns criticism on other methods of investigation. says american sociology has theoretic uncertainty while once promising psychoanalysis has stagnated. unlike these methods , dominant idealism, existentialism , marxism offer possible means of understanding mankind , world totality. sartre claims class war predicted marxism has failed occur because orthodox marxism has become rigid , scholastic . despite stagnation, marxism remains philosophy of time. both existentialism , marxism see world in dialectical terms individual facts meaningless; truth found not in facts in interaction: gain significance part of totality. györgy lukács argued existentialism , marxist materialism not compatible, sartre responds passage engels showing dialectic resulting economic conditions drives history in sartre s dialectically driven existentialism. sartre concludes chapter citing marx das kapital: reign of freedom not begin in fact until time when work imposed necessity , external finality shall cease... sartre, following marx, sees human freedom limited economic scarcity. sartre, marxism remain possible philosophy until scarcity overcome; moreover, sees conceiving of successor theory—or 1 might like—as impossible until scarcity problem overcome.

the problem of mediations , auxiliary disciplines

sartre opens chapter asking why, then, not marxists? . marxism provides guiding principles , problems, not knowledge. contemporary marxists regard marxist theory source of actual knowledge, sartre sees set of problems in search of method. in first chapter, sartre sees marxism s flaw in rigidity: priori theory forces events prefabricated molds. sartre again turns lukács, foil. ascribes lukács opinion realization of german existentialism nazism while french existentialism can dismissed petits bourgeois reaction german occupation. sartre rejects lukács view pointing out that, while heidegger embraced nazis, jaspers did not. sartre began work on philosophy in 1930 , wrapping work time of occupation. argues that, marxist, lukács incapable of understanding heidegger , existentialism. marxism takes events , constructs universals, imposes universals on subsequent events. existentialism not assume single, real totality, sees history interactive relationship between events , humans.

sartre turns example of french revolution. while marxists have argued complicated events of revolution can broken down class conflict, sartre says revolution cannot understood on terms of marxist class analysis. proposes process of mediations analyze how ideological , social factors guide course of history, indirectly influenced economics , class.

progressive-regressive method

sartre proposes method of thought combines historical materialism existentialist psychoanalysis.