JEAN-PAUL SARTRE’S EXISTENTIALISM: A SETBACK TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD?

Abstract

Existentialism is the product of the World I and World War II.  Existentialism gives importance to the lived human experience rather than given. According to Sartre each one of us is endowed with unlimited freedom. That is to say that everyone is totally free. However, this statement may question the limits of every individual’s freedom of choice. As human beings, social and physical constraints cannot be overlooked in the way in which we make our choices. Freedom is not an ability to act. Freedom is rather to be understood as a characteristic of the nature of consciousness (that is as spontaneity). Sartre introduces his notion of freedom as amounting to making choices, and indeed not being able to avoid making choices. His conception of choice can be understood with reference to an individual’s original choice. For example in matters of education, each individual person is allowed to make his/her own choices regardless of any other circumstances or situations. A person’s transformed life is a result of his/her prudent use of freedom in essence seeking understanding. Essence always gets refined and renewed by the freedom of choice determination. Man’s/woman’s existential condition is not a state of alienation from his/her essential nature rather it is a realization of who s/he is. However, the question remains: Is it possible for human beings to make choices without the possibility of making some errors? In educational issues, the subject matter of existentialist classrooms should be a matter of personal choice. In existential terms, lecturers, teachers, instructors, tutors are supposed to view the individual as an entity within a social context in which the learner must confront others' views to clarify his or her own views. This paper is going to give a bird’s eye view of Sartre’s notion of existentialism which is mainly based on freedom and responsibility and see its impact on education particularly as far as morality is concerned.