S artre, J ean‐ P aul

Abstract

French philosopher Jean‐Paul Sartre (1905–1980) is a key figure in twentieth‐century existentialism. Sartre's work critically engages with the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and the existentialism of Martin Heidegger. A playwright, novelist, and literary critic, Sartre's work concentrates on issues of human freedom, consciousness, authenticity, and bad faith. Politically, Sartre's critical stance toward the French government's colonial policy in Algeria led to his turn to Marxism and then later existential Marxism. A vociferous and critical public intellectual all his life, Sartre's existentialist writing remains highly influential within philosophy and across a range of social‐scientific disciplines.