Reading Sartre: on Phenomenology and Existentialism

The philosophical writings of Jean-Paul Sartre up to 1950, his early 'existentialist' phase, have recently been attracting attention within a variety of academic debates in and between different disciplines. The central aim of this interdisciplinary project is to bring together established and early career academics working on different aspects of Sartre's early philosophy to discuss the contributions that it can make to these debates and to publish the outcomes of these discussions as a book of essays.

Discussions will take place at a series of workshops where each contributor to the project will present a paper for discussion. Revised versions of these papers will form the book publication. The book will be launched at a major academic conference in Paris, bringing together the project network and French academics working on Sartre.

Topics covered by the project will include: the differences and relations between perceptual, imaginative, and emotional experience; the metaphysics of reality and the nature of human freedom; the structure of interpersonal relations; the ethics and politics of the existentialist virtue of authenticity; and the relation between philosophical and literary writing.

Contributors to the project will be academics based in the UK, North America, and mainland Europe. They will be drawn from the disciplines of Philosophy, French Studies, and Psychology, and the interdisciplinary programme of Cognitive Science.

As well as building a network of academics of diverse research interests all working on aspects of Sartre's philosophy and publishing a book of their essays, this project aims to raise the profile and the quality of critiques and applications of Sartre's early work within contemporary philosophical discussion generally, to revitalise the UK Sartre Society as a forum for the exchange of ideas about Sartre's work, and to forge research links between members of the project network and French academics working on Sartre.

Through consolidating and advancing academic work on Sartre's early philosophy and making the results available in book form, the project aims to further the understanding outside academia of this important contribution to twentieth-century culture, within the worlds of literature, the arts, political discourse, and psychotherapy and counselling, as well as among the reading public generally.

Not required.