The Relation of Temporality, Existence and Praxis in Sartre

Abstract

Although Sartre’s existentialism is criticized for imprisoning the subject in an empty subjectivity, we see that Sartre tries to discuss the problem of “freedom” and “existence” together with cultural, social and political determinations, without falling into the trap of “idealism”. Sartre’s emphasis on the relationship with the “other” in his effort to explain the relationship between “me” and the world enabled him to carry existentialism to the field of praxis, and as a result, to examine the individual together with the intentionality of consciousness and the determinations of the field of praxis, not leaving the individual only to the “cogito” or the spirituality of the historical process. Dialectic is also a concept that draws the problem of existence into the field of praxis, along with the dynamics of experience. At this point, the dialectic, which seems to be ahistorical because it is hierarchical and its steps are predetermined, opens the door to an area of freedom in Sartre’s philosophy. According to Sartre, the basic point of view that philosophy adds to these discussions is how people can be evaluated together with their contradictions, moments of decision and indecision. While these evaluations lead us to a discussion about how temporality and therefore historicity should be grasped, the problem of temporality also emerges as an important tool for understanding the dynamism of human existence. In this context, in this study, the field of praxis determined by Sartre was tried to be examined based on the relationship he established between temporality and existence.