Existential Psychoanalysis [Paperback]

Jean-Paul Sartre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 1996

A criticism of modern psychology in general and Freud's determinism in particular.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. (September 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895267020
• ISBN-13: 978-0895267023
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Novelist, playwright, and biographer Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) is widely considered one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. His major works include "No Exit," "Nausea," "The Wall," "The Age of Reason," "Critique of Dialectical Reason," "Being and Nothingness," and "Roads to Freedom," an allegory of man's search for commitment, and not, as the man at the off-licence says, an everyday story of French country folk.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Speculative? System-building? Abstract? Gut-wrenching!, July 23, 2005

By 

calmly - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Existential psychoanalysis

This work consists of 2 excerpts from Satre's "Being and Nothingness". What's new is a 17 page introduction by Rollo May. Although May admires Sartre, he does present key differences he has with Sartre, so this intro has some teeth in it. Even as excerpts, there's about 200 pages of meaty exposition that saves you lugging around "Being And Nothingness" if this subset is your focus.

Sartre builds up a big, abstract, speculative system, apparently as a framework for his belief in human freedom, choice, and responsibility. What does this construction accomplish that simple assertions wouldn't of our freedom, our not being determined, our defining ourself via our yet-to-be-accomplished projects, our responsibility rooted in our unavoidable need to make choices? Perhaps both emphasis (you'll be less likely to forget you are free), elaboration (you'll learn more what being free as well as trying not to be implies), and examples (you'll learn more of the ways in which people try to avoid the weight of their freedom).

Even if the experts tell you they have you all figured out, you'll have decide whether to buy that or not. Even if you want to be all figured out and delivered from uncertainty, they (and you) may be wrong. If Sartre only argued for our individual freedoms, he wouldn't be so important. It is in his exploration of the ways in which we cringe from our freedom, of our "bad faith", that he connects and makes what seems a speculative, abstract system instead a powerful emotional truth.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, January 26, 2000

By 

Timothy McCourt (Gainesville, Florida, United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Existential Psychoanalysis (Paperback)

I read this book in one sitting and found it to be very informative. In outlining the basis for an existentialist psychoanalysis, Sartre gives interesting and riveting existential perspectives on the human situation. I would recommend anyone with an interest in philosophy, psychology, and the human situation in general to give this book a try.