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Sartre 's Theory Of The Radical Freedom Essay

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Discuss Sartre’s theory of the ‘radical freedom’ of consciousness
Jean-Paul Sartre in his book ‘Being and Nothingness’ provided us with a new interpretation of freedom consistent with his famous account on existentialism. This is the view that existence precedes its essence: “In a word, man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself” (Sartre, 1943), (Onof, 2016). Here, Sartre stated that humans are completely free and that this comes at a cost, as ultimately, we have the burden of responsibility. Nonetheless, of main consideration, is discussing Sartre’s theory of the ‘radical freedom’ of consciousness. This view is where he explained that at every second of decision-making, we have the possibility to modify ourselves, i.e. by participating in what Sartre calls ‘new projects’. But, this view is undermined, as it has the potential to jeopardise our very existence in the world (Onof, 2016).

In this essay, I will be providing one explanation of what ‘freedom’ entails for Sartre and this will be followed by a brief explanation of a contrasting account brought forward by Thomas Hobbes, who saw freedom as the ability to do whatever one wishes to do. I will then move onto explaining Sartre’s account on free will, of the different views he adopted and expanded on. I will then explain what makes his explanation on freedom so ‘radical’. This will be followed by a discussion of some of

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