Review by Choice Review
This important book is Sartre's effort to clarify and expand upon the ontological themes of Being and Nothingness. As editor Aronson points out in his introduction, however, Sartre ranges well beyond the questions posed by a phenomenological ontology of truth, ending the essay in an exploration of the link among truth, ethics, and history. Sartre very clearly had before him the recent French translation (De l'essence de la verit'e, Louvain, 1948) of Heidegger's Vom Wesen der Wahrheit (Frankfurt a. M., 1943), making use of Heideggerian and Husserlian themes while at the same time producing his own distinctly existential phenomenology. Best read with the contemporaneous Qu 'est-ce que la litt'erature (Paris, 1948), Truth and Existence is another important element in the recently published links between Sartre's existentialist ontology and his later ethical, political, and literary concerns. In a span of just over 80 pages, Sartre is unusually clear and concise, offering readers a more positive and at the same time a very phenomenological picture of the existential problem of truth. The excellent introduction by Aronson will help readers not experienced in reading Sartre. Students would be well served by reading Truth and Existence in conjunction with Sartre's L'existentialisme est un humanisme (Paris, 1946, tr. 1948), Aronson's Jean-Paul Sartre: Philosophy in the World (CH, Apr'81), and, for a more recent discussion, William L. McBride's Sartre's Political Theory (CH, Feb'92). Highly recommended for all academic libraries. Most accessible to advanced undergraduates and above. J. H. Barker; Albright College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ignorance, if Sartre is correct, is an intentional act, a means of avoiding the truth through sheer indifference or an act of will. Freedom is achieved through hard work and choice--both anathema to the willfully ignorant--declares the French existentialist in this short, coherent philosophical tract, written in 1948 and published only now. To prove that ignorance is bad faith, Sartre uses the example of a tubercular woman who denies her illness, pretending to be controlled by destiny yet at the same time preoccupied with the suppressed truth. Other forms of bad faith explored here are passive contemplation, innocence and abstract knowledge divorced from living reality. Accompanied by an excellent introduction, this dense, lucidly translated treatise reveals Sartre as a characteristically 20th-century figure. Van den Hoven is a professor of French at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Aronson a humanities professor at Wayne State in Michigan. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Although written in 1948 on the heels of Being and Nothingness , this work remained unpublished until, posthumously, Sartre's adopted daughter saw it into print in France in 1989. Her arrangement of Sartre's manuscript pages has been translated here, including the notes Sartre added to his draft. Editor Aronson's introduction is an important element of the work for contemporary readers because it places Sartre's explication of truth within his developing philosophy. In spite of this work's brevity, Sartre's delineation of truth as the antithesis of willful ignorance is dense and demanding. A necessary and welcome addition to all humanities collections, it will interest scholars of the 20th century as well as philosophers.-- Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
