Existence and Knowledge

Existence and Knowledge

Sartre and Man’s Desire to be God

Document Type : Research Article

Author
Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Allameh Tabatabai University
Abstract
Sartre divides being into in-itself (that is, being without consciousness) and for-itself (that is, being with consciousness or human being). For him, although for-itself or human being is conscious and free but it has no determination and constancy. As a result, it tries to be not only for-itself but also in-itself and in this way tries to attain determination and constancy. Thus for-itself attempts to become in-itself-for-itself. But in-itself-for-itself is the definition Sartre gives for God because God has both the consciousness and freedom of the being-for-itself and the determination and constancy of the being-in-itself. Therefore we can say that man tries to become God. Sartre maintains that all the deeds that man will perform during his lifetime represent his desire to be God. This basic desire can be found in human desire to appropriation that includes his desire to sex, food and knowledge and also can be found in his desire to be loved and to attract the other. On the other hand, man wants to justify his own existence and thinks that he can do that by becoming God. But the problem is that to become God is impossible because, according to Sartre, the concept of God is contradictory and, therefore, his existence is impossible. Consequently, not attaining his ideal man becomes disappointed and turns into “a useless passion”.
Keywords

منابع
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