Bad Faith, Good Faith, and Authenticity in Sartre's Early Philosophy - Softcover

Ronald E. Santoni

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566393205 ISBN 13: 9781566393201

Publisher: Temple University Press, 1995

Synopsis

From the beginning to the end of his philosophising, Sartre appears to have been concerned with bad faith - our natural disposition to flee from our freedom and to lie to ourselves. Virtually no aspect of his monumental system has generated more attention. Yet bad faith has been plagued by misinterpretation and misunderstanding. At the same time, Sartre's correlative concepts of good faith and authenticity have suffered neglect or insufficient attention, or been confused and wrongly identified by Sartre scholars, even by Sartre himself.

About this title

About the Author

Ronald E. Santoni is Maria Theresa Barney Professor of Philosophy at Denison University in Ohio. He is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and an Associate Fellow of Berkeley College, Yale University, whose published work includes over 100 articles, reviews, and commentaries. He is also co-editor of Social and Political Philosophy and editor of Religious Language and the Problem of Religious Knowledge.

From the Inside Flap

"This is an excellent study of a crucial theme in Sartre's work and an outstanding piece of philosophical analysis in the field of Continental thought. Santoni does not simply make charges; he argues his case in highly detailed and discriminating terms.... No author working in this field will be able to ignore Santoni's results."
—Maurice Natanson, Yale University

"Applying to advantage the best elements of both the analytic and the phenomenological approaches, Santoni clarifies apparent ambiguities in Sartre's Being and Nothingness and his posthumously published Notebooks for an Ethics. He points to hitherto unremarked parallels between Sartre and the early Heidegger and effectively demolishes the common assumption that Sartre's ontology cannot logically allow for an ethics."
—Hazel E. Barnes, Professor of Philosophy Emerita, University of Colorado

"Santoni's book is necessary reading for anyone interested in unraveling the complexities of Sartre's notions of bad faith, good faith, and authenticity."
—Joseph S. Catalano, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Kean College

"Santoni offers a deeply probing analysis of several key ideas, and their interconnections, in Sartre's early work. Among his claims are that Sartre has a positive, as well as the commonly acknowledged negative, sense of good faith; and that authenticity, emerging from purifying reflection, enables Sartre to show a way out of bad faith. Santoni's carefully elaborated interpretation shows the kind of intellectual integrity that will open the way to further dialogue."
—Phyllis S. Morris, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Oberlin College

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1566393205
• ISBN 13: 9781566393201
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 245