Full version Being and Nothingness Complete

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Jean-Paul Sartre, the seminal smarty-pants of mid-century thinking, launched the existentialist fleet with the publication of Being & Nothingness in 1943. Tho the book is thick, dense & unfriendly to careless readers, it's indispensable to those interested in the philosophy of consciousness & free will. Some of his arguments are fallacious, others are unclear, but for the most part his thoughts penetrate deeply into fundamental philosophical territory. Basing his conception of self-consciousness loosely on Heidegger's "being," he proceeds to sharply delineate between conscious actions ("for themselves") & unconscious ("in themselves"). It's a conscious choice, he claims, to live one's life "authentically" & in a unified fashion, or not--this is the fundamental freedom of our lives. Drawing on history & his own rich imagination for examples, Sartre offers compelling supplements to his more formal arguments. The waiter who detaches himself from his job-role sticks in the reader's memory with greater tenacity than the lengthy discussion of inauthentic life & serves to bring the full force of the argument to life. Even if you're not an angst-addicted poet from North Beach, Being & Nothingness offers you a deep conversation with a brilliant mind--unfortunately, a rare find these days.--Rob Lightner