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This book is split into 3 distinct parts: an introduction, the main text which is a transcribe of the lecture Sartre gave "Existentialism is a humanism" with the question & answer session which followed, then a commentary on Camus's the Stranger. The introduction is really well written and unlike most introductions, didn't bore me to tears or put me off reading the book entirely. It gives a good grounding of the history and situations that prompted the lecture. The transcribe of the lecture I found was easy to read through and gives the reader an introduction to existentialism (the whole book is less than 100 pages, so is not a thorough study), although one of the 'questions' after the lecture was more like an interrogation and I found hard to follow. Aside from that I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to get a feel of existentialism, as I think reading this would help decide whether you wanted to read further & deeper on the subject. The commentary on The Stranger was insightful but would probably be of more interest if you've actually read The Stranger (which I haven't).

Enjoyed reading and digesting these two works. The commentary on the stranger was especially helpful.
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DID NOT FINISH: 23%

aaaaaa trop compliqué 

I really felt like a new person after reading this. It's given me a whole new perspective and philosophy that I will use to guide my life. I'll definitely reread this book in the near future. 

I liked sartre's points against the refutes of existentialism and how he was able to explain the concept of existentialism clearly using practical examples. 

"Whenever a man chooses his purpose and his commitment in all clearness and in all sincerity, whatever that purpose may be, it is impossible for him to prefer another. It is true in the sense that we do not believe in progress. Progress implies amelioration; but man is always the same, facing a situation which is always changing, and choice remains always a choice in the situation."

This paragraph pains me, for here, Sartre is so close, so unbelievably, agonizingly close, to describing something real, something far more bitter, far more dreadful than his conception of the man doomed to freedom. Sartre, I ask you, how does the man choose? And, oh, I ask you, why do you retain a notion that man is able to choose, that his will is free, even after ousting God? No, Sartre, the pill one must swallow would be, to the majority, akin to arsenic. For I know how people look at me when I tell them that I must not judge a man or scorn him for his actions. I know that man, much like me, did not choose, for I am still unable to locate neither, a chooser nor the ability to choose. In truth, when I look at man, I see society looking back at me. In that sense, you are right to point out that when the man acts, he acts for the whole of humanity, yet you are mistaken to hold him responsible for those acts.
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honestly don’t know what Sartre is going on about half the time. 
reflective fast-paced

A great introduction to Sartre's conception of existentialism and phenomenology. Recommended for those looking to delve into his denser works. In addressing the charges leveled upon him and upon existentialism (charged as a philosophy of quietism; a philosophy that turns its back on man), Sartre expounds on the premiere concerns of the philosophy. Existentialism Is a Humanism serves as a sort of Sparksnotes for existentialism.