"The existentialist, on the contrary, finds it extremely embarrassing
that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility
of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any
good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to
think it. It is nowhere written that ‘the good’ exists, that one must be
honest or must not lie, since we are now upon the plane where there are
only men. Dostoevsky once wrote: ‘If God did not exist,
everything would be permitted’; and that, for existentialism, is the
starting point. Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist,
and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend
upon either within or outside himself.”
A lecture by Sarte (1946) printed in Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre, ed. Walter Kaufman, Meridian Publishing Company, 1989;
No comments:
Post a Comment
Reformed Seth appreciates and encourages your comments, but we do have guidelines for posting comments:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
Thanks!