Philosophy For Our Times
Sartre vs Baldwin | Joanna Kavenna, Jonathan Webber, and Marie-Elsa Bragg
Apr 1, 2025
In this discourse, Joanna Kavenna, an award-winning writer and seasoned traveler, Jonathan Webber, a moral philosophy professor and UK Sartre Society president, and author Marie-Elsa Bragg unravel the philosophical showdown between Sartre and Baldwin. They debate how much we can truly understand about others' experiences. Love, language, and identity are explored, juxtaposing Baldwin's view of connection against Sartre's insistence on individual subjectivity. They tackle whether language can bridge human experiences and the complexities of understanding in a polarized world.
44:30
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Quick takeaways
- Sartre asserts that our subjective experiences prevent us from truly understanding others, likening this to a game of poker.
- Baldwin emphasizes the importance of social connections and empathy in enriching life's experiences and achieving deeper understanding.
Deep dives
The Nature of Individual Experience
Jean-Paul Sartre posits that individuals are trapped within their subjective experiences, suggesting that true understanding of others is fundamentally unattainable. He believes that everyone navigates their reality through personal goals and social structures, which shape their perspectives without fully revealing the experiences of others. This viewpoint is illustrated in Sartre's works, where he compares understanding another person to playing poker, indicating that one can never be entirely aware of another's thoughts or objectives. Consequently, while there is some shared social understanding, individuals must recognize the limitations imposed by their unique contexts.
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