Quietism is the attitude of people who say, "let others do what I cannot do." The doctrine I am presenting before you is precisely the opposite of this, since it declares that there is no reality except in action. It goes further, indeed, and adds, "Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realises himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions, nothing else but what his life is."
"Existentialism and Humanism" by Jean-Paul Sartre. Trans. Philip Mairet (Brooklyn: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1977), pp. 23-56. First published in French in 1946 under the title "L'Existentialisme est un humanisme*."
* Note: The translation from French to English actually is "Existentialism is (a) humanism." The indefinite article (a) is always used in French with most nouns, as are definite articles (the), unlike English where articles can be understood to be there. As the reader can see, this other translation of the title declares something very different than the translated title "Existentialism and Humanism."
Translation can be a very tricky job. Does the translator need to change the form of what is being said into the idiomatic language of the translated? Is there a need to do literal translation? Can translation change the meaning of what is said? These are all vey important considerations, especially if "language" may be the only thing that can prove what is real, reality, realization, realism, realist, realty...
Reading the two translations shows that they mean two very different things. "Existentialism and Humanism" leads one to initially compare and contrast the two. "Existentialim is (a) humanism" can go in different directions in and of itself. Is existentialism a type of humanism? Are existentialism and humanism one and the same thing? Can we have one without the other? What is the interaction within the two? The entire conversation changes. Consider one of the key phrases in the quote...
..."there is no reality except in action"?
In the French the langauge for this phrase is "...il n'y a de réalité que dans l'action." It can also be translated as "there is reality only in the action." [emphasis mine]
...the action? What about the thought?
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4 comments:
reccently i am writing a paper related to satre's "the flies".
are there any useful information?
I think "Existentialism and Humanism" is not a good translation, where did they take the and from? "Existentialism is a humanism" is perfectly fine, the other one changes the sense.
Karoelchen, you are right that in the original French it is literally "Existentialism is a humanism." the translator is noted right in the post - Philip Mairet; i put a note at the end about he translation of the title; it does not translate well into English as "Existentialism is a humanism"; it makes more sense to say 'Existentialism is humanism' but that says the two are the same thing in English; it might be better to say "Existentialism is a type of humanism"; that would make more sense, but how does it change Sartre's idea? it's tricky but, in the long run, none of it makes any difference; existentialism is what it is...
p.s. i'm glad people are still looking at this site; i stopped blogging the main part a couple of years ago with only a post now and then as a thought occurs to me;
honestly, i'd gotten to the point where i started to believe that the mere discussion of any philosophy negated it; strange thought, but the title of the site explains it best...
and to quote a well-known modern philosopher -
"reality! what a concept!"
Robin Williams, comedian
thanks...
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