Occasional Philosophical Writings

Iconic French novelist, playwright, and essayist, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) is widely recognised as one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, whose work has remained relevant and thought-provoking through the decades. The Seagull Sartre Library now presents some of his most incisive philosophical, cultural, and literary critical essays in twelve newly designed volumes.

These four essays of varying length bear witness to Sartre's preoccupation with philosophers and their work. In these pages, he examines Descartes's concept of freedom; comments on a fundamental idea in Husserl's phenomenology: intentionality; writes a mixed review of Denis de Rougemont's monumental Love in the Western World; and provides an extensive critical analysis of the work of Brice Parain, one of France's leading philosophers of language.