Jean-Paul Sartre: Life and Works Quiz

Answer: France

Sartre was born in Paris in 1905 and died there in 1980 (at the age of 74). France is known for being home to many of the world's greatest and most influential philosophers and thinkers, including Descartes, Foucault, Voltaire, Diderot, Comte, Derrida and many more.

Answer: Existentialism

A great deal of Sartre's work focused on his version of existentialism, using concepts he had created and incorporating ideas through atheism and, at some points, Marxism. One of his most famous works, "L'existentialisme est un humanisme", deals with the ideas of his theory whilst defending it from critics.

Answer: "Existence precedes essence"

Sartre, as an atheist, argued we are born without purpose or meaning. He argued that we must accept the freedom and responsibility of our existence and live out our lives so as to create purpose and meaning. So first we come to exist, then we create our essence.

Sartre introduces and explains "Existence precedes essence" in explicit detail in his 1946 work "L'existentialisme est un humanisme".

Answer: Being and Nothingness

Sartre details his Existentialism in "Being and Nothingness" whilst utilizing his ideas about consciousness and phenomenology and displaying influence from Heidegger.
"Beyond Good and Evil" is a 1886 work by Friedrich Nietzsche.
"Being and Time" is a 1927 work by Martin Heidegger.
"Madness and Civilization" is a 1961 work by Michel Foucault.

Answer: Simone de Beauvoir

It was a famous and somewhat public, relationship. Sartre and Beauvoir met in 1929 in Paris. As Beauvoir explains in "The Prime of Life", "The comradeship that welded our lives together made a superfluous mockery of any other bond we might have forged for ourselves."
They had countless affairs, but told each other everything and enjoyed an unconventional relationship.

Answer: False

During World War II, Sartre worked as a Meteorologist for the French army. He was captured by German troops in Padoux and was a prisoner of war, but for a duration of 9 months and not 2 years.

Answer: Huis Clos (No Exit)

"No Exit" is a play about 3 people stuck in a room which they soon realize is Hell. Awaiting some kind of torturer (as they would expect in Hell), they eventually find out that the torture stems from their interactions with one another.

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche died 5 years before Sartre was born, but did influence Sartre's work as well as his existentialist ideas.
Camus was often involved with Sartre and Beauvoir until they eventually fell out and by 1952 they'd split completely, never to speak again (this was due to a conflict in political and philosophical ideas).
Sartre wrote the preface for Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth" and supported his quest for Algerian independence.
Sartre, Beauvoir and Ponty were part of Socialisme et Liberté, an underground political group formed by numerous significant writers. Ponty also studied alongside Sartre and Beauvoir at École Normale Supérieure.

Answer: True

Sartre was known for his drug use, particularly his use of amphetamines whilst keeping up with his stressful and busy lifestyle and work.
His use of mescaline famously left him thinking he was being chased by a lobster.

Answer: Oedema of the lung

He passed away in 1980 from the oedema. His grave is in Montparnasse Cemetery. His funeral was a nationally significant event and more than 20,000 people attended to mourn and pay respects to one of France's most important thinkers and social figures of modern history: Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre.
Beauvoir died from pneumonia (so did Descartes!).
Foucault died from AIDS related diseases.
Camus died in a car accident.