Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology is a book written by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, published in 1943. As an existentialist philosopher, Sartre explores the ontological concepts of being from Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time in constructing this philosophical account. He focuses on the notion of “existence precedes existence” in developing the ideas on phenomenological consciousness and the questions of freedom and free will.
Sartre draws from Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological thought but develops his own theory on consciousness, existence, and being. He argues that being-for-itself, as opposed to being-in-itself, creates the condition of nothingness, hence the origin of negation. Nothingness as our essential nature is encased in a shell of non-being which allows for existence with absolute freedom.
Accordingly, the author delves into the concept of “bad faith” where he refutes the thought that treats humans as objects instead of free beings. Sartre argues that human beings abandon their freedom by yielding to societal pressures and embracing deterministic attitudes. The book further focuses on “the look” or gaze in which an individual recognizes the subjectivity of the other and identifies with it.
Being and Nothingness is praised for its explicit formulation of the notion that “existence precedes essence”. As such, the text was an influential expression of existentialism, broadening the discourse on consciousness, being, nothingness, and the phenomenon of bad faith.
