Jean-Paul Sartre and Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Jean-Paul Sartre is an atheist philosopher who has recently been labeled as the “ Apostle of Absurdity ” in a series of articles called “Pillars of Unbelief” by Peter Kreeft , a professor of Philosophy at Boston College. In his articles, Kreeft outlines the dangerous impact of six modern thinkers on contemporary culture. Sartre’s name qualifies to be in this list, and rightly so. Sartre’s version of atheism is called Existentialism because it sees life as the outcome of choices made by each individual in accordance with his will. Sartre goes a little further than most 19 th century atheists. For atheists such as Marx, Nietzsche and Strauss, the concept of God has a looming presence somewhere in the background despite all efforts done to suppress it. This is clearly manifested in the manner in which they conceptualize humanity. Throughout their writings, human beings are endowed with a preset nature that leaves the reader p...