Well I feel like this post is going to be a bit lacking in that this really isn't what I would like to talk about right now. What I would like to talk about is the amazing discussion we had today about Sartre's writings and how they deal with "Bad Faith", but I will limit myself to what I need to talk about from last Wednesday's conversation about Sartre.
So, let's talk about responsibility. Trying to understand Sartre's meaning of responsibility is very difficult, and I believe a portion of the class got a bit sidetracked into responsibility relating to how your actions reflect on the actions of others (I was a large part of that side track, apologies). But after a lot of discussion, it boils down to something a lot simpler. Sartre was simply talking about responsibility relating to inaction. As was brought up in class, he lived in a prisoner of war camp during World War 2, and all he had were his own thoughts. And his thought process, at least to me, seems pretty straight forward. "Hey, I hate how so many people aren't fighting in this war against these assholes. Seriously, why aren't they? They need to stand up and fight in order to stop these people. They are affected just like the rest of us. They have a responsibility to their country, their families, and to themselves to stop this war!". And I think every one of us has had a moment where we think, "Why don't people stop bad things from happening?" If there is so much bad going on in the world, why doesn't everybody step in? Some people might not think it will affect them, or that it isn't their problem, or that it will hurt them if they try to help, or any number of "cop outs". But honestly this is all bullshit. I agree with Sartre that if we see a problem, we have a duty to try and stop it.
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