Abstract

John Atwell observes that the eclectic and disparate nature of Sartre’s thinking is nowhere exposed more extremely than in Sartre’s considerations on acting. As Atwell remarks:

Very frequently, I find, Sartre begins a discussion with relatively familiar, i.e., “analytic,” considerations only to turn abruptly to thoughts of a quite different sort, sometimes idealistic and sometimes phenomenological. Often, I think, he makes a rather sudden turn in order to carry out an analysis which his starting point will not accommodate. Nowhere is this more evident than in his treatment of the nature and explanation of action, for there he begins with (1) considerations much like those urged by many current analytic philosophers, goes on to (2) views normally called idealistic, and finally depends on (3) theories propounded by phenomenologists.