Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy

Anguish, Abandonment, and the Burden of Choice

With no God and no fixed values, where do we get our morality? Sartre&rsquo;s answer is unflinching: we invent it, and we know we are inventing it. He explores the three moods this produces - <em>anguish</em>, <em>abandonment</em>, and <em>despair</em> - through the case of a young man torn between his mother and the Resistance, for whom no rule or feeling can make the choice.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned Sartre&rsquo;s three existentialist moods - anguish (the weight of total responsibility), abandonment (no God, no given values, no excuses), and despair (acting without false hope). Explain the case of the young man torn between his mother and the Resistance, and why Sartre says no rule could decide it for…

Leads to Dostoevsky.

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