Sartre’s beliefs changed repeatedly while his extremism remained constant.

Evidence

Sartre’s foreword to The Wretched of the Earth provides a snapshot of what was at once most odious and most admirable about him in these militant years. His fetishising of violence is shocking, yet there is still something to be admired in his willingness to engage with the predicament of the marginalised and oppressed in such a radical way. Indeed, Sartre had by now become so used to taking radical stances that he hardly knew any longer how to be moderate. As his friend Olivier Todd commented, Sartre’s beliefs changed, but his extremism never did. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 870

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that a philosopher prized for intellectual honesty could be trapped in a meta-pattern of extremism — where the posture of radicalness outlives any specific content — resists easy summary.
• SHARE: Worth sending to anyone interested in intellectual biography or the psychology of fanaticism: ‘Sartre’s beliefs changed but his extremism never did.’
• XREF: connects to: Sartre’s late thought shifted from individual freedom toward political commitment — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 853; Sartre philosophized by constantly thinking against himself, unlike the circling Heidegger. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 1015

Broader Connections

• Sartre’s late thought shifted from individual freedom toward political commitment #corroborates (0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 853
• Sartre philosophized by constantly thinking against himself, unlike the circling Heidegger. #expands (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1015