Sartre grounds all value in an unjustified, self-legitimizing freedom

Evidence

At the outset of Being and Nothingness Sartre claims, “my freedom is the unique foundation of values and … nothing, absolutely nothing, justifi es me in adopting this or that particular value, this or that particular scale of values. As a being by whom values exist, I am unjustifi ed” (BN, 38; EN, 76). Th e contingent fact that humans are a peculiar kind of being (one that lacks being), through whom values populate the world, is itself inexplicable and the freedom that gives rise to value itself unjustifi ed. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 185

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise statement of Sartre’s normative foundational claim: value’s source is a freedom that is itself unjustified and inexplicable.
• XREF: connects to: Sartre’s radical freedom doctrine unintentionally justified the status quo — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 826; Sartre made freedom and personal responsibility the burden of his resistance allegory — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 511; Sartre’s politics applied Heideggerian resoluteness over personal loyalty and even justice. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 814 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Sartre’s freedom is structurally immune to genuine removal by the Other. #expands (0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 641
• Sartre offers no positive account of resources one provides to another’s freedom #expands (0.82) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 656
• Sartre ultimately abandoned his early doctrine of absolute freedom #qualifies (0.80) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 173