Sartre reinterpreted Freudian primal scenes as exercises of freedom

Evidence

Sartre liked to find primal scenes too, but by contrast with Freud they did not usually have to do with sex. Sartre thought sexual experiences took their power from more basic experiences to do with our very being. He sought out those experiences during which a child in a challenging situation took control and bent that situation his own way. In other words, he interpreted his subjects’ lives in terms of their freedom. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 690

Categorization

• XREF: A crisp contrast between psychoanalytic determinism and existentialist freedom — useful orientation material distinguishing Sartre from Freud for a reader new to the movement. — connects to: Sartre’s free transparent consciousness leads him to reject the unconscious and all psychological determinism — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 79; The Freudian unconscious cannot explain bad faith because it fragments psychic unity. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 289; The Freudian unconscious reintroduces a deceiver-deceived duality rather than explaining bad faith — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 282 (+6 more)