The French academic epistemology of Kant left Sartre, Beauvoir, and Aron dissatisfied

Evidence

At school and university, Sartre, Beauvoir and Aron had all been through the austere French philosophy syllabus, dominated by questions of knowledge and endless reinterpretation of the works of Immanuel Kant. Epistemological questions opened out of one another like the rounds of a turning kaleidoscope, always returning to the same point: I think I know something, but how can I know that I know what I know? It was demanding, yet futile, and all three students — despite excelling in their exams — had felt dissatisfied, Sartre most of all. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 15

Categorization

• XREF: The depicted futility of epistemology is what existentialism reacted against, so this frames why the movement’s questions took the shape they did. — connects to: Beauvoir rejected Kantian ethics for presupposing a closed voluntarist circularity — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 428; Sartre’s final meeting with Aron refused their old camaraderie — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 841; Sartre’s errors became more loved than Aron’s correct lucidity — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 842

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir rejected Kantian ethics for presupposing a closed voluntarist circularity #responds-to (0.80) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 428
• Sartre’s final meeting with Aron refused their old camaraderie #expands (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 841
• Sartre’s errors became more loved than Aron’s correct lucidity #responds-to (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 842