Tuesday, February 26, 2013
How free are we in Sartre's eyes?
Sartre writes that people exist first and they the shape themselves based on the choices they make and the actions they take. While I do agree that we are in control of who we are and our decisions, I wonder exactly how free we are in making choices. For example, most people identify as either male or female. It is very rare, if at all, that someone decides they are neither male nor female but a new gender, for which they create a new name. So do we really have unlimited freedom? Sartre goes on to say that when creating ourselves, we are acting for all of humanity. So, Sartre might answer my question by saying that those who first divided gender into male and female simply laid a path for everyone to follow.
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I think that any person has the potential to be free and make their own decisions, whether or not their decisions are recognized and supported by society is a different scenario. In regards to your example about gender, there are only two scientifically recognized "types" of gender. Someone may create another name for some "third gender" but that is almost senseless because that could never truly exist.
ReplyDeleteI feel that people do shape themselves based on the choices they make and their actions. But I don't think that we are entirely free in making those choices. There are certain innate qualities that we are born with and we have no control over them. A lot of those qualities are hereditary, being passed on from our parents and grandparents, so in that aspect, we aren't free nor are our parents free in choosing what they pass down. Therefore, we don't have a choice in what gender we are born with, but we do have the choice of deciding what we want to do with that outcome.
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