So, I just picked up a book of Sartre's essays. Some are new to me, some I'm re-reading. I ran across his essay, "The Republic of Silence" in which he asserts that in the German concentration camps in the 1940s, it was those who were imprisoned who actually were free. Because they were free from (paraphrasing here...) the bullshit lies that the Germans were espousing. Even though every single daily freedom they had previously enjoyed had been removed, they still were in control of their own freedom of thought and freedom of certainty about right and wrong. "Every accurate thought was a triumph." He goes on to describe how the torture and constant death of the camps forced the prisoners to grapple with the deepest, most sincerely accurate thoughts. Every act was a choice between life and death. "We were on the verge of the deepest knowledge a person can have about themselves."
I find this very moving. I want to live a life that always acknowledges the deepest truths that I hold. But I am a wimp and certainly avoid the pain that would bring me to that point. Anyhow. Anyone out there have any thoughts on this?
Also - how might it apply to our current political situation? Are we move truth-seeking since our fearless leader is filled with lies and deceit?
1
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Philosophy should never be confused with real life. It is brain masturbation at its highest level. I prefer Sartre's short story fictions over his essays.
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
Nov 18, 2018
1
I have always taken issue with the proposition in this particular work. My mother was in the camps -- both Auschwitz and Buchenwald -- and my dad was a POW of the Germans for years. Freedom of thought is poor consolation when one has no sense of certainty or control over your world and even security about your own life. When you are consumed with the fight to survive, most people don't sit around, thinking the "Big Thoughts." You sit around thinking about getting an extra piece of bread, or not getting shot or gassed, and most survivors are traumatized in a way that affects generations to come. Of course, brutal as it was, the German occupation in France and Western Europe was nowhere near as horrible as it was in Eastern Europe, where my family is from. Perhaps a few people who were there felt as Sartre did, but I think not many, and the implication that something good came from all that is hard for me to swallow.
The-Krzyz
Level 8
Nov 18, 2018
2
I can’t imagine a traumatized and imprisoned victim of Nazi Germany feeling they were free.. Seems a hideous projection when so far removed…
We attempt to play the long game in life, anything less is a loss. Living on the edge is easier for those less aware of life’s full potential, but do they fully appreciate ‘the thrill?’
I don’t consider modern times ‘with trump’ as much thrilling as depressing. I realize what he’s set in motion will likely cut short millions of lives through loss of social services, reversals of pollution regulations, and the empowerment of hostile nations ... but those consequences, for the moment at least ..seem too far from immediate to feel like the edge. ...more like a mountain of dirt slowing coming down around us.
Varn
Level 8
Nov 18, 2018
0
I understand what he was getting at, but no sane person would choose the philosophical / theoretical freedom of a concentration camp inmate, to the practical freedom they enjoyed prior to incarceration. Also, I do not think that everything that democratic republics spout are "bullshit lies". To go to these places even in the service of a philosophical argument strikes me as flirting with excusing human suffering as ennobling and therefore acceptable.
mordant
Level 8
Nov 18, 2018
1
Well, this hits on my secret (now not so secret) insecurity: will I have the guts to do the right thing when the time comes to do the right thing at a great personal cost?
BUT I have to respectfully disagree with Sartre (did I actually say that??), and quote another authority on suffering.
"The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?"
-Angela Y. Davis-
AtheistReader
Level 7
Nov 18, 2018
2
I'm with Angela on this one.
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.