Jean-Paul Sartre vs Michel Foucault
Sartre and Foucault are the two most prominent French philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the contrast between them — humanist existentialism against structuralist anti-humanism — is the dominant axis of postwar French philosophical change.
At a glance
| Jean-Paul Sartre | Michel Foucault | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | 1905 – 1980 | 1926 – 1984 |
| Nationality | French | French |
| Era | Contemporary | Contemporary |
| Movements | Existentialism, Continental Philosophy, Marxism | Continental Philosophy, Post-Structuralism |
| Profile | Jean-Paul Sartre → | Michel Foucault → |
Where they agree
Both held that philosophy is inseparable from political engagement, both treated the analysis of subjectivity and freedom as central, and both worked in close dialogue with Hegel and Marx. The early Foucault's work shows traces of the existential phenomenology Sartre had made dominant.
Where they disagree
Sartre held that the human being is a free subject whose existence precedes essence and who is condemned to choose. Foucault rejected the priority of the subject: subjects are constituted by historical regimes of discourse and power, and what looks like autonomous choice is the product of disciplinary practices. Sartre's politics is a politics of conscious commitment by free individuals; Foucault's is a politics of identifying and resisting the modes of subjection through which we are made into the agents we take ourselves to be. The dispute marks the breakdown of postwar French humanism into its structuralist and post-structuralist successors.
Representative quotes
Jean-Paul Sartre
-
“Hell is other people.”
Alors, c'est ça l'enfer. Je n'aurais jamais cru... vous vous rappelez: le soufre, le bûcher, le gril... ah! Quelle plaisanterie. Pas besoin de gril, l'enfer, c'est les autres. -
“Existence precedes essence.”
L'existence précède et commande l'essence. -
“Man is condemned to be free.”
Existentialism Is a Humanism, 1946
Michel Foucault
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“I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am.”
Truth, Power, Self : An Interview with Michel Foucault (25 October 1982) -
“Maybe the target nowadays is not to discover what we are, but to refuse what we are.”
p. 785 -
“The soul is the prison of the body.”
[L]'âme, prison du corps.
Continue reading
- Full profile: Jean-Paul Sartre
- Full profile: Michel Foucault
- Shared movements: Continental Philosophy
- Browse all philosopher comparisons