Sartre, Group Formations, and Practical Freedom

Abstract

As noted in the preceding chapter, Sartre’s account of the individual’s relationship to the other is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, Sartre maintains that consciousness’s ontological structure is defined by a pre-reflective act that distinguishes it from its other; while, on the other hand, consciousness is always embedded ‘in’ a social situation inhabited by others whose practical activities impact on both its self-understanding and capacity to practically express itself. While his early work discusses the implications of the later from the perspective of immediate relations between two consciousnesses, the discussion of social relations in the Critique of Dialectical Reason complements and extends this by discussing: 1) the way the concrete individual relates to others through membership of various different group formations; and 2) how these group formations constrain or enhance the individual’s practical freedom.