the original choice

from existentialism and human emotions by jean-paul sartre

"certainly, many people believe that when they do something, they themselves are the only ones involved, and when someone says to them, 'what if everyone acted that way?' they shrug their shoulders and answer, 'everyone doesn't act that way.' but really, one should always ask himself, 'what would happen if everybody looked at things that way?' there is no escaping this disturbing thought except by a kind of double-dealing. a man who lies and makes excuses for himself by saying 'not everybody does that,' is someone with an uneasy conscience, because the act of lying implies that a universal value is conferred upon the lie."

"all leaders know this anguish. that doesn't keep them from acting; on the contrary, it is the very condition of their action. for it implies that they envisage a number of possibilities, and when they choose one, they realize that it has value only because it is chosen. we shall see that this kind of anguish, which is the kind that existentialism describes, is explained, in addition, by a direct responsibility to the other men whom it involves. it is not a curtain separating us from action, but is part of action itself."

"on the one hand, an ethics of sympathy, of personal devotion; on the other, a broader ethics, but one whose efficacy was more dubious. he had to choose between the two."

"if values are vague, and if they are always too broad for the concrete and specific case that we are considering, the only thing left for us is to trust our instincts. that's what this young man tried to do; and when i saw him, he said, 'in the end, feeling is what counts. i ought to choose whichever pushes me in one direction."

"the only way to determine the value of this affection is, precisely, to perform an act which confirms and defines it. but, since i require this affection to justify my act, i find myself caught in a vicious circle. on the other hand, gide has well said that a mock feeling and a true feeling are almost indistinguishable."

"dishonesty is obviously a falsehood because it belies the complete freedom of involvement. on the same grounds, i maintain that there is also dishonesty if i choose to state that certain values exist prior to me; it is self-contradictory for me to want them and at the same state that they are imposed on me."

"in wanting freedom we discover that it depends entirely on the freedom of others, and that the freedom of others depends on ours."

"empirical psychoanalysis seeks to determine the complex, the very name of which indicates the polyvalance of all the meanings which are referred back to it. existential psychoanalysis seeks to determine the original choice. this original choice operating in the face of the world and being a choice of position in the world is total like the complex; it is prior to logic like the complex. it is this which decides the attitude of the person when confronted with logic and principles; therefore there can be no possibility of questioning it in conformance to logic. it brings together in a prelogical synthesis the totality of the existent, and as such it is the center of reference for an infinity of polyvalent meanings."