Can anyone explain in as simple terms as possible, the basic ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre?

or is it basically impossible? (to keep it simple I mean?)





I would love to understand the basics of the man's philosophy but the wikipedia article just makes your head hurt|||He was an existentialist which means that he came to the realization that human life has no purpose or meaning. (He was an atheist but there are Christian existentialists too.) He said you feel nausea when you realize this. But if you are cool, like he was, then you overcome the nausea and construct your own purpose for living.





I'm guessing there are 3 types of people then: those without a clue, those with nausea, and at the top the existentialists.





I don't think it would have been his nature to be self-congratulatory about figuring this out.|||****, if something on wikipedia makes your head hurt, there ain't no way you're going to ever understand sartre.|||dead - you cannot enjoy|||Existentialist.





And now go research that.|||Sarte believed that man is alone in the universe (without a god to guide them) and that there is no predestined path for a man to follow. A man's life has no a priori meaning, but rather is given meaning by the choices he makes. Each individual creates himself and is responsible for assigning value to his own actions and creating his own morals.|||first Define term existence for your self


2nd it would define everything .|||he was confused


because if he would have been born a girl his named would have been jean, so his parents should have just stuck with paul, but they didnt like the beatles either.|||sartre is fun to read if you get a good text -- existentialism is often misunderstood as it goes against organized religion (so organized religion usually teaches against it in its own theatre of the absurd) but not necessarily religious thought in and of itself.





in the simple of terms sartres existentialism you are responsible for yourself and this will free you to do the right thing. while many people believe being responsible for your own morals would be burdensome he thought it to be liberating.





many people get bogged down in the absurd in existential writing. most existential books are more like modern grims fairy tales -- for those who don't live existential existences they wake up as cockroaches, trapped inside walls, etc etc. existentialism deals a lot with the absurdity of life and culture as we know it and the humor of their parables is often lost on the humorless.