PNTV: Existentialism Is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre (

[@tranquil2706]

I have read this in both English and French several times, and Brian, you inspired me to read it again. Thank you for the fine review.

[@HeroicBrian]

Glad you are enjoying it! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@samuelglenn123]

Brian, your content is simply incredible. I love the depth, bredth and simplicity of it all. You cover so much with such clarity!!

[@MillennialMoneyMindset]

Great video. Thanks for creating

[@HeroicBrian]

Thank you for watching! Have a great day 🙏❤️ - Team Heroic Enjoy a free trial of the Heroic app, Today! www.heroic.us

[@biacarniel]

I was researching about existentialism and stumbled upon your video! I wanted to say thank you for making it, I got lots of insights and follow ups to do after watching. The gap is painful but the awareness that it is there makes all the difference.

[@gli7chy]

Honestly, Sartre is one of my newest but biggest idols. When I learned about him in class, I realized how much I already thought like he did before I even knew about his theories or about him. On top of that he knew Fidel Castro and Che Guevara pretty well in real life, also two controversial characters of modern history that are however good people in my book. Definitely planning on reading Sartre's books later.

[@HeroicBrian]

Thanks for your note! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@bobbycooper6048]

this video is gold

[@HeroicBrian]

:) Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@LaurelCaseycomedy]

thank you..xx. terrific.

[@HeroicBrian]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your note! :) -Zak from Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@TiTiDutch]

One of the best review that i have ever seen. Sartre is hard to review and you were able to catch so many fine points. Will need to listen to your analysis at least 2 more times. Would love to hear your notes on: "No Exit " by Sartre. Thank you for this wonderful added value.

[@SeiryuNanago]

The idea of stern optimism and commitment really jumped up for me. I have been listening to anders ericsson and angela Duckworth recently, as well as re-read "Mindset", as a way to quell my pessimism, but what I really need is to put these ideas into actions and I struggle with that.

[@siddheshzadey3159]

Hey Brain, you are doing great work. I haven't checked all your videos (will do so eventually) but I subscribed to your channel immediately :) Hope your channel derives content from rich Indian philosophy too.

[@rejoyy]

Thank you for this wonderful video, Brian. Inspiring in a highly practical way.

[@mirandaboyden5451]

Great post.

[@looobster111]

Thanks. It's very practical and it also answers some of my questions. Great and simple analysis

[@lessandra602]

Just THANK you

[@HeroicBrian]

Thank YOU! :) -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@SonnenbergzuFu]

Hey man, where you talk about point 5 (11:03), it´s so beautiful told. Really really beautiful. I also think, that we should think more in beautiful and ugly and less in good or bad. The point of view, that moral choices are like a work of art, give a healthy amount of wisdom, not to become a slave of a priori. Like Hannah Arendt says in the banality of evil "Dangerous are not the evil people, but the people who just function." (something like this)

[@yasha12isreal]

can you do Camus?

[@dcarl7898]

Great video

[@petterbladlund6514]

I'm not quite sure whether all existentialists agreed about the strict, almost Kantian, moral responsibility of life choices? What would you say Brian?

[@robdelman3487]

Certainly not

[@ShotTehTrick]

Could you do a video on death, or a book about death, and how to cope with the fact?

[@lucretius3542]

You are a hero.

[@Firmus777]

This makes existentialism seem a way better philosophy than the actual essay. Because of this focusing on the aspects you focused on and putting them in different words could be seen as a bit of a misrepresentation, but ultimately it works because it serves the purpose for which these videos are intended. So all in all, this is a good video, better than Sartre even.

[@MatteoCancian]

this video is great. you have a new subscriber!

[@Tormentality]

it should be noted, Sartre was not speaking to the suicidal or those disabled depression.

[@MediocreMountianBiking]

Can you explain how you use an almost Kantian outlook for people to have a commitment to a moral obligation and respond as Noble as we can? Ethics are not a part of Sartre's philosophy and DeBeauvoir addresses them in The Ethics of Ambiguity.

[@soloist777]

"You are responsible for the portrait of your life."

[@HeroicBrian]

#truth -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@danielsaenz1325]

Quietism vs commitment. With commitment of a goal one runs the risk of neurotic desire/commitment. In the sense, that one can work day in and day out to accomplish their goals, but at the expense of ever being present, grateful or in the moment. Success at the expense of enjoying the journey is one of the biggest failures. Does sartre talk about this?

[@HeroicBrian]

Great question! Might be best to get the book for a deeper dive Daniel! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@TheRealScience86]

Sarte was an atheist, but it is incorrect to say that existentialist do not believe in God. Existentialism, as a philosophy, arose as a response to Hegel and German Idealism- which sought to explain humanity through systematic phiolosophy. Existentialists, on the other hand, thought that human beings are better understood as individuals - and through the individual experience (phenomenology). Of course existentialists can also be theists or even religious- Soren Kirkegaard - who was explicitly Christian is widely considered the first existentialist.

[@blackenedragon23]

The analysis was fine; I just think you didn't mention (not explicitly at least)how Sartre connects those two words that, at the time, seemed to be contradictory: existentialism and humanism. A little bit of social background, to contextualise the book, would have been good; but hey, the video would have been too long perhaps? Cheers.

[@joemarieninoaguilar7334]

Very helpful video. Btw no offense, how are you related to Dwayne Johnson? I seem to see some resemblance.

[@loatheroach]

thank you vocalist of meshuggah

[@BClarktv]

+Brian Johnson Thank you, cheers!

[@StevanNovakavich13]

What kind of blackboard are you using in your videos? It looks sooo good, always liked that look for the video... where did you get it?

[@HeroicBrian]

Thanks, Stevan! I'm actually setting up new studio with new board as we speak! Excited to share soon. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GAVKKS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@StevanNovakavich13]

Ahhh great! Can't wait to see it... I love how your production look keeps getting more and more sophisticated with time.

[@limitless1692]

Stop making excuses for things that you can't contrtol and just take ownership of that MAN YOU SAVED MY LIFE , THANKS

[@evanriddle1614]

I was wondering if you would get around to art. I remember "art for art's sake" bandied around as a young fellow in the 70's, about the time I discovered existentialism. My response as an artist is to reveal the theater of my own mind in explicit detail with no apologies- but crafted,nonetheless, as my best effort. Thanks for the chalk talk. Subscribed.

[@HeroicBrian]

Evan!! Thanks for the note + support + sub! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@hambredesaber2914]

Brian, I wanted to link one of your videos yesterday in a forum discussion becouse the fact of addiction to sugar jumped out. I searched for the video in which you talk about fMRI scans and the reaction to sugar in the brain. Do you remember which one was? No problem if not, but I hoped to attract some viewers to your channel. It personally hurts me so much good content not spreading fast haha. Thanks!

[@HeroicBrian]

brianjohnson.me/philosophers-notes/always-hungry-david-ludwig/ brianjohnson.me/micro-class/conquer-cravings/ Thanks!!! Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@nikoskoutsilieris6087]

the fact that you should reflect your actions and life project from the standpoint of " what if the whole world engaged in this action or in this life project" is pretty kantian isn't it ? i remember a class about kant where it was said that to judge in a kantian way whether an action is moral you have to think about the whole world engaging in this action.

[@orangesparkleball]

Thus begs the question: How do we know what is moral and what is not? We are responsible (not "God"), so how do we know? What would Sartre say? Brian Johnson, what you got??? :)

[@HeroicBrian]

Hey Wendy! I do my best to follow these three guidelines: 1. Is it harming me? 2. Is it harming anybody else around me, both seen and unseen, know and unknown? 3. Will this better myself and the people around me (seen/unseen, known/unknown)? Let me know what your guidelines are! -Charlie & Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@orangesparkleball]

@@HeroicBrian Nice! And that takes us back to thought of: If everyone in the world copied me/actions/behaviors, what would that REALLY look like. That's the first time I've heard that analogy and it's super fascinating. So a collective moral responsibility but it all goes back to the individual, ultimately, and personal choice of course. So much to say! Hey, thanks for responding! I just paid my (first) yearly membership fees yesterday. Excited about all the learning - and I love philosophy too! Cool. :)

[@orangesparkleball]

@@HeroicBrian (PS - I so dig this sh&t).

[@lsd4000]

A+++

[@HeroicBrian]

Thank you Lonni!! A+++ to you too! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@nubivagant3068]

This guy looks like Big Show's little Brother... Lil show

[@HeroicBrian]

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[@ironmantis25]

So Sartre's moral philosophy is Kantian.

[@HeroicBrian]

Great thought! -Zak | Team Optimize Optimize is now free! Sign up/tell your friends! www.optimize.me

[@carloscaro860]

holy shit johnny sins really is everywhere

[@lucasduarte2735]

punched my face

[@dranshupandey]

Nice video #DrAnshuPandey

[@mikeferrin6368]

Sartre claimed to be a proponent of radical freedom; but at the same time he was a supporter and apologist for his century's two worst totalitarian dictators: first Stalin, and then Mao. Also to his eternal discredit, Sartre essentially sought to destroy on a personal level his friend Albert Camus, apparently out of petty jealousy -- because Camus was opposed to Stalin ... and because Camus was better looking, and better with the femmes; and because he was during the war more anti-Nazi than Sartre (Sartre kept working/writing during the Nazi period, meaning he was actually something of a collaborator with the Vichy regime).

[@robertruttan4478]

Not quite. Sartre flirted with Communism as did a lot of people of his generation, especially in Europe. But he ultimately walked away from it -- largely because of the denial of freedom. And his relationship with Camus was more complex than you suggest. Try the popular book The Existentialist Cafe; the author goes into both issues in reasonable depth.

[@mikeferrin6368]

Not quite, maybe. But quite enough. The facts of Sartre's life, particularly his personal life, if you really look into them, are quite sordid and selfish and amoral. Nevertheless, because he posed as a champion of the revolutionary Left -- willfully dishonest about it, and willfully blind to the facts or the consequences -- the bien-pensants deified him. Ultimately.

[@robertruttan4478]

Perhaps it depends on the sources one reads. A few years back I was give a book called "Intellectuals" by someone named (if I remember) Paul Johnson. It focused on and sometimes exaggerated the more sordid sides of people's lives; perhaps the woman who wrote The Existentialist Cafe glossed. Regardless, I've never been convinced that the biographical details of someone's personal life have much relevance to the quality of the ideas. But I don't buy that Sartre's choices were "amoral". For instance, while he and de Beauvoir made some unconventional choices about their relationship, and Sartre made many unconventional choices in his life, they were not amoral choices -- they were always carefully thought out.

[@mikeferrin6368]

Instead of "amoral", a better word might be "antinomian". Btw, re sources, the book that opened my eyes about Sartre was "Camus and Sartre: Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel that Ended It" by Ronald Aronson c. 2005. Anyone who can read that and still respect Sartre, and not come down sympathizing wholeheartedly with Camus, is a different breed of cat, imho. (Btw appreciate the thoughtful replies...)

[@gustacular]

Mike Ferrin nobody's perfect