Book Review: An Ethic of Authenticity

Abstract

Introduction:  The word ‘Investigation’ in the title of Gail Linsenbard’s book is most apt. This is more than a description of an important yet comparatively unexamined work by Jean-Paul Sartre. Linsenbard sets out to appraise and to clarify, and in doing so she has made an important contribution to Sartrean scholarship. She argues, quite correctly, that although Sartre does not have a moral theory in the sense of an ethical system in the tradition of, for example, Immanuel Kant, he was engaged with ethics throughout his career. Furthermore, it is possible to trace the development of his thinking. Linsenbard’s intention is to investigate those views on ethics that are to be
found in the Notebooks. The Notebooks are, literally, notes of varying lengths written during 1947 and 1948 on a variety of topics including Kant, alienation, oppression, violence and rights. For the sake of clarification, Linsenbard supplements the material in the Notebooks with supporting material from earlier works by Sartre. She does not, however, pay much attention to later works such as the Critique of Dialectical Reason. This is unfortunate because the Critique provides us with a sense of the direction Sartre was taking in the Notebooks