l, the metaphysics of the German philosophers G. W. F. Hegel and Martin Heidegger, and the social theory of Karl Marx into a single view called existentialism. This view, which relates philosophical theory to life, literature, psychology, and political action, stimulated so much popular interest that existentialism became a worldwide movement. Despite the often gloomy tone of much of his writing, Sartre always firmly insisted that his existentialism was a form of humanism with its emphasis on human freedom, choice, and responsibility. He also consistently argued that these same qualities made existentialism compatible with a Marxist analysis of society and history.
In perhaps his most famous philosophic work, Being and Nothingness (1956), Sartre formed a model of human behavior in which he conceived of humans as beings who create their own world by rebelling against authority and yet at the same time accepting personal responsibility for their actions, unaided by society, traditional morality, or religious faith. Distinguishing between human existence and the non-human world, he maintained that human existence is characterized by nothingness, that is, by the capacity to negate and rebel. His theory of existential psychoanalysis (expressed in Being and Nothingness as well as in the 1962 work Imagination: A psychological critique) asserted the inescapable responsibility of all individuals for their own decisions and made the recognition of one's absolute freedom of choice the necessary condition for authentic human existence. (as discussed later in this paper, his plays and novels were further expressions of his belief that freedom and acceptance of personal responsibility are the main values in life and that individuals must rely on their creative powers rather than on social or religious authority.)
Being and Nothingness is the non-fiction work of Sartre's that perhaps speaks most directly to the idea of perception, alth...