According to Sartre, responsibility is very important. What a man chooses to do, not only affects him, but everyone else as well. He even states,
“…The first effect of existentialism is that it puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own shoulders. And, when we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men.” (pg.4)
By this statement he is saying, that if any man acts upon his will, it not only will affect his life, but it will affect everyone’s lives around him. A good example of this that Sartre gives is a pupil of his. This young man had a choice to either go off to England to join the Free French Forces, or stay home and take care of him mother. In this situation his choice would affect everyone. If he choice to go to England his mother would surely get sick and not be able to go on with life. But, if he chose to stay home with his mother, he would not be supporting England and all those in need of his help. Responsibility concerns all of mankind as a whole. This is nothing that man can escape. When man is born, this is put upon him and he doesn’t have a choice. Just like when others make decisions it also affect his life. Man is also responsible for whether he is known as a “hero” or “coward”.
Sartre also explains to us what anguish, abandonment, and despair mean.
Anguish is when man is committed to something, and knows that what he does is not only for him, but for everyone. An example of anguish is a military leader. By him making all the decisions of what everyone should do, he feels anguish.
Abandonment shows that God does not exist. I wonder, what would it be like if God didn’t exist? Sartre quotes Dostoevsky, “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted.” With this, I completely agree. This image of God is what keeps everyone in order. If he did not exist people wouldn’t fear anything and they would surely go out of control.
Despair simply means that we limit ourselves based on our wills. With despair you learn that you cannot count on a man you don’t know, or know very little of.
These three words have a certain responsibility to them, and I believe this responsibility is necessary to understand. All of mankind makes his own decisions, but he must know that these decisions affect others as well.
