I think one of the most intriguing and revolutionary aspects of Sartre’s philosophy is the idea of responsibility as it relates to freedom. If you think about it, the way these two concepts relate according to Sartre is completely backwards to how we relate them in our current society. We see freedom and responsibility essentially as opposites. People are deemed the most free if they have the least amount of responsibilities. In the examples we mentioned in class, we can’t help associating the ideas as conflicting—we think a man is freer if he does NOT have responsibility towards an illegitimate child, or a person is freer if he or she does NOT have to take responsibility for being homosexual, or we are even freer if we do NOT have to take responsibility for our decision to enroll in classes. Essentially, our innate attitude is summed up in the phrase “freedom FROM responsibility.”
But Sartre essentially argues that they are the same. His basic idea about these themes can be summed up in the phrase “freedom IN responsibility.” Though this concept is difficult for us to grasp, especially in the social context of this day and age, we can see some truth in this radical relationship between freedom and responsibility. In Sociology class, we were discussing issues of race in the United States and addressed the concern of “white privilege” (namely, clear ways that being white in our society subtly help people out and give them unearned privileges). Some of these privileges include the ability to be late, be impolite, or get pulled over without having these mistakes/flaws being attributed to one’s race. They also included the ability to achieve great things without having these accomplishments making someone a credit to one’s race. It is clear here that being judged as an INDIVIDUAL (whether the judgment is positive or negative) is a privilege, a sort of freedom from representing anything that you ARE NOT (like an entire race of people, for example). So in taking full responsibilities for ones role in the world, one can actually be free to be oneself and to change oneself. I think we can, at least, recognize the feeling of freedom one feels when entirely judged for oneself—for taking responsibility for one’s flaws and strengths.
What an interesting comparison!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post.
To answer your question, i don't think that (according to Sartre) we can view responsibility as "freeing." Which is why I am inclined to slightly alter the phrase you coined from "Freedom IN Responsibility" to "Responsibility IN Freedom." such as to say, we are free in the choices that we make, including the choice of not not choosing. What is important at least for Sartre, is that we become aware of the responsibilities that are associated with the choice we make, and that we take full ownership of them.
But if we were view responsibility as in fact being freeing, then I guess this could be due to the fact that when one FREELY accepts his responsibility, then his views on that responsibility change. He will not longer see that as a burden, a nuisance, something that was forcefully imposed on him, but simply as a duty, something he must do, something he chose to do. And I guess by those standards taking full ownership of your responsibilities can in fact be freeing.
Thanks Nellie, I appreciate both your quick fix of that phrase but also your explanation of the phrase that I actually used. To me, you made it clear that it can go both ways. There is definitely a kind of responsibility implied once one fully accepts that s/he is FREE to make decisions to shape one's life. And there is also a huge sense of freedom when one accepts RESPONSIBILITY for one's actions and therefore gains total control over his/her decision-making. Perhaps this speaks to the simultaneousness of freedom and responsibility...maybe a person doesn't gain one and then the other but instead acquires them together (or at least acquires the ACCEPTANCE of freedom at the same time as responsibility...since really a person cannot shirk off being free no matter how hard that person might try).
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