I just have to say as a woman who has read "The Second Sex" (well, most of it;-) Sarte hated people and nature. Simone de Beauvoir edited ALL his writings and in my opinion, she should be credited for their content almost as much as he should.

He's a good pontificator, but like many people of his era, born into war and traumatized by poverty, he was a raging alcoholic and his philosophy is colored by his drinking, which led to a romanticism of war, as well as his need to deny the physical reality of our bodies and promote intellectualism above all else.

You quote him as saying freedom imprisons because we have to be responsible for everything. Sarte, btw, was responsible for nothing. Women provided everything he had: his money came mostly from his mother and his "partner" Simone did all his business work for him--not just his editing but his PR as well.

He was also a serial sexual abuser (and I would argue a sociopath), and sought virgins to defile as a way of building his self-esteem.

I realize we shouldn't confuse the work with the man, but OMG! As a woman, it's hard not to.