Sartre's second century

CHAPTER TWO
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ONTOLOGY
AND RESPONSIBILITY
ROY ELVETON
The following reflections explore the relationship between ontological
structures and structures of individual responsibility. 1 By the former, I
mean the kind of self-conscious, reflective concern with essential
structures of human experience exemplified in the phenomenological
philosophies of Heidegger and Sartre. By the latter, I mean the situated
historical reality of the philosopher and the thinker's response to and
acknowledgment of this situation.
The question of an individual thinker's responsibility for political
actions has recently focused intensively on Heidegger's relations with the
Nazi party. For example, it is a question central to the relationship between
Paul Celan, perhaps the most important European poet of the post-war
years, and Martin Heidegger. Recall the celebrated conversation between
Celan and Heidegger that occurred in Heidegger's Black Forest cabin on
25 July 1967, the aftermath of which has added to the continuing dismay
felt by many regarding Heidegger's relationship to the Third Reich. Celan,
fully expecting a public acknowledgment by Heidegger of his affiliation
with the Nazis during the 1930s, was so greatly disturbed by the absence of
any such confession that the two men remained thereafter estranged until
Celan's death by suicide in 1970.
While Sartre's stances on many social and political issues have also
been questioned and debated—notably his support of Stalinism—his own
candour has tended to defuse the question of responsibility in his case, just
as Heidegger's lack of candour has fueled the ongoing discussion of his
political actions and commitments.
1 A draft of this chapter was presented on 21 October 2006 to the 13 th Annual
Conference of the UK Sartre Society at the Institut Fran^ais, London.