Sartre's second century

Autobiography, Ontology and Responsibility 25
suffice to note Sartre's discussion of William II and its contrast to a
"classical historian's" account of William II as reacting to external
circumstances (his character being "moulded by the action of various
forces" 19 ). In contrast, Sartre attempts to understand this historical figure
in terms of William II's self-understanding and responsibility:
So it seems to me that William IPs original freedom is called royalty.
Moreover, freedom reigns again in the manner of being-to-reign. I see that
William, initially, wants to be a "great" king [...]. One might want to be a
great king in order to excuse oneself for being a king. One may want to use
royalty in order to be great. But William merely considers greatness as the
individualisation of royalty. He wants to be great in order to be that
particular king; in order to be more deeply, more individually king; in
order to appropriate more firmly to himself the title of king [...]. He is the
reign. And this he establishes in his being: his pre-ontological selfunderstanding
coincides with the pro-ject of himself towards coronation.
For, in the very constitution of his being as a being-to-reign, the Crown
Prince remains free to assume his facticity. [...] Behold how he's wholly
and deeply responsible in his being for what the historian first gave us as
an external and contingent fact. The reign is not an outside for William II.
Neither is it an inner and privileged representation. The reign is him. 20
The focus on temporality, the past and responsibility intensifies as Sartre's
thought develops and provides an important framework for assessing his
own candour with respect to his richly active and varied public political
life. In principle, Sartre's ontology of responsibility is sufficiently rich so
as to be able to accommodate his political life and choices. Before turning
our attention to the contrast between Sartre's conception of history and
responsibility and Heidegger's emphasis upon history and das Volk, let us
briefly examine the political biographies of the two.
Politics and History
Like Heidegger's, Sartre's political life contains moments of controversy,
including his endorsement of Russian Communism. However,
whereas, at least for a period of time, Heidegger's endorsement of Nazism
appeared to be unequivocal, Sartre's relationship to Stalinist Russia is in
fact quite complex. Our purpose here is not to justify Sartre's political life
and condemn Heidegger's, but to reflect upon Sartre as an example of an
ontological thinker who affirmed both the necessity of individual
Ibid., 304
Ibid., 305.