Abstract
This paper offers a reading of Sartre’s phenomenological ontology in light of the premodern understanding of ‘transcendentals’ as common notions that predicate all determinate beings. Drawing on Sartre’s discussion of ‘determination as negation’ in Being and Nothingness, this paper argues that Sartre’s universal predicate of the ‘not’ (non) could be understood in terms of the Scholastic conception of transcendentals. But whereas the Scholastics saw the transcendental properties of oneness, truth and goodness as reflections of God’s divine perfections, Sartre’s predicate of the ‘not’ operates as an atheistic transcendental which signifies the non-being of God – that God is not.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 10 Jul 2020 |
| Event | 2020 Joint Session of the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society - University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom Duration: 10 Jul 2020 → 12 Jul 2020 https://www.aristoteliansociety.org.uk/the-joint-session/the-2020-joint-session/ |
Conference
| Conference | 2020 Joint Session of the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | Joint Session 2020 |
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Canterbury |
| Period | 10/07/20 → 12/07/20 |
| Internet address |