Being and Nothingness

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Translated from the original French by Hazel E. Barnes and issued under Simon & Schuster’s specialized academic Washington Square Press / Pocket Books imprint, this massive softcov er represents the definitive English-language vehicle for Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1943 magnum opus, Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology. The dense text introduces his foundational philosophy of existentialism, drawing a sharp structural distinction between being-in-itself (the passive, un-conscious existence of inanimate objects) and being-for-itself (the fluid, self-aware existence of human consciousness). Rather than relying on comfort or theological determinism, Sartre argues that human existence is defined by radical, absolute freedom and the inescapable agony of choice, introducing legendary concepts like bad faith—illustrated by his famous profile of a café waiter mimicking a mechanical identity—anguish, and the intrusive objectifying gaze of the Other. This pocket-sized edition functions as an indispensable reference tool and a vital twentieth-century historical archive that reshaped modern psychology, literature, and social theory. Show more