By Dr. Saleem Sergio
Sartre, a famous French philosopher, was once approached by a young man who
wanted to know what he must do with his life. Sartre’s reply was as simple as
it was evasive: “You are free, choose; that is, invent.” When Sartre was later
on questioned about the reason for his answer, he replied: “If he comes to ask
your advice, it is because he has already chosen the answer. Practically, I
should have been very well able to give him some advice. But as he was seeking
freedom, I wanted to let him decide. Besides, I knew what he was going to do,
and that is what he did.” With his answer, the philosopher stood by what he had
always proclaimed: human beings are condemned to freedom. We must continually
invent, or reinvent, ourselves.
Sartre was an existentialist, which means that his philosophy focused on freedom
and commitment. To him, in a world that seeks objectivity, the only thing left
is the probable, the doubt, and the inquiring self. To him and others like him,
the only firm ground upon which certainty can be established is subjectivity: cogito
ergo sum — ‘I think; therefore, [I can be certain that] I exist’. In other
words, we are at once the mirror, the model standing in front of the mirror,
and the image being reflected on the glass. Reality looks upon itself in us and
discovers itself unfinished and in need to decide what happens next — what it
becomes next. Everything changes. Nothing remains the same for long, and we are
those who can choose what we become next. This is why the most terrifying thing
is not just the gaze of others —i.e. them looking at us— but our own scrutiny. We
are our own judges.
Sartre argues that the combination of freedom and commitment to a given
choice instead of another brings along anguish and despair as our freedom makes
us ultimately responsible for our own lives — what we decide to do and not to
do, and, thereby, to become and not to become. We cannot blame anyone else for
our choices. Or in the words of the Revelation: ‘Whoever earns a sin only earns
it against himself… But whoever earns an offense or a sin and then blames it on
an innocent has taken upon himself a slander and a manifest sin’ (Al-Baqara,
2:111-112). For better and for worse, our decisions are ours. The only
justification for our actions is that we must act. Each epoch calls for
different kinds of commitment, but they all call for action.
Moreover, we do not only have to make choices, we ourselves are as good as
our choices. We exist through and in accordance with our choices. Or, in the
words of the Qur’an: ‘Not equal are the blind and the seeing’ (Surat Fatir,
35:19).
The future is the realm of choices to be made, and the past is the realm of
choices already made. We are forever unfinished, free to become through doing
but never to become accomplished beings. No matter how much we may try to
become something (or someone), we never become something (or someone) that
remains unchanged. We exist in and through the interplay between our freedom
and changing circumstances.
As teachers or future teachers, we may wonder if teachers (can possibly) have
any role to play in a world where choices occupy a central place. It transpires
from Sartre’s reply to the youngster that the teachers’ job is to help students
to become aware of the conditionings within which their freedom must commit
itself. Teachers may not —indeed, cannot— make someone else’s choices.
Educators must exhort their students to own up to their own responsibility, but
they can neither spare them the need to make personal choices, nor keep them
from freedom.
Furthermore, Sartre clearly differs from Plato, one of the most famous
ancient Greek philosophers. While Plato viewed education as leading students
out of the world of impressions, shadows and ignorance into the world of reality,
light and knowledge, Sartre did not believe in education as guidance because,
to him, there is no set way. To Sartre, teachers cannot ‘show the way’ because there
is no way and, therefore, no map. There is only freedom to walk, and there is walking.
The way will appear as we walk, and it is not really a way because nobody else
can really follow it. Sartre would probably add that we may walk side by side,
but we cannot share the same way. Your path is not mine.
In short, to Sartre, education is all about becoming aware of one’s situation
and one’s necessity to choose, i.e. to act. Our acts materialize our freedom
and, thereby, they make us exist. All that teachers can do is invite students
to live their lives —walk their walk and make their way— in good faith,
i.e. authentically and responsibly. For better and for worse, we educators
cannot walk in our students’ shoes. We should therefore not be in the job of
keeping youngsters like children. On the contrary, we ought to make them
realize that their lives are their own responsibility, nobody else’s.
References
Jean‑Paul Sartre (1964). Existentialism & Humanism. London: Eyre
Methuen.