The Situation comes in part IV of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and aims to explain how it is that one can be free in the face of the deterministic nature of our existence. This essay aims to explain how Sartre sees that there are aspects of existence which can be seen to restrict one's freedom, but under an ontological freedom these restrictions are nonexistent. These restrictions are referred to by existentialism as ‘facticitcity’ meaning the objective fact about the external world which are outside of one's control, past one's reaction to them. These facticities are categorised as My Place, My Past, My Environment, My Fellow Man, and My Death. This essay shall focus on My Past and My Death, and evaluate how both of these aspects are insufficient accounts of our freedom in the face of facticity. We shall focus on if one were to accept Sartre's ontological freedom this is an insufficient existence which ignores the determinism in the world rather than embracing it to find a solution.
Sartre is responding to the criticism that one can never truly be free because of the limitations placed upon an individual, referred to as facticities. While it is that Sartre accepts that “Far from being able to modify our situation at our whim, we seem to be unable to change ourselves. I am not "free" either to escape the lot of my class, of my nation, of my family” (Sartre, 2003, p. 503). Sartre proceeds to argue that one is free due to one's constant ability to choose our projects in
Sartre is responding to the criticism that one can never truly be free because of the limitations placed upon an individual, referred to as facticities. While it is that Sartre accepts that “Far from being able to modify our situation at our whim, we seem to be unable to change ourselves. I am not "free" either to escape the lot of my class, of my nation, of my family” (Sartre, 2003, p. 503). Sartre proceeds to argue that one is free due to one's constant ability to choose our projects in