Being and Nothingness

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/being-and-nothingness

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the publication year?1943
2. What is the primary philosophical influence?Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger
3. What does "Being-in-itself" mean?It is how objects like a rock or a table exist. They simply are, without thinking or feeling.
4. Why does Sartre say we have no fixed purpose?Because he believes we are born without a set meaning. We must make our own choices to create our purpose.

Phenomenological Ontology: The study of being and existence through the lens of conscious experience.
Being-in-itself: The non-conscious, inert existence of objects, lacking self-awareness or potentiality.
Being-for-itself: The mode of consciousness, characterized by freedom, self-awareness, and a lack of fixed essence.
Anguish: The profound anxiety arising from the awareness of one's absolute freedom and responsibility.