SARTREAN FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY: A CRITICAL REFLECTION FROM THE AFRICAN COMMUNITARIAN THOUGHTS

This paper discusses the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre concerning freedom and its relation to human responsibility in the context of thoughts on African communitarianism. Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist philosophy is centered on freedom as a fundamental attribute of human beings. According to Sartre, human beings constantly recreate themselves through various choices and actions. It means that freedom includes responsibility. This paper addresses the problem whether the concept of total freedom of Sartre covers all social, cultural, and historical factors influencing the actions of people. Taking into account the ideas of John Mbiti and Kwame Gyekye as African communitarianists, this paper argues that being human and being morally responsible is impossible without interactions within the community as human beings are not individuals responsible only for themselves. Therefore, the author recommends that human beings are agents with the right to choose, but they exercise this right under particular circumstances. It gives the possibility to combine African communitarianism and existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre.