The trascendental features of Sartre's philosophy in Being and nothingness

Abstract

In this article we address the question of the possibility of thinking of Sartre's philosophy in Being and nothingness as a transcendental philosophy, carrying out a critical consideration of the continuity relations existing between the two. In this way, we will problematize the classification according to which a sharp distinction is established between transcendental philosophy and Sartrean existentialism. To do this, we will seek to determine what a transcendental philosophy consists of, based on a schematic review of the approaches of two particularly representative authors of this tradition: Kant and Husserl. Later, we will review Sartre's philosophy in Being and nothingness in a panoramic way, and then try to establish the degree and the sense in which Sartrean philosophy contains the distinctive notes of a transcendental philosophy. Thus, we will propose the hypothesis that Sartre's philosophy has a transcendental character under certain respects, insofar as it delimits the subjective −universal and necessary– conditions of possibility of experience, through regressive arguments and, even more, from a non-naturalistic or psychologic perspective.