The Wall | Lying to the Murderer: Sartre’s Use of Kant in The Wall
In the essay below, the author finds ‘‘The Wall’’ more than just a story about fear and death; he asserts that the story ‘‘needs to be seen as a developed, philosophical argument.’’
Despite the lingering ‘‘old quarrel between philosophy and poetry’’ over the suitability of presenting a philosophical investigation in literary form (Plato’s Republic 607 B), philosophers regularly use literary genres to present their ideas. Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story ‘‘The Wall’’ is an example of such a philosophical project. In the story Sartre offers a counter-example to one of Husserl’s views and an illustration supporting his own alternative position. Sartre’s particular project is easy to overlook given the vivid, extended descriptions of the...
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