Being and Nothingness book club questions

1. 1.

   Sartre says we are condemned to be free — that not choosing is itself a choice. Can you identify a situation in your own life where you claimed you had no choice but actually were choosing?

2. 2.

   Bad faith takes the form of claiming determination where there is freedom. What forms of bad faith are most socially accepted or invisible in your own culture?

3. 3.

   The waiter playing at being a waiter is Sartre's classic example of bad faith. Do you think professional roles necessarily involve bad faith, or is there an authentic way to inhabit a role?

4. 4.

   Sartre argues that all relationships involve an irreducible conflict between freedoms. Does your experience of close relationships bear that out, or does it describe only a subset of relationships?

5. 5.

   Authentic existence involves acknowledging anxiety — the nausea of confronting your freedom without any external support. Is that kind of authenticity sustainable over a lifetime?

6. 6.

   Sartre says there is no human nature given in advance. What do you think is most stable and defining about yourself — is it chosen or given?

7. 7.

   The look of the other is described as fundamentally threatening, converting me into an object. Is that true of all being-seen, or only under certain conditions?

8. 8.

   Being and Nothingness was written during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Does the historical context change how you read its emphasis on radical freedom and responsibility?

9. 9.

   The promised ethics was never written. Do you think the framework of Being and Nothingness can support an ethics, or does the radical individualism of its freedom undercut the possibility?

10. 10.

    Sartre distinguishes shame (awareness of being seen as an object) from guilt (awareness of having done something wrong). Are those really different experiences for you?

11. 11.

    What would it mean to live authentically according to Sartre? Can you describe what that would look like concretely in a day or a relationship?

12. 12.

    Sartre denies the unconscious. All consciousness is self-aware at some level. Does that seem true to you, and what does it imply for psychotherapy or self-understanding?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.