Single Idea 6687

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature]

Full Idea

Man fundamentally is the desire to be God.

Gist of Idea

Man is the desire to be God

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943], p.556?), quoted by Gordon Graham - Eight Theories of Ethics Ch.5

Book Reference

Graham,Gordon: 'Eight Theories of Ethics' [Routledge 2004], p.80


A Reaction

It is better to see man (as seen all the way through the European tradition) as caught between the self-images of being an angel and being a 'quintessence of dust' (Hamlet).