Being and Nothingness

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist best known as the central proponent of 20th-century existentialism. His seminal works include the novel Nausea (1938), the philosophical treatise Being and Nothingness (1943), and the play No Exit (1944). He declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, citing concerns over politicization, though his ideas profoundly influenced philosophy, literature, and ethics.