How To Pronounce Jean Paul Sartre

Theory in Studio: Jean-Paul Sartre and the Crisis of Pronunciation

In the first edition of Theory in Studio, I wrote nigh the aesthetics of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin (click here to read last yr'southward commodity). While discussing the cavalcade with my fellow writers, nosotros realized to great amusement that anybody tends to pronounce his proper noun differently. Some adopt the familiar "Ben-ja-mihn" (similar Benjamin Franklin, but without the Franklin). Others opted for the more exotic "Ben-ya-meen." There was fifty-fifty less consensus as to whether he was a Walter or a Valter.
We shortly realized this problem extended to much of the philosophic cannon. How to say the names of Augustine, Nietzche, or Barthes varied from person to person. This month we meditate on this phenomenon of variable pronunciation. Does it mean annihilation? Is there a right way to exercise it? Do you risk total embarrassment at cocktail parties or gallery openings when using the wrong phonetic system?
Mayhap the most notorious case is the name of Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre (1905-1980) was a French philosopher who became an international intellectual celebrity after WWII. He championed the philosophy of existentialism which he formulated in plays, novels, and more than traditional philosophic treatises. Existentialism opposed itself to many of the dominant philosophic trends of its day including psychoanalysis and phenomenology. Sartre advocated for a philosophy with a more radical thought of individuality and greater ethical responsibility.
During his lifetime, Sartre was a member of the French Resistance, he worked actively with Parisian Maoists, and was one of a few people to ever reject the Nobel Prize. All this is to betoken that Sartre spent his life as a staunch individualist and a proud problem-maker. Information technology is only fitting, and so, that people effectually the world should accept such a hard time pronouncing his name, as if he did this consciously as a prank.

What makes Sartre's proper name so devilish is how piece of cake it should exist to say. It looks kind of like an English word. It should act like other British terms such as metre. But no convention has been struck and in that location are no intellectual or cultural guides to help u.s.a. cull. Each person is solitary to cull their ain way to say Sartre. Sartre's name is an existential crisis par excellence.
Whenever someone attempts to say his name, they are confronted with a option. Setting aside regional accents, there are two main options for an English speaker trying to say Sartre. The showtime is the one-syllable selection: "Sart." This version rhymes with tart, cart, or dart. Alternatively, ane may opt for the 2-syllable version "Sar-truh," or the variation "Sar-tree." Hither the speaker hints at the original French name but makes no attempt to aspirate the last syllable. To better illustrate these variations, I've put together a brusque montage of people saying "Sartre" (see the video at the top of this article).
Each time we say Sartre's proper noun, nosotros must make these sorts of choices, and once we've spoken, we can't accept it back. No option is truly satisfactory, just regardless we must accept full responsibility for whichever imperfect solution. There is "Sart" or "Sar-truh" or yet another imprecise variation. In this mode, each utterance is its ain existential problem.
Whatever pronunciation a person settles upon determines their own way of beingness in the earth. As Sartre famously proclaims, "fifty'existence précède l'essence," which in English language translates as "being proceeds essence." Less poetically stated, this means you tin can make who y'all are in the world. One's essence is the product of choices and not a predetermined fact of existence.
And then when someone says "Sart" with conviction, practise they make themselves a stronger candidate for the Republican Party by habitually anglicizing foreign words? Or if y'all say "Sar-truh" with equivocation, does information technology reveal that you made a C grade in high schoolhouse French class?
There are dozens of websites that purport to give the correct pronunciation of Sartre'due south proper noun (hither are examples from howjsay.com and inogolo.com), but that is an impossibility. Equally we have seen, there is no consensus on how to speak Sartre. Furthermore, the lesson of existential philosophy is that at that place should be no consensus. These websites are oblivious to the individualized crisis that Sartre's name inspires and instead supersede that crisis with an anonymous computer voice.
We should not succumb to this impersonal pronunciation but instead revel in the cacophony of dissimilar ways of proverb Sartre. Each speaker must confront this linguistic ambiguity, evaluate their situation, and take the spoken plunge.
The adjacent time y'all hear someone saying "Sart" or "Sar-truh," don't correct them. Instead, graciously tip your lid to them as one self acknowledging another cocky in their radical individuality. I for one intend to pronounce Sartre equally "Benjamin."

Alex Robins is a PhD educatee in philosophy at Emory University. His research examines the history of aesthetics with a focus on American theories of art.
Theory in Studio is a serial dedicated to highlighting philosophic terms, trends, and figures and showing their relevance to gimmicky art. By providing context, the serial seeks to demystify theory and innovate ideas that might help inspire future studio practise.

Source: https://burnaway.org/magazine/theory-in-studio-jean-paul-sartre-and-the-crisis-of-pronunciation/