Can You be Politically Neutral? The Answer of Jean-Paul Sartre

In this episode, I discuss the idea of political neutrality adopting the point of view of existentialism. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, there is no way for humans to avoid the responsibility stemming from their choices. While in modern-day societies political neutrality seems like the most elegant and polite choice to make, existentialists believe that the whole concept of political neutrality is outright hypocrisy. Who knows, maybe after this video you will become a political activist. Lack of representation leads to disaffection, but this does not relieve us from our social responsibilities.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

Learning Outcomes
The philosophical bases of existentialism
The reasons why political neutrality is a myth
The political effects of abstention
The thought of Johann Gottlieb Fichte: the philosophy of freedom (idealism) vs the philosophy of necessity (dogmatism)

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Philosophical premise: existentialism
01:34 The responsibility stemming from freedom
02:03 The myth of political neutrality
02:14 Abstention
02:54 The philosophy of freedom (idealism) vs the philosophy of necessity (dogmatism)
03:27 Do you believe in freedom?
03:59 Curiosity of the day

#understandingpolitics #jeanpaulsartre #gianmarcomoise

References
To learn more on this idea of freedom and responsibility I suggest you reading “Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/c...

To learn more about Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s position on idealism vs dogmatism you can check here: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/jo...

The book by Italo Calvino has been translated as “The Watcher”.
Here there is a copy of the book:   / 9810.the_watcher_and_other_stories  
Here there is an English review of Calvino’s work: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/07/ar...

Acknowledgments
The intro has been realized with footage from Pexels.
Kelly Lacy: https://www.pexels.com/it-it/@kelly-l...
Tetsuaki Baba: https://www.pexels.com/it-it/@tetsuak...
Cottonbro: https://www.pexels.com/it-it/@cottonbro