Peter Bolland

At the center of the philosophy of existentialism is the work of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and his lifelong companion Simone de Beauvoir. Under the shadow of the Nazi occupation of Paris, Sartre and de Beauvoir carved a boldly humanistic path out of the meaningless and suffering all around them. Unmoored from systems and excuses, Sartre put human choice at the center of his work, writing that we are “condemned to be free.” We cannot escape from our freedom and it terrifies us. Join us for this study of Sartre and de Beauvoir, existentialism’s most prominent and provocative voices.