Born: 21 June 1905 · Died: 15 April 1980 · Age: 74
French existentialist philosopher and author of Being and Nothingness and Nausea, who turned down the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?He became the first person to voluntarily decline a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Quick facts
Date of birth21 June 1905
Date of death15 April 1980
Age at death74
Cause of deathEdema
NationalityFrench
BirthplaceParis, France
Occupationplaywright, epistemologist, novelist
Editor's Take:
Sartre made existentialism one of the most fashionable ideas of the twentieth century. His central claim, that 'existence precedes essence', means that people are not born with a fixed nature but create themselves through their choices. That freedom, he argued, comes with heavy responsibility, as we cannot blame God, society or human nature for what we do. He spread these ideas not only in philosophy but in novels, plays and journalism, and his debates at Paris cafés became legendary. His lifelong partnership with the writer Simone de Beauvoir was one of the most famous intellectual relationships of the age.
Key Milestones
1938: Publishes his first novel, Nausea
1943: Publishes Being and Nothingness
1945: Co-founds the journal Les Temps modernes
1964: Declines the Nobel Prize in Literature
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (US also; French:; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, political activist, and writer, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism.
Jean-Paul Sartre's birthday is June 21. He was born on June 21, 1905 in Paris, France.
How old was Jean-Paul Sartre when he died?
Jean-Paul Sartre died on April 15, 1980, aged 74.
Who shares a birthday with Jean-Paul Sartre?
Famous people who share Jean-Paul Sartre's June 21 birthday include Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Lana Del Rey, Benazir Bhutto, Chris Pratt and Joko Widodo.
