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Sartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism

On 29 October 1945 Jean-Paul Sartre delivered the crowded public lecture later printed as L’existentialisme est un humanisme, a popular statement that existence precedes essence and that the human being is condemned to be free. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

On 29 October 1945 Jean-Paul Sartre delivered the crowded public lecture later printed as L’existentialisme est un humanisme, a popular statement that existence precedes essence and that the human being is condemned to be free. Critics called it a café slogan. It still taught a public. Beauvoir’s own 1940s work is not this microphone.

Context

Liberation celebrity made philosophy a hall event. Catholics and Marxists attacked. Polarisation of later fellow-travel is other years. Sharing the Club Maintenant stage does not erase the speaker.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Why it matters

Education path, modest-to-mid weight. High confidence on late-1945 delivery and print neighbourhood.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Jean-Paul Sartre

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.32 · verified

    He delivered the Club Maintenant lecture, later printed. The hall and publisher shared the public; he signed the words.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.BnF data — Jean-Paul SartreBibliothèque nationale de France · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Jean-Paul SartreStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

BnF data at https://data.bnf.fr/en/11923581/jean-paul_sartre/ (opens in a new tab) is the official bibliographic identity of the printed lecture among his works. SEP at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sartre/ (opens in a new tab) independently warns that the lecture is a popularisation, not the 1943 system, and still dates it as a public act.

Established: Sartre gave the 1945 humanism lecture that was then printed. Not established: that it is a complete substitute for the 1943 book. Contribution is recorded as He delivered the Club Maintenant lecture, later printed. The hall and publisher shared the public; he signed the words. The dated heading stays Sartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism on 1945-10-29, not a later statue, UNESCO listing, or school film. Later competitions, monuments, and adaptations are refused as extra lifetime acts of this person on this date.

The contribution type is direct. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. The 1945 lecture is not the 1943 treatise. Mixed effects of Sartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism are separate paths.

Shared responsibility is part of Sartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism. Naming Jean-Paul Sartre does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1945-10-29 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorJean-Paul Sartre
  2. contributed toFactSartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Sartre delivers the public lecture Existentialism is a Humanism. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/sartre-humanism-lecture-1945

https://factrail.ai/facts/sartre-humanism-lecture-1945

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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