Skip to content
statementVerified

Merleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line

By the mid-1950s Maurice Merleau-Ponty had left Les Temps modernes, unable to share Jean-Paul Sartre’s Communist fellow-travel after Korea and the camp fights, a public fracture of the 1945 founding group. In the causal graph this event weakens Social Cohesion, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.

Read the full account

By the mid-1950s Maurice Merleau-Ponty had left Les Temps modernes, unable to share Jean-Paul Sartre’s Communist fellow-travel after Korea and the camp fights, a public fracture of the 1945 founding group. It is cohesion cost inside the review Sartre dominated. Merleau’s agency in leaving is his; Sartre’s line is the pressure.

Context

1945 TM was a coalition. 1952 peace essays broke it. Sharing the masthead’s history does not erase the squeeze. Aron was already out. Camus was out. The circle shrank into a camp.

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

Why it matters

Cohesion path, modest-to-mid weight. High confidence on the split. 1945 founding remains an improving neighbour.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Merleau’s exit is not the 1945 first issue. Mixed effects of Merleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line are separate paths.

Who was responsible

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

  • Jean-Paul Sartre

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    Sartre’s fellow-travel made the review uninhabitable for Merleau-Ponty, who resigned. Both men authored the split.

What changed

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

    1. FactMerleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line
    2. weakensDriverSocial Cohesion
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 1955 · verified

    A founding co-editor driven out over Stalinist alignment is a cohesion path: a review that cannot hold its own philosophers.

    • Having a say in government

      via Social Cohesion

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Social Cohesion

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — Jean-Paul SartreEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Jean-Paul SartreStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

SEP at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sartre/ (opens in a new tab) independently treats the Merleau split as a documented cost of the Communist years. Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Paul-Sartre (opens in a new tab) independently notes the inner-circle fractures of the 1950s.

Established: Merleau-Ponty left TM over Sartre’s Communist line in the mid-1950s. Not established: a unique circulation-drop figure from the split. Contribution is recorded as Sartre’s fellow-travel made the review uninhabitable for Merleau-Ponty, who resigned. Both men authored the split. The impact note is A founding co-editor driven out over Stalinist alignment is a cohesion path: a review that cannot hold its own philosophers. The dated heading stays Merleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line on 1955-01-01, 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.

Shared responsibility is part of Merleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line. Naming Jean-Paul Sartre does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1955-01-01 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.

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

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

Causal path

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

  1. ActorJean-Paul Sartre
  2. contributed toFactMerleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line
  3. weakensDriverSocial Cohesion
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Merleau-Ponty leaves Les Temps modernes over Sartre’s Communist line. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/sartre-merleau-1955

https://factrail.ai/facts/sartre-merleau-1955

Accessed 16 October 2026.

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

Dispute this factNamed here, or represent someone who is? Request a right of reply.