If something is not true in the eyes of the least favored, then it is not true.
-- Jean-Paul Sartre (chapter 12)

Importance: This quote sums up Sartre’s new commitment to his own version of the Genet principle, which says that the underdog is right in any situation. He tries, here, to take on the perceptual and situational viewpoint of the outsider in order to promote equality. He hoped that, with this philosophy, one could bolster equality. However, there were a number of problems in actually executing this principle. Sartre later changes his mind, ignoring the plight of those locked in prison. He did, however, write in support of anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-colonialist movements.

I intoxicated myself with concepts, without taking account of their relationship to events and to all the odd data of their inventors’ lives.
-- Narrator (chapter 14)

Importance: Bakewell reflects on her view of philosophy and how it has changed over time. Initially, she only looked...