SOURCE: Rabil, Albert, Jr. “Merleau-Ponty and Sartrian Existentialism—Political and Philosophical.” In Merleau-Ponty: Existentialist of the Social World, pp. 116-40. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

In the following essay, Rabil examines Merleau-Ponty's response to French existentialism.

We are condemned to freedom.

—Jean-Paul Sartre

Hell is other people.

—Jean-Paul Sartre

We are condemned to meaning.

—Merleau-Ponty

History is other people.

—Merleau-Ponty

Acquaintance and Independent Study: 1927-1940

We have already had occasion to see similar concerns in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty with respect to phenomenological method, the body-subject, and the relation between perception and imagination. There was at the same time, however, a personal relationship between the two which became involved in their philosophical relationship. That story adds a significant chapter to the development of Merleau-Ponty's social philosophy.

Their friendship dated from student days. Sartre attended the Ecole Normale Supérieur from 1924 to 1928. Merleau-Ponty entered the Ecole in 1927. They became known...