... datum of philosophy within the warmth of his bread oven, Descartes concluded the immortal Latin phrase: Cogito ergo sum --I think, therefore I am. For Sartre, as well as the other existentialists, it is compulsory to agree with Descartes that the primary object for philosophical reflection is man himself. In the novel Nausée,2 Sartre pays homage to Descartes: "I jump up: it would be much better if I could only stop thinking. Thoughts are the dullest things... and they leave a funny taste in the mouth. Then there are words, inside the thoughts, unfinished words, a sketchy sentence, which constantly returns: 'I have to fi... I ex... Dead... M. de Roll is dead ... I am not ... I ex...' it goes, it goes... and there's no end to it. It's worse than the rest because I feel responsible and have complicity in it. For example this sort of painful ...

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