Studies On Sartre’s Concept Of "Scarcity"

Sartre and existentialism had swept across Europe since 1930s, exerting great influence on the western social ideological trend.Due to the constraints of ideology, Sartre and his existential philosophy hadn’t been widely known nor spread until 1980s. After China carried out reform and open policy, Sartre’s literary and philosophical works became popular among the youth in China. Mainly thinking from one’s own and paying attention to humanism and human values, Sartre became more and more popular in China from 1980s on.Relatively speaking, Sartre’s later thoughts, especially the concept of "scarcity", didn’t get enough attention in so called " Sartre fever ".But they really play an important role in either the evolution of Sartre’s thoughts or the development of western Marxism.It can’t be ignored that Sartre tried to "fill up" Marxism by using " Existential Marxism",and it’s still necessary to continue to do deeply research even if "Sartre fever" has passed.In his later period, Sartre claimed that he was a propagandist, a successor and a transformer of Marxism, but many people believe that Sartre just represents a totally new theory. We may conclude that Sartre’s thoughts neither "fills up"Marxism nor have nothing to do with Marxism by carefully analyzing his reading of history. The research of "scarcity" concept is important for us to understand Sartre’s thoughts and to analyze the relationship of Sartre and Marxism.Meanwhile, in some respects Sartre’s thoughts can help us deepen our understanding of Marxism.In Chinese society now, we face many problems about social development. To promote localization of Marxism in China, we should use all available thoughts, including Sartre’s scarcity history theory. Because the concept of "scarcity",from a perspective different from historical materialism, also pays attention to the economic aspect and the objective conditions of social life, so understanding and analyzing this concept also can help us to think and solve practical problems in Chinese society.Sartre claimed that in the process of whole history,scarcity is everywhere findable;scarcity plays an important role in the definition of human relationships;class antagonism is the result of scarcity;scarcity influences people’s spirit.Scarcity not only determines the human sustainable development,but it is also a decisive factor for adjusting the relationship between people and people’s own internal relations.This article attempts to focus on the concept of "scarcity", firstly elaborating its connotation, features and historical function, then making a criticism of Sartre "scarcity" concept in the perspective of Marxism, finally trying to solve some practical problems by using the"scarcity" concept in the process of socialist construction.