ANTONIO FERNANDO LONGO VIDAL FILHO

Sartre not only embodies the character of the engaged intellectual after WW II in an exemplary way, but he also formulates a program and the grounding for the “engagement”. The correct understanding of his theories and the discussion on its pertinence demand, on one hand, the explanation of their historical presuppositions, that is, the reconstruction of the French debate around the intellectual function as well as that of the relationship between literature and politics, a debate in which Sartre actively took part; on the other hand, in order to discern the originality of the Author's positions, it is suitable to refer them to the conceptual presuppositions of his critical and philosophical work. The subject of the “engagement” is thus configured in the crossing of these two axes.