Abstract

In Existentialism, human beings are essentially free. Human beings however, either affirm or deny their freedom. Those who deny it deny authenticity as well and those who affirm it vie for authenticity. It is argued in this paper that a way to attain authenticity is through one’s engagement with concrete projects in the world. Hence, those who affirm their freedom are strongly inclined to establish concrete projects in the world. In such process, human beings encounter the Other whose freedom could either contribute to or hinder one’s realization of concrete projects in the world. The inevitable conflict that ensues between the freedom of the self and the other is perfectly portrayed in Jean-Paul Sartre’s explication of ontological freedom, which is the cause of the self-other problem. Simone de Beauvoir, in addressing the self-other problem, redefines freedom as the idea of reciprocity becomes integral. The paper considers objections to Beauvoir in order to assess the veracity of Beauvoir’s contribution to existentialism. After which, the paper aims to show that Beauvoir’s idea of reciprocity - which pertains to the acknowledgement of the Other as pure subjectivity and being acknowledged by the Other as pure subjectivity – as a solution to the self-other problem, provides a considerable avenue to human beings through which a deeper sense of authenticity could be attained.