‘앙가주망’과 언어적 존재로서의 책임: 사르트르의 관점에서 본 읽기와 쓰기

Abstract

This study examines the role and importance of engagement within Sartre's existentialism, particularly its inherent link to the responsibility of human beings as linguistic entities. It reconsiders the educational implications of reading as a responsibility and writing as a means of connecting to the suffering of others, framing these as practices of engagement. First, by analyzing Sartre's key concepts of freedom, responsibility, nothingness, and bad faith (mauvaise foi), this study shows that engagement emerges from the creative and critical spirit of individuals who actively produce social responsibility. The study then argues that engagement is fundamentally a linguistic endeavor, because humans, being inherently linguistic beings, form relationships through language, as discussed in Being and Nothingness (1943). Drawing on Sartre's reflections in What is Literature? (1948), it reinterprets the act of reading from the perspective of responsibility, positioning it as an active form of social participation. It examines the unique relationship between writer and reader, established through literature, from Sartre's perspective. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the importance of imagining the lives of others through writing, highlighting how writing can make visible the oppression and discrimination faced by marginalized social groups. It calls for a discussion of the experiences of reading and writing on an existential level, beyond the existing frameworks of basic education or literacy education. As such, it requires actively examining the engaged nature of language in a society where the status of language and literature is increasingly precarious, and reminding us of its educational significance.