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Sartrean Concept of Freedom and Jain View of Change of Karma
In Sartrean philosophy, man is said to be absolutely free, i.e. "Man is condemned to be free." In his famous work "Being and Nothingness", he says "Man is freedom". Sartre says, consciousness does not make being; it makes meanings. “When the for-itself "upsurges" it makes a world, a world of things that stand in complex spatio-temporal and causal relations ... Thus the for-itself lives in a world that it has created and for which, as the creator, it is responsible. ? Even the Jain philosophers agree with the fact that man is independent or free in doing any auspicious or inauspicious action, but not free to experience its fruitions. Sartre, though he advocates absolute freedom, understands that there are many things which obstruct our exercise of freedom. They can be categorized under five heads: i. My place ii. My past iii. My environment iv. Other human beings and v. My death. These are called by Sartre the coefficient of facticity. About these categories Sartre has said that they may obstruct human freedom to a certain extent, but in all of them it is possible to construct a new situation. Even Sartre also admits relative freedom likewise, Jainism agrees with the view that to some extent man is free in changing his future through auspicious religious practices like observation of penances, meditation, etc. But in the fruition of nikacita Karma, he is not free, as far as dalika karma is concerned, he is free to change the fruition of karmas. *Thus Sartre accepts the anekantic relativity in the concept of freedom for-itself.
'W.T Jones. History of Western Philosophy. p. 354. ? Ibid, p. 355.
Gregory,Mcculloch. Using Sartre: An Analytical Introduction to Early Sartrean Themes. London And Newyork. Routledge, 1994, op.cit., p. 53. Karma Prakriti of Nemichandra. Ed. Hiralal Shastri. Delhi: Bhartiya Gyanpith, 1964, p. 19(2).
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