ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses one of the most important parts of J. P. Sartre’s opus magnum. Experiences of concrete negative facts are crucial for the Sartrean project of a phenomenologically anchored ontology of the human subject. Sartre’s first step in order to account for the “objective existence of a non-being” consists in a lengthy negative critique of the judgmental view which is followed by a positive defense of the experiential view according to which negatites are perceptually real. Sartre elaborates on the pre-judgmental and first-order character of negation in his famous story about a failed meeting with his friend Pierre at the cafe. The foundation of negative judgments on perceived bits of negativity in the world is the first step of Sartre’s meontological hierarchy. Sartre’s phenomenologically based experiential view is supported by an ontological and transcendental account of nothingness and freedom.
