Sartre and Nagel about the Death, Absurd and Commitment

Abstract

This article intends to compare the relationships between the notions of death, freedom, contingency, and commitement in the philosophy of Jean-Paul  Sartre and the american philosopher Thomas Nagel. This comparison tries to show how current the thought of the french philosopher was in this topic, especially in regard of death as an inflexion point in the realization of the human contingency and freedom, and also the ethical consequences that imply. From a descriptive and hermeneutic analysis of the Nagel work, it also approaches a new view of the Sartre commitement, as a valid path to overcome the absurd of death.