Abstract
This paper explores the influence of the predecessors of Sartre in shaping his ethical ideas.
Sartre‘s works show a visible influence of thinkers like Socrates, Descartes, Kant, Hegel Marx, Husserl,
Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. However, the two intellectual giants, who were immediate
predecessors of Sartre and whose ideas have shaped his existentialism, are Husserl and Heidegger. Sartre‘s
existentialism is seen as a continuation of Husserl‘s phenomenology and Heidegger‘s existential
phenomenology.
Moreover, Sartre uses Kierkegaard‘s existential notions of subjectivity, dread, anxiety and angst without its
religious underpinnings and develops his version of atheistic existentialism. Similarly, he was influenced by the
atheistic existentialism of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. Furthermore, Marx‘s materialistic interpretation of history
and human reality has contributed significantly in the development of his perception of society. This paper
attempts to show a historical development of Sartre‘s ethical ideas in context of the influence of the
philosophical ideas of predecessors of Sartre on his moral thought.