Being and Nothingness Being and Nothingness Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (), sometimes published with the subtitle A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology, is a 1943 book by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, in which the author asserts the individual's existence as prior to the individual's essence ("existence precedes essence") and seeks to demonstrate that free will exists. While a prisoner of war in 1940 and 1941, Sartre read Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time" (1927). Heidegger's work, an ontological investigation through the lens and method of Husserlian phenomenology (Edmund Husserl was Heidegger's teacher), initiated Sartre's own philosophical enquiry. Though influenced by Heidegger,
Lars Bergström (philosopher) his current position as a professor of practical philosophy at Stockholms University. Bergström is a member of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. For many years he has also been the editor of the academic philosophy journal Filosofisk tidskrift. Lars Bergström (philosopher) Lars Bergström is a Swedish philosopher and professor of practical philosophy at Stockholm University. In 2017, he was awarded the "Rettigska priset" by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities for his "internationally influential philosophical authorship and his valuable contributions to the philosophical discussion in Sweden". Bergström received