@article{aup:/content/journals/10.5117/ANTW2020.2.002.LIEV, author = "Lievens, Matthias", title = "De kracht van inertie", journal= "Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte", year = "2020", volume = "112", number = "2", pages = "97-112", doi = "https://doi.org/10.5117/ANTW2020.2.002.LIEV", url = "https://www.aup-online.com/content/journals/10.5117/ANTW2020.2.002.LIEV", publisher = "Amsterdam University Press", issn = "2352-1244", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "inertia", keywords = "resistance", keywords = "series", keywords = "mass", keywords = "group", keywords = "Sartre", abstract = "Abstract The force of inertia. A Sartrean perspective on resistance Although Sartre’s philosophy of freedom is often considered as a philosophy of resistance, rooted in the experience of the Second World War, Sartre did not formulate a full-blown theory of resistance. However, his Critique of Dialectical Reason contains a wealth of material that allows a rethinking of the notion of resistance. In much of the literature, this notion is inflated so as to include action, opposition, struggle, exodus and a range of other phenomena. In order to acquire a sharper sense of the specific meaning of resistance, this paper argues, this notion has to be reconnected with its origins in mechanical physics. Sartre’s key concept of inertia provides a starting point for such a theoretical strategy. Although human beings are fundamentally free, they can live their relation to others and to themselves as if they were inert things. From a Sartrean perspective, resistance means making oneself inert in order to be able to persevere and to hold the line in the face of a threat. Resistance occurs at both sides of a struggle, and can take different, asymmetrical forms. The two fundamental modes of sociality Sartre distinguishes, namely the group and the series, offer different types of resistance to opponents.", }