Investigating Human Existential Dimensions as Viewed by Shahid Motahhari and Jean-Paul Sartre

Attaining a knowledge of human being and characteristics has always been and is a concern of thinkers; Shahid Motahhari, a prominent contemporary Islamic thinker, and Jean-Paul Sartre, a contemporary existentialist thinker, were very interested in examining issues related to human existence. Given the importance of anthropological issues and their impact on other fundamental issues such as theology and sociology, the question arises as: what is the view of these two thinkers about "human being"? And considering that one of them is theist and the other atheist, what are the commonalities and differences between their views? In this research, using a descriptive-analytical method, the views of the two have been compared. Based on the research findings, it seems that there are some commonalities between the views of them, such as: the value of freedom, the importance of the human state of apprehension, the importance of human responsibility, the role of the individual in building his personality. But there are also many fundamental differences between the two perspectives, for example, in Sartre's view, freedom is the only human value, and freedom is the only human perfection. In his view, freedom also contradicts the existence of God and the existence of other values. But according to Motahhari, freedom is only a prerequisite and not only does it not conflict with the existence of God, but apart from dependence on God, any dependence also contradicts human freedom. Dependence on God is compatible with human freedom