Anguish, Abandonment and Despair in Sartre | bad faith, responsibility, advice, acting without guarantees | Philosophy Unit | Grades 11–12

Anguish, Abandonment and Despair in Sartre is a complete philosophy unit for grades 11–12 on four terms that students often misread: a 32-page student book and a 20-page teacher guide with expected answers, timed lesson plans and marking guidance. In Sartre’s use, anguish is not simply a clinical condition, abandonment is not loneliness and despair does not mean giving up. The unit asks how people can act responsibly without an ultimate guarantee, and closes with bad faith and social roles.

Students meet a student representative who has to pick between two well-supported proposals and wishes for a rule that would decide for her. They reconstruct the two decisions Jonas leaves out when he says “I had no choice; she advised me to do it” after choosing an adviser he knew would agree. A group planning a support campaign sorts what it can control (tasks, information) from what it cannot (donations, weather), and two people show bad faith in opposite directions: a team leader who says he must always be harsh, and someone who claims complete independence while ignoring a caring commitment. Two practice assessments close the unit.

What's Included

• 32-page student book (A4 PDF): four five-page sections, each with explanation, case material, workshop, judgment page and extension page
• Four original case materials (M1–M4): a hard choice between two proposals, Jonas and his adviser, a support campaign with uncertain success and two cases of bad faith
• Concept page defining anguish, abandonment, despair and bad faith, with a relationship task
• Two practice assessments in the student book, each with an original source text, a task page (25/40/25/10 marks) and a writing plan, plus a jigsaw, a portfolio page and a self-check
• 20-page teacher guide (A4 PDF): aims, sequence planning, differentiation, a minute-by-minute plan for each 90-minute lesson and expected reasoning for every A, B and C task
• Feedback and exit-diagnosis pages for each section, and marking guidance for both practice assessments on a 100-point scheme
• Editable Word text edition (.docx) with its own pagination
• Sources and an AI production note on the final teacher page

Four 90-Minute Lessons + Assessment

1. 1 · Anguish as awareness of responsibility — Student book pp. 3–7. No rule fully makes a concrete choice for us; anguish is distinct from fear of a specific object. Students separate missing information from unavoidable responsibility and debate whether uncertainty always means poor preparation.
2. 2 · Abandonment and advice — Pp. 8–12. Without a final source of values, advice is still possible, but choosing and interpreting it are decisions. Students reconstruct what Jonas omits, write a responsible way to use advice and ask whether Sartre devalues expertise.
3. 3 · Despair and limited action — Pp. 13–17. Acting on available possibilities without a guarantee of success. Students classify conditions of a support campaign by controllability, develop a plan with verifiable steps and a fallback, and discuss when hope turns into an unwarranted guarantee.
4. 4 · Bad faith and social roles — Pp. 18–22. Self-deception that treats oneself as a mere role or ignores real conditions. Students identify what each person in M4 suppresses, write a self-critical alternative for each and ask how the concept can avoid becoming a blanket accusation.
5. Concepts, practice assessments and jigsaw — Pp. 23–32. Concept page, two timed practice assessments with writing plans, a jigsaw, a portfolio page and a self-check.

Students Will Learn To

• Explain sartre’s concepts of anguish, abandonment and despair and distinguish them from their everyday meanings
• Distinguish missing information from responsibility that remains after careful preparation
• Analyze how seeking advice involves decisions that cannot be handed over to an adviser
• Classify conditions of an action by controllability and plan under uncertain success
• Identify bad faith in concrete statements while checking alternative interpretations before making the charge

Perfect For

• Grades 11–12 philosophy or ethics courses continuing from an introduction to Sartre
• Teachers who want existentialist terms taught through everyday decisions rather than biography
• Classes discussing responsibility in group projects, advice and leadership roles
• Philosophy electives that need marked practice tasks on freedom and responsibility
• UK, Australian and IB classes: roughly maps to A Level Philosophy (Years 12–13), Years 11–12 senior secondary philosophy and IB Diploma Philosophy

Why Teachers Choose This Unit

• Every lesson is timed: opening (0–10 min), exploration (10–30), analysis (30–55), experiment (55–75) and consolidation (75–90), so you can see where a 45-minute break falls.
• Each analysis task has two support levels. Support 1 starts with two marked details linked to a concept; Support 2 asks students to test an alternative explanation. The guide adds vocabulary cards, sectioned readings and oral rehearsal for students who need them.
• Marking guidance splits 100 points into reconstruction 25, analysis and comparison 40, judgment 25 and communication 10, with sub-criteria such as 'serious objection and response 5'. No particular opinion is required for full marks.
• The guide sets limits on diagnosis: it says self-deception cannot be established with certainty from outside, so strong answers on bad faith need precise evidence and alternative interpretations. That keeps the concept from turning into a label students throw at each other.
• All cases and assessment texts were written for this unit, so students meet them fresh and you can mark responses against the expected reasoning in the guide.

Save with the bundle: this unit is part of the Existentialism Bundle — all four philosophy units for $49.90 instead of $99.96. All 24 upper-secondary units are in Upper Secondary Complete for $149.90.

Created with AI assistance: ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic). Illustrations were generated with OpenAI image generation as discussion prompts; they are not photographs. Edited for classroom use before publication. Sources and the full AI note are on the final teacher guide page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which courses and exams does this unit fit?

It is written for grades 11–12 philosophy and ethics electives working on existentialism, freedom and responsibility. It roughly maps to A Level Philosophy (Years 12–13) in the UK, Years 11–12 senior secondary philosophy courses in Australia and IB Diploma Philosophy. There is no official endorsement by College Board/AP, IB, any UK exam board, ACARA or a state. The unit was originally developed for German upper-secondary courses; the English edition is a full parallel version.

How long does it take?

The teacher guide plans four 90-minute core lessons covering student book pages 3–22, one per section. Workshop and extension tasks can need extra time. The jigsaw takes 45–60 minutes, and each practice assessment takes 90 minutes, or 135 for extended advanced-course work. The guide says plainly that four double lessons do not cover every activity in the pack, so you choose which extensions and assessments to add.

Is “anguish” treated as a mental health topic?

No. The unit uses anguish as a philosophical term for awareness of the weight of choice and responsibility, and distinguishes it from fear of a specific object. The explanation states that this use does not replace psychological or medical accounts of individual distress. In the same way, abandonment is not loneliness and despair is not giving up. Explanations are original paraphrases; Sartre’s full text is not included, and the sources page lists editions.

How is it delivered?

Instant digital download after checkout: the 32-page student book and the 20-page teacher guide as A4 PDFs, plus an editable Word text edition. The PDFs print on US Letter if you select fit-to-page in the print dialog. For graded use, the guide recommends handing out only the source material and tasks and keeping the teacher guide separate. Published primary texts, translations and third-party recordings are not included.