Abstract: The Légende de la vérité, Sartre’s first philosophical essay, outlines bold theses on the birth of ideologies and the links between trades, ways of life, and ways of thinking. This article shows how Sartre was inspired by Alain, an implicit but central interlocutor, while also highlighting certain differences. It also elucidates the foundations of the Sartrean theory of ideologies, a monistic alternative to the Marxism to which Sartre would always remain faithful.
