I'd like to learn more about various philosophical movements and I'll start by creating a thread about Existentialism. Currently I don't have but a vague idea of what Existentialism is about. Who were/are the main Existentialist philosophers (Kierkegaard, Sartre...?) and what were their most important works and ideas? Which of these do you agree or disagree with? What does Existentialism mean to you?
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Existentialism
Collapse
X
-
existentialism = depressing bollocks
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton
-
Sure it's frightning too many, no comfort of a suberbeing (but yourself). No one to blame and no-one to look too, to improve things for you.Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God? - Epicurus
Comment
-
Originally posted by alva
Sure it's frightning too many, no comfort of a suberbeing (but yourself). No one to blame and no-one to look too, to improve things for you."A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for.” Martin Buber
Comment
-
Existentialists are as varied as the Christian Dostoevsky to the "God is dead" Nietzsche (who, due to preceeding other existentialists like Sartre, might be described as proto-existentialist)
the basic idea is that you have no essence (your entire point in living) but that which you create. A pen was created to write for example and does not chose what it will become but as humans, we are clean-slates, who can become and do anything depending on what we want. furthermore, we are capable of anything and everything and can not blame anyone or anything for us failing to achieve our goals.
Existentialism is synonymous with the concept of the American Dream and capitalism though very strangely the majority of existentialists were socialists (how does that make sense? if a man is only accountable to himself for his success or failure, why would a socialist State exist to re-distribute wealth, etc.?)"Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
"I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi
Comment
-
-
I think Albert Camus is usually considered an existentialist. Haven't yet read anything by him, though.
Existentialism is synonymous with the concept of the American Dream and capitalism though very strangely the majority of existentialists were socialists (how does that make sense? if a man is only accountable to himself for his success or failure, why would a socialist State exist to re-distribute wealth, etc.?)
I didn't know Nietzsche and Dostoevsky were existentialists... but what about Kierkegaard? Isn't he considered to be the founder of existentialism? I think he lived before Nietzsche, too...
Comment
-
Nietzsche is considered to be the grandfather of existentialism.
Then there was Heidegger's ontology, which inspired Sartre's "L'être et le néant".
The most important existentialist thinkers are, to my knowledge, Sartre, Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir. In France, existentialism had a popular success (with Sartre's L'existentialism est un humanisme), but in the academic circles structuralism was definitely more important.In Soviet Russia, Fake borises YOU.
Comment
-
Maybe they thought that the kind of communist society they advocated would have afforded greater chances for self-realization for everyone?
Comment
-
Sartre's "No Exit" is very very good, but I find most of his other works boring and painful to read. Kiekegaard is probably my favorite of them all, although I don't agree with a lot of his ideas, his writings have had more impact on my life than anything else I've ever read. His best works include "Fear and Trembling", "The Concept of Dread", "Sickness Unto Death". Some of them are pretty complicated and take a while to get through - but well worth the time.
There's also "The Stranger" by Camus, which I have never liked... but it is considered one of the foremost existentialist works. Then of course Dostoyevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov" is my personal favorite. Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" and anything by Nieztsche are also great reads. I tend to agree more with him than I care to admit....
And finally Heidegger, if you can figure out what he's actually saying... please tell me. I still can't get through all of "Being and Time". I wouldn't recomend it unless you want to be throughly and repeatedly confused.
Comment
-
I don't really think they would care about everyone to the point of abandoning their believes. You are what YOU make of yourself not what the others deem you to be.
"Fear and Trembling", "The Concept of Dread", "Sickness Unto Death"
Comment
-
I don't know if Nietzsche is considered existentialist.
Always thought of the founder of Existentialism as Sartre.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio Regum
Comment
-
But then again I'm not much of a filosofizer12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio Regum
Comment
Comment