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10 main existentialist themes

Started by Cain, May 12, 2009, 04:27:01 PM

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Cain

Was just browsing Existentialism for Dummies out of interest, and came across this.  Thought you all might find it interesting:

Absurdity: For the existentialists, life is absurd; it makes no sense and has no meaning or ultimate purpose, but human beings need it to make sense, to have meaning and purpose.

Rejection of meaning-giving narratives: It isn't enough to say that life is absurd; the existentialists repeatedly make the point that when phi-
losophy, religion, or science tries to make sense of it, the attempts always fail.

Alienation: This is the feeling that you're a stranger in your own life, a stranger in the world.

Anxiety: This is the feeling of unease you get when you start to recognize that life is absurd.

Forlornness: This is the feeling of loneliness you get when you realize that no one can help you make sense of your existence.

Responsibility: Everyone bears responsibility. If no one is going to give you a guidebook to life, you have to bear responsibility for making your way through it and creating some kind of meaning for it.

Authenticity: People want authenticity — to live in a way that's in tune with the truth of who they are as human beings and the world
they live in.

Individuality: An important part of developing an authentic and satisfying life is individuality. Reason, science, and systems that try to cover up the absurdity of life often take individuality from you.

Passion/engagement: Being passionate or engaged is another important aspect of living an authentic life, and it's under attack from the same forces that take away your individuality.

Death: This is the ultimate context for all human actions and an important source of the absurdity of life.

hooplala

This is wonderful Cain, thank you.  I've been doing a lot of existentialist reading lately and this caps it nicely.

I'm reading Nausea right now... its interesting but tough to read because it doesn't really go anywhere.  Probably the point, but it feels like treading water while reading it.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Cramulus

It might just be coincidence, but I think the Beck song Nausea is probably about that novel. Lyrics - Video




I forget which of the existentials talked about Vertigo, but I always liked that one too. Vertigo is the dizzyness and hesitation you feel as you stand at the precipice of actual free will.


... though maybe I'm thinking of Fear and Trembling

Roaring Biscuit!

Quote from: Hoopla on May 12, 2009, 04:33:28 PM
This is wonderful Cain, thank you.  I've been doing a lot of existentialist reading lately and this caps it nicely.

I'm reading Nausea right now... its interesting but tough to read because it doesn't really go anywhere.  Probably the point, but it feels like treading water while reading it.

^tis a bitch to read quickly, i got about halfway through and just thought:  fuck this, I get the point but this is torturous.  I enjoyed "the outsider" (translation) by albert camous, and would recommend it if you haven't already read it, though that has a pretty irritating style at the beginning of the book as well...  let me know if I missed anything good at the end of nausea :wink:

x

hooplala

I'll look into that, thanks.

I might pause on Nausea... sometimes when I have trouble getting through a book I find it easier the second time...
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: TSosBR! on May 12, 2009, 04:48:18 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on May 12, 2009, 04:33:28 PM
This is wonderful Cain, thank you.  I've been doing a lot of existentialist reading lately and this caps it nicely.

I'm reading Nausea right now... its interesting but tough to read because it doesn't really go anywhere.  Probably the point, but it feels like treading water while reading it.

^tis a bitch to read quickly, i got about halfway through and just thought:  fuck this, I get the point but this is torturous.  I enjoyed "the outsider" (translation) by albert camous, and would recommend it if you haven't already read it, though that has a pretty irritating style at the beginning of the book as well...  let me know if I missed anything good at the end of nausea :wink:

x

Agreed on The Outsider... Camus is the shit... in some sense
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

Cain

Quote from: Hoopla on May 12, 2009, 04:33:28 PM
This is wonderful Cain, thank you.  I've been doing a lot of existentialist reading lately and this caps it nicely.

I'm reading Nausea right now... its interesting but tough to read because it doesn't really go anywhere.  Probably the point, but it feels like treading water while reading it.

No problems.  I keep meaning to read some Kierkegaard myself, but I get caught up in other things.

minuspace


Iason Ouabache

Quote from: Cain on May 12, 2009, 06:04:53 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on May 12, 2009, 04:33:28 PM
This is wonderful Cain, thank you.  I've been doing a lot of existentialist reading lately and this caps it nicely.

I'm reading Nausea right now... its interesting but tough to read because it doesn't really go anywhere.  Probably the point, but it feels like treading water while reading it.

No problems.  I keep meaning to read some Kierkegaard myself, but I get caught up in other things.
I tried to read Kierkegaard. It made me want to stick an icepick in my ear. It might have been the translation though. The summaries I have read by other people are great though. I read part of the e-book version of "Provocations" that you sent me a long time ago. They did a good job of explaining what he was trying to say.
You cannot fathom the immensity of the fuck i do not give.
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minuspace