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Existential Nihilism
Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that life has no objective meaning or purpose.Veit, W. (2018). Existential Nihilism: The Only Really Serious Philosophical Problem – Journal of Camus Studies 2018: 211–236. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26965.24804 The inherent meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism, where one can potentially create their own subjective "meaning" or "purpose". The supposed conflict between our desire for meaning and the reality of a meaningless world is explored in the philosophical school of absurdism. Of all types of nihilism, existential nihilism has received the most literary and philosophical attention. History Ecclesiastes in the Bible extensively explores the meaninglessness of life. During the Renaissance, William Shakespeare summarised the existential nihilist's perspective through Macbeth's mindset in the end of the eponymous play. The philosopher David Hume said: Arthur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western philosophy, Western, Islamic philosophy, Arabic–Persian, Indian philosophy, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the Spirituality, spiritual problem of how to reach Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlighten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution." Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the culture, cultural and society, social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apatheia
In Stoic philosophy, ''apatheia'' (; ) refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It might better be translated by the word equanimity than the word indifference. The meaning of the word ''apatheia'' is quite different from that of the modern English apathy, which has a distinctly negative connotation that includes feelings of inertness, indifference, and impassiveness. According to the Stoics, ''apatheia'' was the quality that characterized the sage. Philosophy Whereas Aristotle had claimed that virtue was to be found in the golden mean between an excess and a deficiency of emotion (''metriopatheia''), the Stoics thought that living virtuously provided freedom from the passions, resulting in ''apatheia''. It meant eradicating the tendency to react emotionally or egotistically to external events, the things that cannot be controlled. For Stoics, it was the optimally rational response to the world, for things cannot be controlled if they are cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Denial Of Death
''The Denial of Death'' is a 1973 book by American cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker which discusses the psychological and philosophical implications of how people and cultures have reacted to the concept of death. The author argues most human action is taken to ignore or avoid the inevitability of death. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1974, two months after the author's death. It is the main work responsible for the development of terror management theory, which provides empirical support for Becker's ideas. Table of contents *Preface *Chapter One: Introduction: ''Human Nature and the Heroic'' *PART I: THE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY OF HEROISM **Chapter Two: ''The Terror of Death'' **Chapter Three: ''The Recasting of Some Basic Psychoanalytic Ideas'' **Chapter Four: ''Human Character as a Vital Lie'' **Chapter Five: ''The Psychoanalyst Kierkegaard'' **Chapter Six: ''The Problem of Freud's Character, Noch Einmal'' *PART II: THE FAILURES OF HEROISM **Chap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Becker
Ernest Becker (September 27, 1924 – March 6, 1974) was an American cultural anthropologist and author of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, '' The Denial of Death''. Biography Early life Ernest Becker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Jewish immigrant parents. Serving in the infantry during World War II, he would help liberate a Nazi concentration camp. After he completed his military service, Becker attended Syracuse University in New York. Upon graduation he joined the U.S. Embassy in Paris as an administrative officer. In his early 30s, he returned to Syracuse University to pursue graduate studies in cultural anthropology, and would complete his PhD in 1960. The first of his nine books, ''Zen: A Rational Critique'' (1961), was based on his doctoral dissertation. Professional career After graduating from Syracuse University in 1960, Becker began "the short 14-year period of his professional career" as a professor and writer. Initially, he taught anthropolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, and which was developed through close readings of the linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophyVincent B. Leitch ''Postmodernism: Local Effects, Global Flows'', SUNY Series in Postmodern Culture (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996), p. 27. although he distanced himself from post-structuralism and disavowed the word "postmodernity". During his career, Derrida published over 40 books, together with hundreds of essays and public presentations. He has had a significant influence on the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, literature, law, anthropology, historiography, applie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April 1933, Heidegger was elected as Rector (academia), rector at the University of Freiburg and has been widely criticized for his membership and support for the Nazi Party during his tenure. After World War II he was dismissed from Freiburg and banned from teaching after denazification hearings at Freiburg. There has been controversy about the relationship between Martin Heidegger and Nazism, his philosophy and Nazism. In Heidegger's first major text, ''Being and Time'' (1927), ''Dasein'' is introduced as a term for the type of being that humans possess. Heidegger believed that Dasein already has a "pre-ontological" and concrete understanding that shapes how it lives, which he analyzed in terms of the unitary structur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rebel (book)
''The Rebel'' () is a 1951 book-length essay by Albert Camus, which treats both the metaphysical and the historical development of rebellion and revolution in societies, especially Western Europe. Examining both rebellion and revolt, which may be seen as the same phenomenon in personal and social frames, Camus examines several ' countercultural' figures and movements from the history of Western thought and art, noting the importance of each in the overall development of revolutionary thought and philosophy. He analyses the decreasing social importance of king, god and virtue and the development of nihilism. It can be seen as a sequel to '' The Myth of Sisyphus'', where he ponders the meaning of life, because it answers the same question, but offers an alternative solution. Themes One of Camus' primary arguments in ''The Rebel'' concerns the motivation for rebellion and revolution. While the two acts—which can be interpreted from Camus' writing as states of being—are radicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fall (Albert Camus Novel)
''The Fall'' () is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, ''The Fall'' consists of a series of dramatic monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger. In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defense lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues. His crisis, and his ultimate "fall" from grace, was meant to invoke, in secular terms, the fall of man from the Garden of Eden. ''The Fall'' explores themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth. In a eulogy to Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus's books. Setting Clamence often speaks of his love for high, open places—everything from mountain peaks to the top decks of boats. "I have never felt comfortable", he ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Plague (novel)
''The Plague'' () is a 1947 absurdism, absurdist novel by Albert Camus. The plot centers around the French Algerian city of Oran as it combats a plague outbreak and is put under a city-wide quarantine. The novel presents a snapshot into life in Oran as seen through Camus's absurdist lens. Camus used as source material the 1846–1860 cholera pandemic, cholera epidemic that killed a large proportion of Oran's population in 1849, but set the novel in the 1940s. Oran and its surroundings were struck by disease several times before Camus published his novel. According to an academic study, Oran was decimated by the bubonic plague in 1556 and 1678, but all later outbreaks (in 1921: 185 cases; 1931: 76 cases; and 1944: 95 cases) were very far from the scale of the epidemic described in the novel. ''The Plague'' is considered an existentialist classic despite Camus's objection to the label. The novel stresses the powerlessness of the individual characters to affect their own destinies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caligula (play)
''Caligula'' is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 (the date of the first manuscript is 1939) and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. It premiered on 26 September 1945 at the Théâtre Hébertot in Paris, starring Gérard Philipe (Caligula), Michel Bouquet and Georges Vitaly and was directed by Paul Œttly. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It is part of what Camus called the " Cycle of the Absurd", together with the novel '' The Stranger'' (1942) and the essay '' The Myth of Sisyphus'' (1942). A number of critics have reported the piece to be existentialist, though Camus always denied belonging to this philosophy. Its plot revolves around the historical figure of Caligula, a Roman Emperor famed for his cruelty and seemingly insane behavior. Overview The play depicts Caligula, Emperor of Rome, torn by the death of Drusilla, his sister and lover. In Camus' version of events, Caligula eventually deliberately manipulate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stranger (Camus Novel)
''The Stranger'' ( , ), also published in English as ''The Outsider'', is a 1942 novella written by French author Albert Camus. The first of Camus's novels to be published, the story follows Meursault, an indifferent settler in French Algeria, who, weeks after his mother's funeral, kills an unnamed Arab man in Algiers. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative before and after the killing.From Cyril Connolly's introduction to the first English translation, by Stuart Gilbert (1946) Camus completed the initial manuscript by May 1941, with revisions suggested by André Malraux, Jean Paulhan, and Raymond Queneau that were adopted in the final version. The original French-language first edition of the novella was published on 19 May 1942, by Gallimard, under its original title; it appeared in bookstores from that June but was restricted to an initial 4,400 copies, so few that it could not be a bestseller. Even though it was published du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
