“Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason.” – Albert Camus 1. The Absurd For Camus, the Absurd is the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life, and the human inability to find any meaning in a purposeless,Continue reading “The Absurd, Revolt and Rebellion – Camus”
Author Archives: Eternalised - Philosophy
An Introduction to Albert Camus
Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913, a French colony at the time. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers, then became a journalist. He was born in a poor working-class family, his mother was an illiterate cleaning lady, and there were no books in his house, he lost his father when heContinue reading “An Introduction to Albert Camus”
The Look and Hell is Other People – Sartre
The Look is a central concept in Sartre’s phenomenology. It is the exploration of the experience of being seen. You are a subject, but if someone gazes into you for a long time, you start becoming hyper aware of yourself as an object in other people’s views. What we think of self-consciousness is actually ourContinue reading “The Look and Hell is Other People – Sartre”
Being and Nothingness – Sartre
Sartre´s masterwork and major philosophical work of his life is Being and Nothingness, which became the core of Existentialism. He speaks of consciousness, bad faith, the existence of “nothingness”, free will and authenticity. The idea that individuals can always choose their own actions, even in situations which appear to enslave them. He begins with theContinue reading “Being and Nothingness – Sartre”
Bad Faith – Sartre
A common trap that people fall into is what Sartre calls Bad Faith, a dominant theme of his work. Bad faith is a way of denying the fundamental nature of our freedom and responsibility, it is a way of making excuses for ourselves. We accept something as true that really isn’t that convincing to us,Continue reading “Bad Faith – Sartre”
Freedom and Responsibility – Sartre
For Sartre human beings live in anguish, or the feeling of total and deep responsibility, not because life is terrible, but because, as he says: “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” We are born without a choice, yet here we are bornContinue reading “Freedom and Responsibility – Sartre”
Existence precedes Essence – Sartre
Sartre is also a leading figure in phenomenology, a branch of philosophy that offered a radical account of the workings of human consciousness. In other words, it is experiencing reality as we experience it with our perceptions, distinguished from the world as it really is. He studied under Edmund Husserl, the world’s leader in thatContinue reading “Existence precedes Essence – Sartre”
Nausea & The Absurdity of the World – Jean Paul Sartre
Sartre’s first novel, Nausea, gave a name for existential angst. He considered it as one of his most precious novels, it portrays Antoine Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified at his own existence and finds it meaningless. He lives alone, has no friends, and usually eavesdrops on other people’s conversations and watches their actions.Continue reading “Nausea & The Absurdity of the World – Jean Paul Sartre”
An Introduction to Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre had a great influence on many areas of modern thought. A writer of prodigious brilliance and originality, Sartre worked in many different genres: as a philosopher, a novelist, and a cultural critic. Sartre is one of the key figures in the philosophy of Existentialism, which emphasises the existence of the individual orContinue reading “An Introduction to Jean Paul Sartre”
An Introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher of the 19th century, apart from having one of the most bad-ass mustaches in history (just look at it!), he is one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy and intellectual history. He was a cultural critic of his era, of traditional European morality and religious fundamentalism, especiallyContinue reading “An Introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche”
