The Gay Science is one of Nietzsche’s most beautiful and important books. He describes it as “the most personal of all his books”. When inquired on why he chose this title to his book, he wrote in a letter: “As for the title ‘Gay Science’, I thought only of the gaya scienza of the troubadoursContinue reading “Book Review: The Gay Science – Nietzsche”
Category Archives: Existentialism
Book Review: Nausea – Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre’s first novel, Nausea, gave a name for existential angst. He considered it as one of his best works. It is a philosophical novel with existentialist vibes, that delves into the pure absurdity of the world with Sartre’s wild imagination and explores the randomness and superfluity of the world. Everything that we takeContinue reading “Book Review: Nausea – Jean Paul Sartre”
Book Review: The Antichrist – Nietzsche
The Antichrist was written in 1888 one year before Nietzsche’s descent into madness and immediately after his Twilight of the Idols. Both books should be read under the aspect of the last words of his final original book, his autobiography Ecce Homo: “Dionysus against the Crucified.” The German title can be translated as either “TheContinue reading “Book Review: The Antichrist – Nietzsche”
Book Review: Fear and Trembling – Kierkegaard
Fear and Trembling is a book by Søren Kierkegaard written under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio. Kierkegaard is famous for having multiple pseudonyms. The purpose of this is not to confuse the reader, but rather to make him come up with his own conclusions. The subtitle of the book is Dialectical Lyric. That is toContinue reading “Book Review: Fear and Trembling – Kierkegaard”
Book Review: Twilight of the Idols – Nietzsche
In 1888, the last sane year of Nietzsche’s life, he produced two brief but devastating books: Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ. Originally titled The Idle Hours of a Psychologist, it was renamed Twilight of the Idols or, How to Philosophise with a Hammer by recommendation of Peter Gast, who urged him to findContinue reading “Book Review: Twilight of the Idols – Nietzsche”
Book Review: The Stranger – Albert Camus
L’Étranger, The Stranger or The Outsider, is a 1942 novel by French author Albert Camus. Though it is a work of fiction, it is often cited as an example of Camus’ philosophy of Absurdism. The Stranger has had a profound impact on millions of readers. Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn intoContinue reading “Book Review: The Stranger – Albert Camus”
Existentialism Explained
What is the meaning of life? It is likely that you have asked yourself this question before, this is known as an existential crisis. A state in which you re-examine your life in the context of death and are impacted by the contemplation of the meaning, purpose, or value of life. Existentialism is a philosophyContinue reading “Existentialism Explained”
The Turn, Technology & The Last God – Heidegger
After Heidegger’s masterpiece Being and Time there is a reorienting shift in Heidegger’s philosophy known as “die Kehre” or “the turn”, he links this to his own failure to produce the missing divisions of Being and Time, as the book remained unfinished. He also distances his view from Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialism, particularly his BeingContinue reading “The Turn, Technology & The Last God – Heidegger”
Temporality – Heidegger
The second most important feature of Being and Time, apart from Being is, Time. Heidegger calls it “temporality.” Dasein is time, we are embodied time. We go from being-in-the-world to care to temporality. Temporality is the ultimate meaning of being-in-the-world and care. The anticipation of death is the ultimate source of meaning of temporality. HeideggerContinue reading “Temporality – Heidegger”
Authenticity, Inauthenticity and Being-toward-death – Heidegger
When we realise how Heidegger’s care structure affects our behaviour, the relationship of meaningfulness with respect to things, people and to ourselves create the possibility for two modes of Being: authenticity or inauthenticity. Inauthenticity occurs when a person embodies only their facticity (the reality they have been thrown into) and their fallenness (falling into tasksContinue reading “Authenticity, Inauthenticity and Being-toward-death – Heidegger”