Different from the modern conception of justice in the legal sense, the Stoics refer it more to what would be moral in our dealings with others by treating others fairly and doing the right thing. As Marcus Aurelius said: Do the right thing, the rest doesn’t matter. Thus, it is a much more broader conceptContinue reading “The Stoic Virtues (Art of Living): Justice”
Category Archives: Philosophy
The Stoic Virtues (Art of Living): Courage
Stoicism is a philosophy most popularly associated with Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The Stoic school of philosophy was founded by Zeno of Citium at around 300 B.C. The supreme goal being “living in agreement with nature”, which implies both living in harmony with the universe in acceptance of its nature and laws and alsoContinue reading “The Stoic Virtues (Art of Living): Courage”
Book Review: The Myth of Sisyphus – Albert Camus
One of Albert Camus’ most famous and important works is the philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus. It starts off with a powerful and thought-provoking statement: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”Continue reading “Book Review: The Myth of Sisyphus – Albert Camus”
The Absurd, Revolt and Rebellion – Camus
“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”
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”