kay, so I'm taking an elective existential class to compliment my education major. I'm familiar with some basic characteristics of the philosophy, but I really want to dive in deep with this stuff.
I'm especially interested in epistemology. Can anyone who knows what there talking about point me in the direction of some seminal works?
appreciated.
Can you say what interests you particularly in existentialism in general or its epistemology in particular?
I guess if you want to start from the historical beginnings, you'd pick up Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil and Heidegger's Being and Time. Being and Time is very difficult reading even for trained philosophers, so you'll want to find some help with that.
The high point of existentialism was probably Sartre's Being and Nothingness. Camus' novels and stories are also really important. "The Myth of Sisyphus" is probably the best short introduction to the general themes of existentialism.
Does that help?
I've become really interested in the particulars of Existentialism lately. Unfortunately, I don't think my mind quite works in a way that is conducive to academic philosophy, so I'm not sure how much I could help you. As I understand it, a basic principle is the idea that the "self" is essentially a blank slate, and that any detail or fleshing out of the self is a construction of lived experiences (as opposed to any "essence" or "nature" of the self). I've just started to read a biography of Jean-Paul Sartre (Sartre: A Life, by Annie Cohen-Solal--it seems big and authoritative). Sartre is probably considered the father of Existentialism. It also seems to me that Existentialism is what skeptics might write off as "narcissism."
That probably wasn't terribly helpful, but this thread just jumped out at me, because it's something I'm interested in right now, too.
Yes, and I'll get it tonight when I get horny. About 6 inches longer.
Out of curiosity, was Camus' writing generally more like "The Myth of Sisyphus" or "The Stranger"? "The Myth of Sisyphus" actually had merit, regardless of my agreement (or lack there of) with its premise, where as "The Stranger" might have been the single worst novel I have ever read. (And I've read thousands)
Not an existentialist wrote:
Out of curiosity, was Camus' writing generally more like "The Myth of Sisyphus" or "The Stranger"? "The Myth of Sisyphus" actually had merit, regardless of my agreement (or lack there of) with its premise, where as "The Stranger" might have been the single worst novel I have ever read. (And I've read thousands)
I didn't like The Stranger either. Maybe it was better in French? I typically don't like philosophical novels. I like my novels novels and my philosophy philosophy, if that makes any sense. Sartre's novels have the same problem.
Now Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment, on the other hand, that's an excellent existentialist novel.
Gosh guys. That hurts.
There is no better novel in any language than "Crime and Punishment"
Bertrand Russell's Problems of Philosphy is a definitive and fairly accessible work on epistemology. Great supplement to a class on the subject.
And I will add Kalfka's Metamorphisis to the list of existential literature.
"The Stranger" has been poorly translated into English. I would prefer for example "The Outsider" for the title, which I think works better. In the French it is very good, but of course philosophical.
Sasha Grey knows a thing or two about existentialism
My foot is.......,or, my feet are............
I always like the classic Woody Allen joke about existentialism. He said he had to write a paper for a philosophy class on existentialism. He turned in a blank paper and got an A.