6 Essential Books on Existentialist Philosophy
There is a wide variety of diverse ideologies that makes up
the existentialist school of thought. These views may vary, but each is
concerned with the individual and their freedom within the world and society.
In the realm of philosophy, existentialism is one of those labels that came
after the fact in order to describe a wide variety of a set of similar ideals.
Many of the ideas in the so-called existentialist strain are
difficult for some people to deal with and will put your mind to the test. Some
wallow in the pure dread of an uncaring world and others laugh in the face of
suspected meaningless. But that's the fun of it anyhow.
So, if you make it through all of these books without
developing a crippling hollowness inside your soul or blackened void (you
decide), well then head on over to this diverse metaphysical book list for some
lighter reading... and develop that philosophical palette even more! Or not
because well… who cares anyways? But ye I also say! Ascend to greater heights
and become greater than yourself and say yes to the day. And as you'll see
existentialism is quite diverse.
Here are six essential books on existentialism philosophy that I will definitely be checking out for myself:
The Stranger
The writings of Albert Camus are the premier oeuvre of
existentialist literature. The Stranger follows the story of a regular guy,
Meursault, who is unintentionally drawn into a murder on an Algerian beach.
Translated into English by Matthew Ward, the novel explores what Camus himself
referred to as "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." Anything
by Camus will leave you in awe, but The Stranger really delivers.
The famous opening lines "Mother died today. Or maybe
it was yesterday, I don't know," set the stage as emotionless and removed
Meursault drifts through the absurd situations he's placed in.
Throughout his books, Camus would eventually develop a
philosophy he considered absurdism. "The Absurd" being the conflict
between man's tendency to seek meaning paired with the usual inability to ever
find anything purely meaningful in an irrational existence. This is best
explained in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus.
Albert Camus believed that the best life lived should
embrace this inherent contradiction.
“It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear on the contrary that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning.”
Being and Nothingness
Novelist, playwright, and biographer Jean-Paul Sartre is considered
by many to be one of the greatest and most profound philosophers of the 20th
century. Being and Nothingness is a fundamental text of existentialism. It's
also a hefty read for those not already familiar with a lot of philosophical
texts.
Sartre begins his roaring treatise first on the subject of
nothingness, which he contrasts to the fact that it is supported by being,
although it does not have it. Eventually he establishes two main points which
are considered Being-for-itself and Being-for-others.
The most important theme of the book deals with the idea of
people fleeing from their own freedom. Sartre's philosophy and main ideas are
formed at the bedrock by his knowledge on a wide range of subjects, including
philosophy, biology, physics, among others — at least up to the time he wrote
this book in 1943.
For Sartre, humans define their meaning and have absolute
control and freedom over all of their choices. He considers the following a
basic statement of fact.
"I must be without remorse or regrets as I am without excuse; for from the instant of my upsurge into being, I carry the weight of the world by myself alone without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant."
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Zarathustra is Friedrich Nietzsche's absolute masterpiece.
An influential philosophical work that would go on to inspire some of the
greatest minds of the 20th century and will continue to do so for many years to
come. It's also a tremendous work of literature with its highly stylized poetic
language. If you're looking to dive into Nietzsche, this is a book you might
want to put off until you've read some of his earlier works. It is in this book
that he fully lays out, albeit quite poetically, the crowning ideal of the
Übermensch, or "overman." Which he believes will be the grand and
ultimate goal for the human race.
Vastly misunderstood throughout the years by despotic
regimes and countless other misguided idealogues, one wonders if any of these
people actually even read Nietzsche past a quick secondary source blurb or
other bastardized and blurry reading. Nietzsche would have had a good laugh at
their expense as he'd predicted many of these misrepresentations of himself and
his philosophy with the character called Zarathustra's ape.
Yet falsehoods aside, Nietzsche is a writer who is still a
great anomaly even to the greatest adepts of his philosophy and readers. He
requires a lot of time and contemplation, whether or not you agree or disagree
with his views.
The following quote beautifully captures one of the most
noble, supreme and highest ideals ever laid to the page:
"Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end."
The Trial
"Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested one fine morning."
The Last Messiah
Peter Wessel Zapffe flips the script with The Last Messiah,
an essay taken from his book Om det Tragiske, a book written in obscure and
idiosyncratic Norwegian that still hasn't been translated into English.
This is the text that brings antinatalist thought to the
forefront. Zapffe posits that the human condition is a state of eternal despair
and it's all due to humans being over-evolved with a superfluous brain. We are,
to Zapfee, a supra-cosmic mistake. Or, as he puts it:
... a biological paradox, an abomination, an absurdity, an exaggeration of disastrous nature.
"The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by over-evolving one ability is not confined to humankind. Thus it is thought, for instance, that certain deer in paleontological times succumbed as they acquired overly-heavy horns. The mutations must be considered blind, they work, are thrown forth, without any contact of interest with their environment. In depressive states, the mind may be seen in the image of such an antler, in all its fantastic splendor pinning its bearer to the ground"
Zapffe considers any wondering from this frightening reality
to be part of four defensive strategies in which humans use to cope and shield
ourselves from this horrendous tradition. As far as Zapffe was concerned, and
pretty much anyone alive today can attest to, we still haven't figured out any
sufficient answer to those deep piercing great questions of existence.
Here are the defense mechanisms:
- Isolation: "By isolation I here mean a fully arbitrary dismissal from consciousness of all disturbing and destructive thought and feeling."
- Anchoring: "The mechanism of anchoring also serves from early childhood; parents, home, the street become matters of course to the child and give it a sense of assurance."
- Distraction: "A very popular mode of protection is distraction. One limits attention to the critical bounds by constantly enthralling it with impressions."
- Sublimation: "The fourth remedy against panic, sublimation, is a matter of transformation rather than repression. Through stylistic or artistic gifts can the very pain of living at times be converted into valuable experiences. Positive impulses engage the evil and put it to their own ends, fastening onto its pictorial, dramatic, heroic, lyric or even comic aspects."
Zapffe leaves his readers with no transcendental triumph to
the future:
Either / Or
One of the earliest books for Søren Kierkegaard, it is
considered to be a fundamental text for existentialist thought. Kierkegaard
wrote many of his works under a pseudonym, and he'd continue to do that
throughout most of his career. At around 835 pages for some versions, this is a
monstrous treatise, in which Kierkegaard compares two radically different modes
of existence: aestheticism and ethics.
In the first part of the book, he follows a young man called
"A" who reflects on a great deal of aesthetic topics. If you've read
Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray or that devious little book which Dorian falls prey
to, À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans, you'll recognize a lot of similarities in
the exploration of sensual dandyism, epicurean pleasure and other assorted
delights. Part two departs from this and meditates on the conflict between the
ethical and aesthetic, opting for a more moral type of life.
Kierkegaard oscillates between dread and triumph, either /
or, this or that, in which he concludes somewhere later on that:
"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both."
Pretty heavy stuff, don't you think? Delving deep into the abyss that is Existential thought is not for the faint of heart. It is a journey into the darkest parts of your mind. I guarantee there are many things you'll find that will frighten, disgust, and sadden you, but if you take those things and learn what they can teach you, you will emerge from your shell a new person. Fully developed into an emotional butterfly that can reach new lands of thought and opportunity.
See you all tomorrow.
Buh-bye.
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