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— William Faulkner, on Camus, The Transatlantic Review, 1961.

Contrary to the popular, mainstream belief- Camus’ brand of existentialism is the opposite of the Kierkegaardian sense of the absurd (as he is credited with being the father of existentialism, I am allowing myself the liberty of using his theses as a benchmark- a starting point, if you will). Camus himself stated; ‘[Perhaps this notion will become clearer if I risk this shocking statement]: the absurd is sin without God. It is a matter of living in that state of the absurd. I am taking the liberty at this point of calling the existential attitude philosophical suicide. But this does not imply a judgment. It is a convenient way of indicating the movement by which a thought negates itself and tends to transcend itself in its very negation.’ Thereby rejecting the Kierkegaardian notion that the absurd is a state a man lives in, in a world which has abandoned God- declaring rather that it is the man who has rejected God in a world that insists on religion who lives in the state of the absurd. He offers a radical transformation of the belief, an alternative to the endless despair and struggle of the state of absurdity which man is born into, and urges us to instead take pleasure in the heat of the summer sun, the ocean water, the female form. That is why, for me, Camus’ approach to existential thought and man’s alienation transcends all others- he offers relief in a state others have failed to find any before.

#albert camus #camus #existentialism #existential thoughts #argument #william faulkner #kierkagaard #alienation

The core philosophical issue with Facebook is the conundrum that the very act of choosing meaningful content for us means that content cannot be meaningful

The core philosophical issue with Facebook’s algorithmic change is the conundrum that the very act of choosing meaningful content for us means that the consumption of that content cannot be meaningful. By filtering our experiences, Facebook removes our agency to choose. And by removing our choice, it eliminates our ability to live authentically. An inauthentic life has no meaning.

#facebook #social media #mark zuckerberg #kierkagaard #authentic choices #online autonomy #facebook is awful #forsakebook #suckerberg #science and technology #delete your facebook #delete your social media #newsfeed #facebook newsfeed #online news media #choices #mental health

On the Origin of and My Interest in the Phrase “but all the same...”

“I know that these are only words, but all the same… (I am moved as though these words were uttering a reality).” --Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text

“‘She promised me she would!’ All the same, an unbearable anxiety was beginning to come over him.” —Gustave Flaubert, Sentimental Education

First encountered in Barthes, the phrase then stuck, and it began to creep up in other texts (the sway of formulas). What could be said to be enacted in its utterance is, in a sense (and in Freud's words), the riders incapability to rein in his horse, instead being overpowered (and led) by its pull, yet still clinging to the pretense of control. What it suggests is that the ego, despite its attempt at defense from either Id or super-ego, may not always succeed in doing so, but also that what this defensive mechanism of the ego comes down to is a type of choice to be made. The utterance is one of being helpless in the face of a choice (Kierkegaard) which thereby produces a sense of anxiety, an anxiety thought to be a fundamental part of Western subjectivity, which is why the phrase becomes to interesting from a psychoanalytical viewpoint:

“Psychoanalysis, whatever else it is, is a story about how we protect ourselves from our helplessness, from our incapacities; from our knowledge of these things and from our experience of them.” --Adam Phillips, On Balance

It can sometimes be reinvigorating, if nothing else, to acknowledge ones helplessness and dependence upon others from time to time, despite all the anxiety and unhappiness these invariably seem to produce.

#butallthesame...#Barthes #Phillips #Kierkagaard #Flaubert

And Abraham climbed Mount Moriah with Isaac. He resolved to speak to Isaac—since it is God’s will, Isaac is willing to become the sacrifice. And he cuts the wood and bound Isaac and he lighted the fire—He kissed Isaac once again; now they are not related to each other as father and son, no, as friend to friend, both like obedient children before Jehovah. —And he drew the knife—and he thrust it into Isaac. At that moment Jehovah in visible form stood beside Abraham and said: Old Man, Old Man, what have you done? Did you not hear what I said; did you not hear me cry out: Abraham, Abraham, stop! But Abraham replied in a voice half subservient, half confused: No, Lord, I did not hear it. Great was my grief—you know that best, for you know how to give the best and how to claim the best—yet my grief is tempered by Isaac’s having understood me, and In my joy over being in accord with him I did not hear your voice at all, but obediently, as I thought, I thrust the knife into the obedient sacrifice. Then Jehovah brought Isaac back to life. But in quiet sorrow Abraham thought to himself: But it is not the same Isaac, and in a certain sense it was not, for by having understood what he understood on Mount Moriah, that he had been selected by God for the sacrifice, he had in a sense become an old man, just as old as Abraham. It was not the same Isaac, and they were properly suited for each other only for eternity. The Lord God Jehovah foresaw this and he had mercy upon Abraham and as always restored everything better than if the mistake had not occurred. There is, he said to Abraham, an eternity; soon you will be united eternally with Isaac, and you will be in harmony for eternity. Had you heard my voice and stopped short-you would have gotten Isaac back for this life, but that which concerns eternity would not have become clear to you. You went too far, you ruined everything-yet I am making it even better than if you had not gone too far—there is an eternity. This is the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. In the Christian view Isaac actually is sacrificed-but then eternity. In Judaism it is an ordeal and Abraham keeps Isaac,but then the entire episode still remains essentially within this life.

From the Notes Books of Soran Kierkegaard

#Kierkagaard #theology #judaism #Christianity