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Existentialism For Dummies
Have you ever wondered what the phrase “God is dead” means? You’ll find out in Existentialism For Dummies, a handy guide to Nietzsche, Sartre, and Kierkegaard’s favorite philosophy. See how existentialist ideas have influenced everything from film and literature to world events and discover whether or not existentialism is still relevant today.
You’ll find an introduction to existentialism and understand how it fits into the history of philosophy. This insightful guide will expose you to existentialism’s ideas about the absurdity of life and the ways that existentialism guides politics, solidarity, and respect for others. There’s even a section on religious existentialism. You’ll be able to reviewkey existential themes and writings. Find out how to:
* Trace the influence of existentialism
* Distinguish each philosopher’s specific ideas
* Explain what it means to say that “God is dead”
* See culture through an existentialist lens
* Understand the existentialist notion of time, finitude, and death
* Navigate the absurdity of life
* Master the art of individuality
Complete with lists of the ten greatest existential films, ten great existential aphorisms, and ten common misconceptions about existentialism, Existentialism For Dummies is your one-stop guide to a very influential school of thought.
You’ll find an introduction to existentialism and understand how it fits into the history of philosophy. This insightful guide will expose you to existentialism’s ideas about the absurdity of life and the ways that existentialism guides politics, solidarity, and respect for others. There’s even a section on religious existentialism. You’ll be able to reviewkey existential themes and writings. Find out how to:
* Trace the influence of existentialism
* Distinguish each philosopher’s specific ideas
* Explain what it means to say that “God is dead”
* See culture through an existentialist lens
* Understand the existentialist notion of time, finitude, and death
* Navigate the absurdity of life
* Master the art of individuality
Complete with lists of the ten greatest existential films, ten great existential aphorisms, and ten common misconceptions about existentialism, Existentialism For Dummies is your one-stop guide to a very influential school of thought.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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661 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 21, 2012
A friend and colleague of mine, Jonathan Vick, recommended I peruse these pages. Like Jonathan, I consider myself an existentialist. I don't always agree with the tenets (i.e. I choose not to dwell on anxiety) but overall this school of thought impels me to become a better human being.
Although this book was well-written, carefully researched, and easy to understand, it left out the beautiful rapturous side of being an existentialist. Living in existentialism is inspiring, lyrical, filled with grandeur and purpose. Very little of that is reflected in this book.
Imagine an essay about Disney World which described the physical and logistical aspects of it but only lightly touched on how children react to it. It may be only one component of the Disney experience, but it is a crucial one.
Although this book was well-written, carefully researched, and easy to understand, it left out the beautiful rapturous side of being an existentialist. Living in existentialism is inspiring, lyrical, filled with grandeur and purpose. Very little of that is reflected in this book.
Imagine an essay about Disney World which described the physical and logistical aspects of it but only lightly touched on how children react to it. It may be only one component of the Disney experience, but it is a crucial one.
March 15, 2024
I found this extremely informative and quite easy to read. I bought it wanting more information on Nietzsche and just couldn’t bring myself to read his actual work. I now feel i have a good understanding of his philosophy along with other existentialists such as Sartre and Camus. I will get other books from the “dummies” série.
June 21, 2014
Eminently readable, light-hearted, while still being informative. By design, information is repeated, which can get a bit tedious. I suppose it helps ram home the content, however. If you can't spare the time and effort to decipher Camus, Sartre, and Heidegger (and who can?) it's well worth picking this up.
Read
August 29, 2008This book was the equivalent of taking the blue pill from Morpheus in the movie The Matrix. Not pleasant, but very necessary if I'm going to be the author of my own life.
"Live dangerously." --Fredrick Nietzsche
"Live dangerously." --Fredrick Nietzsche
November 21, 2015
Loved it. Definitely worth reading, this book will make you question a lot of things and also will leave you anxious thinking. Enjoy!
July 28, 2011
About calibre of other "Dummy" books I've read. A good refresher for the points I remembered but "lost" over the years. Feel more comfortable talking about existentialism again. That isn't a bad thing!
August 6, 2018
Very accessible introduction and explanation of the concepts of existentialism, by far the easiest to navigate as well. Highly recommended for those getting into existentialism as this book does very good job as being an "appetizer".
March 1, 2010
good - very readable -- got the overview plus some details I was hoping for -- have the basis for following up with specific authors/thinkers
September 25, 2012
I like to think of this book as an appetizer; it makes you yearn for more. I have not read it thoroughly, though. It sort of became a bit repetitive and I thought I'd had enough!
January 17, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning the basics about Existentialism.
September 14, 2018
Good read made reevaluate a lot of my perceptions.
January 26, 2015
I had no idea existentialism was so complex. I'm glad I started with a "for dummies" book. The authors introduce the concepts through the perspective and writings of the major existentialist authors: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus. Some of the content was very thought-inspiring. I found the following quote to be quite profound and I pondered it for days:
" Kierkegaard, in his Concept of Anxiety, talked about his understanding of the story of the fall from grace, or the story of how Adam and Eve lost their place in the Garden of Eden. The story tells us that God commanded Adam not to eat the apples from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that if he did, he would surely die. Of course, Adam ate the apple. Typically, people explain this story by suggesting that Adam intentionally chose what was evil, so they understand the temptation that drove Adam to be the apple itself and the knowledge that it contained.
Kierkegaard disagreed. As far as he saw it, Adam didn't know what good and evil were yet; he'd have to eat from the tree to find that out. So it's odd to say that he was tempted by evil if he couldn't have any knowledge of it until he ate the apple. Instead, Kierkegaard wanted to understand Adam's transgression in a different way. As he saw it, the prohibition from God (which Adam also didn't totally understand, because he didn't know what death was either!) awakened anxiety in Adam. The anxiety was unsettling for Adam because in it, he was awakened out of his innocence (his immediacy, or his robotic routine) and into an insight of his own possibilities as a free being. Specifically, God's prohibition allowed Adam to become conscious of the fact that he could become the kind of person who doesn't do what God tells him to do. He didn't understand what being that kind of person would mean; he'd never done it before, and it was never really even possible. The prohibition made it possible. With it came the mystery of possibility, the fact that some form of existence was waiting for him to fulfill it if he wanted to, which was extremely attractive - and repulsive - to him.
Essentially, Adam sensed the possibility of being something other than what he presently was. Thus, for Kierkegaard, anxiety in the face of his own possibility is what made his own transgression possible. In eating from the tree, Adam didn't choose what was evil; instead, he made the choice, or rather a leap, to exist in a new way that he didn't understand. In fact, in some Jewish interpretations of the story, this very possibility - this creation of an Adam who can visualize himself as someone who can follow (through faith) or reject (through sin) God -- was God's intention in the first place when he gave the prohibition to Adam!"
Existentialists try to find the self by tearing down artificial constructs that, though they may be comforting, cause us to be inauthentic. Finding the self is not the path of least resistance and requires that you remove yourself from the flock. Consider this excerpt titled "Socrates the crowd-hater"
"If you want to live in the crowd, you need a few skills. You need to be good at appeasing those around you. You have to make them feel good about themselves. You need to be a good social chameleon, to be sure your way of acting assures others that you're one of them. If that means moving from one belief or behavior to another in different situations, do it. You need to become what the ancient Greeks called a sophist. Sophists were notoriously uninterested in truth and cared more about persuasion and rhetoric. Socrates lived as an antisophist, and he paid the ultimate price for doing it. Socrates avoided crowds and preferred to speak only to individuals. He felt, as Kierkegaard did, that truth wasn't in the domain of the crowd but belonged only to individuals. In fact, Socrates felt that individuals needed to free themselves from the crowd's alleged wisdom and learn to approach existence truthfully. In spurning the crowd in this way, he made lots of enemies, some of whom put him to death on false charges. In fact, in his defense trial (described in Plato's Apology), Socrates told the Athenian assembly - the crowd that would judge him - that he would not treat them in the ways crowds like to be treated. He told them that he would not flatter them and play to their cowardice."
Kierkegaard's Fire Chief speaks to the message of crowd cowardice:
"When a fire happens, he says, it's serious business. The Fire Chief knows that when he arrives at the scene, the surrounding crowd will be brandishing useless pitchforks and buckets. They're not serious about the fire, but they want to play at being serious because that's what crowds do. At best, they're a nuisance to the firefighters, but at worst, they're dangerous and get in the way. As a result, the Fire Chief rightly uses the police to disperse the crowd.
In developing this analogy, Kierkegaard is asking a simple question: Are you willing to take your own existence seriously, as the Fire Chief treats the business of putting out fires? If so, you'll have to make passionate commitments about how to live. Of course, when the crowd hears that you're addressing how to live your life, it will immediately show up to prove that it takes the issues under consideration very seriously, and it'll demand that you pay attention to it as proof of your own seriousness. However, just as in the scene of the fire, the crowd is merely waving figurative pitchforks; it's dangerous to you in your quest because it wants you to live in untruth.
What will you say as the Fire Chief in charge of your own life? You can't call the police (unless the crowd is waving real pitchforks). You have to send them away on your own if you plan on living in a meaningful way. Will you? Do you have the courage?"
Some people like to choose friends who are pretty much exactly like them. They look for clones. Nietzsche says these people look to surround themselves with neighbors. Nietzsche despises neighbor-seeking because it means looking to be surrounded by people who don't challenge you. Nobles don't do that, because they always seek to live their identities by exposing them to conflict and challenge. A big part of existentialism is becoming noble by finding your own way.
I think I'd like to read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" to learn more about existentialism.
" Kierkegaard, in his Concept of Anxiety, talked about his understanding of the story of the fall from grace, or the story of how Adam and Eve lost their place in the Garden of Eden. The story tells us that God commanded Adam not to eat the apples from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that if he did, he would surely die. Of course, Adam ate the apple. Typically, people explain this story by suggesting that Adam intentionally chose what was evil, so they understand the temptation that drove Adam to be the apple itself and the knowledge that it contained.
Kierkegaard disagreed. As far as he saw it, Adam didn't know what good and evil were yet; he'd have to eat from the tree to find that out. So it's odd to say that he was tempted by evil if he couldn't have any knowledge of it until he ate the apple. Instead, Kierkegaard wanted to understand Adam's transgression in a different way. As he saw it, the prohibition from God (which Adam also didn't totally understand, because he didn't know what death was either!) awakened anxiety in Adam. The anxiety was unsettling for Adam because in it, he was awakened out of his innocence (his immediacy, or his robotic routine) and into an insight of his own possibilities as a free being. Specifically, God's prohibition allowed Adam to become conscious of the fact that he could become the kind of person who doesn't do what God tells him to do. He didn't understand what being that kind of person would mean; he'd never done it before, and it was never really even possible. The prohibition made it possible. With it came the mystery of possibility, the fact that some form of existence was waiting for him to fulfill it if he wanted to, which was extremely attractive - and repulsive - to him.
Essentially, Adam sensed the possibility of being something other than what he presently was. Thus, for Kierkegaard, anxiety in the face of his own possibility is what made his own transgression possible. In eating from the tree, Adam didn't choose what was evil; instead, he made the choice, or rather a leap, to exist in a new way that he didn't understand. In fact, in some Jewish interpretations of the story, this very possibility - this creation of an Adam who can visualize himself as someone who can follow (through faith) or reject (through sin) God -- was God's intention in the first place when he gave the prohibition to Adam!"
Existentialists try to find the self by tearing down artificial constructs that, though they may be comforting, cause us to be inauthentic. Finding the self is not the path of least resistance and requires that you remove yourself from the flock. Consider this excerpt titled "Socrates the crowd-hater"
"If you want to live in the crowd, you need a few skills. You need to be good at appeasing those around you. You have to make them feel good about themselves. You need to be a good social chameleon, to be sure your way of acting assures others that you're one of them. If that means moving from one belief or behavior to another in different situations, do it. You need to become what the ancient Greeks called a sophist. Sophists were notoriously uninterested in truth and cared more about persuasion and rhetoric. Socrates lived as an antisophist, and he paid the ultimate price for doing it. Socrates avoided crowds and preferred to speak only to individuals. He felt, as Kierkegaard did, that truth wasn't in the domain of the crowd but belonged only to individuals. In fact, Socrates felt that individuals needed to free themselves from the crowd's alleged wisdom and learn to approach existence truthfully. In spurning the crowd in this way, he made lots of enemies, some of whom put him to death on false charges. In fact, in his defense trial (described in Plato's Apology), Socrates told the Athenian assembly - the crowd that would judge him - that he would not treat them in the ways crowds like to be treated. He told them that he would not flatter them and play to their cowardice."
Kierkegaard's Fire Chief speaks to the message of crowd cowardice:
"When a fire happens, he says, it's serious business. The Fire Chief knows that when he arrives at the scene, the surrounding crowd will be brandishing useless pitchforks and buckets. They're not serious about the fire, but they want to play at being serious because that's what crowds do. At best, they're a nuisance to the firefighters, but at worst, they're dangerous and get in the way. As a result, the Fire Chief rightly uses the police to disperse the crowd.
In developing this analogy, Kierkegaard is asking a simple question: Are you willing to take your own existence seriously, as the Fire Chief treats the business of putting out fires? If so, you'll have to make passionate commitments about how to live. Of course, when the crowd hears that you're addressing how to live your life, it will immediately show up to prove that it takes the issues under consideration very seriously, and it'll demand that you pay attention to it as proof of your own seriousness. However, just as in the scene of the fire, the crowd is merely waving figurative pitchforks; it's dangerous to you in your quest because it wants you to live in untruth.
What will you say as the Fire Chief in charge of your own life? You can't call the police (unless the crowd is waving real pitchforks). You have to send them away on your own if you plan on living in a meaningful way. Will you? Do you have the courage?"
Some people like to choose friends who are pretty much exactly like them. They look for clones. Nietzsche says these people look to surround themselves with neighbors. Nietzsche despises neighbor-seeking because it means looking to be surrounded by people who don't challenge you. Nobles don't do that, because they always seek to live their identities by exposing them to conflict and challenge. A big part of existentialism is becoming noble by finding your own way.
I think I'd like to read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" to learn more about existentialism.
May 18, 2018
I liked this at first, and then I didn't. It meanders on and, I felt, could have benefitted from a different structure. They spend a huge portion of the book (perhaps the largest chapter) talking about the importance of mood in existentialist philosophy. While important, I feel it's certainly not deserving of the attention they give it. Something, something...beating a dead horse. The whole second half of the book falls into that trap, which is a shame, because the first half is pretty on-point as a general overview if you're looking for background information as you dive into the actual writings of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, and others. Oh well.
October 25, 2023
At first, I thought this book was badly written.
After some investigation, I found that it's not that much of the responsibility of the authors. Existentialism is bullshit, exactly as Camus had criticized them. It's a religion to give false satisfaction for absurdity.
It's full of vague, made-up, concepts and loaded words. Which, in their words, I think should be called "subjective truths". Which, in my understanding, is another name for religion.
By the way, this book is very repetitive. It can at least reduce half the size.
After some investigation, I found that it's not that much of the responsibility of the authors. Existentialism is bullshit, exactly as Camus had criticized them. It's a religion to give false satisfaction for absurdity.
It's full of vague, made-up, concepts and loaded words. Which, in their words, I think should be called "subjective truths". Which, in my understanding, is another name for religion.
By the way, this book is very repetitive. It can at least reduce half the size.
July 19, 2019
The Dummies series is just not my favorite of the simplified multitude of similar offerings. But this was at the library and I though why not. The book is pretty much summed up in the intro and then drags on for another 200 pages. It could well have been one of those laminated cheat sheets and been as helpful. I guess for some it could pound the info into them. I just didn't need that much repetition.
February 17, 2021
Perhaps the best book on philosophy that I ever read; written in an engaging humorous tone. You don't feel even burdened with the heavy concepts of philosophy. Philosophy is fun; after all you are the one giving meaning to your life. So create your own meaning, and have fun :-) You always have a choice even when you don't acknowledge. The life situation you are in may not be in your control, but your response towards that situation is in your control. Even if you don't agree, you are choosing every moment in your life. You are taking a decision branch one over another, every moment. We have, as human beings, a tendency to find meanings in things. How about if the world is absurd? Well, then give it a meaning as you like. This will give you an authentic life. An engaged life is an authentic life, a passive life is the lowest form of existence, like stones and trees exist but they don't have a choice. Listen to your heart or listen to the crowd; your choice - no one is really compelling you to choose one over the other. If you are happy in following the voices of crowd, the social norms, the role society gave you, then well go ahead. However, if you want to take charge of your life and be the one who chooses the content of your life, then be ready for the struggle, anxiety, pain which comes after leaving the comfort zone. When you go on a journey to self exploration, no external validation can assure you that you are on the right path. Only you can decide.
April 25, 2019
Great, fairly easy to understand, overview of existentialism and the important existential thinkers.
January 31, 2021
A good introduction. Many more things listed to read.
July 24, 2025
a meaningful, authentic life requires you to embrace your own mortality
introduction to existentialist philosophy and the ways it guides notions of time, finitude, death, and passion; informs readers of the individual teachings of nietzsche, heidegger, sartre, camus, and kierkegaard, among others
slowly dipping my toes into philosophy – been really into stoicism the last 6ish months and decided it was time to explore some other schools of thought. so here we are! didn't think i'd like this one as much as i did, but there's certainly an acquired beauty and comfort in the absurdism that accompanies existentialist theory.
likes:
• thoroughly introduces the school & clarifies common misconceptions; describes the teachings of well-known existentialist philosophers & authors as well as the similarities and differences between their approaches; recommends books and movies for further study
• love the author's writing style – very obvious he's professor, as he explains these complex topics in simple, accessible ways
• great comparison of the differences between existentialism vs. postmodernism vs. nihilism
• parts that stood out: plato's forms, intellectual tourism, the coexistence of religion and existentialism, nietzsche’s relationship to nazism
dislikes:
• repetitive at times. often saying the same thing over & over in different words to hammer the concept home. not necessarily bad but it could have been omitted
• the "dummies" series covers are sooooo ugly lol
general notes:
• the existentialists were NOT nihilists! their philosophy actually tries to find a way OUT of nihilism. for the existentialists, you assume the role of being the author of your own existence, and therefore life is all about creating value and defining your character with purpose. basically, life has the meaning you choose to give it.
• life is inherently participatory and therefore can be understood only through the actual process of living itself. existentialists therefore aren’t anti-reason but they believe if you ONLY use reason when you investigate big questions about life, you’ll limit what you find. you must combine emotion and intellect to receive a more full picture.
• therefore, they think emotions are really important and a core part of what makes us human. leaning into our emotions and moods can provide insight into what gives us meaning. being entirely unbiased or objective is simply not possible because we are "feeling creatures that can think, not thinking creatures that feel"
• existentialists believe in living a passionate life – but that doesn’t mean living frantically and impulsively. it means living life in an intense and deliberate way, one that flows from grappling seriously with the significance and meaning of your individual life. you have to embody your life’s purpose and let it transform who you are.
• living passionately means creating a bond with your own life that doesn’t approach it as a problem to be solved, but as a beautiful relationship to cultivate with yourself. being passionate means finding something you value so deeply you'd be willing to both live AND die for it (easy example, your children).
• sartre: you and death can never be in the same place at once, because once death reaches you, you are no longer "you". therefore, you don’t actually have to think about it all that much. it makes no sense to take a position on it or worry about it.
• when you have all the time in the world, life is frivolous. the inevitability of death invigorates life and adds weight to the choices you make. it also makes you responsible - for example, you might feel more passionate about environmentalism if you believe the world & its resources are finite.
• in a nutshell: the world is absurd. humans are unique. they’re free and they’re responsible for their situations. they crave meaning and a sense of purpose. they fear death and suffer from anxiety. finding meaning is central to their existence and a necessary tool to prevent descent into nihilism.
• further reading: the death of ivan ilyich, man’s search for meaning, hamlet, the trial, the stranger, the blood of others
quotes:
"the price of the church’s absolute reassurance was the abdication of your individual, personal responsibility for and passionate engagement in your own faith. this, for the existentialist, is tantamount to giving up your humanity – dare we say your soul?"
"a passionate life emphasizes HOW you go about living and not WHAT you end up doing"
"for the existentialists, a passionate life includes not only committing resolutely to a path you’re willing to die for, but also doing so in a way that embraces the fact that you can never be sure that you picked the right road to tread. as a result, passionate living means opening yourself to the vulnerabilities of life. you realize that life is, in a way, bigger than you are. you’ll never be able to truly figure it all out or have it under your control. passionate life is intense, it’s committed, it’s risky, and it’s vulnerable – open to the mysteries of existence and of life.”
introduction to existentialist philosophy and the ways it guides notions of time, finitude, death, and passion; informs readers of the individual teachings of nietzsche, heidegger, sartre, camus, and kierkegaard, among others
slowly dipping my toes into philosophy – been really into stoicism the last 6ish months and decided it was time to explore some other schools of thought. so here we are! didn't think i'd like this one as much as i did, but there's certainly an acquired beauty and comfort in the absurdism that accompanies existentialist theory.
likes:
• thoroughly introduces the school & clarifies common misconceptions; describes the teachings of well-known existentialist philosophers & authors as well as the similarities and differences between their approaches; recommends books and movies for further study
• love the author's writing style – very obvious he's professor, as he explains these complex topics in simple, accessible ways
• great comparison of the differences between existentialism vs. postmodernism vs. nihilism
• parts that stood out: plato's forms, intellectual tourism, the coexistence of religion and existentialism, nietzsche’s relationship to nazism
dislikes:
• repetitive at times. often saying the same thing over & over in different words to hammer the concept home. not necessarily bad but it could have been omitted
• the "dummies" series covers are sooooo ugly lol
general notes:
• the existentialists were NOT nihilists! their philosophy actually tries to find a way OUT of nihilism. for the existentialists, you assume the role of being the author of your own existence, and therefore life is all about creating value and defining your character with purpose. basically, life has the meaning you choose to give it.
• life is inherently participatory and therefore can be understood only through the actual process of living itself. existentialists therefore aren’t anti-reason but they believe if you ONLY use reason when you investigate big questions about life, you’ll limit what you find. you must combine emotion and intellect to receive a more full picture.
• therefore, they think emotions are really important and a core part of what makes us human. leaning into our emotions and moods can provide insight into what gives us meaning. being entirely unbiased or objective is simply not possible because we are "feeling creatures that can think, not thinking creatures that feel"
• existentialists believe in living a passionate life – but that doesn’t mean living frantically and impulsively. it means living life in an intense and deliberate way, one that flows from grappling seriously with the significance and meaning of your individual life. you have to embody your life’s purpose and let it transform who you are.
• living passionately means creating a bond with your own life that doesn’t approach it as a problem to be solved, but as a beautiful relationship to cultivate with yourself. being passionate means finding something you value so deeply you'd be willing to both live AND die for it (easy example, your children).
• sartre: you and death can never be in the same place at once, because once death reaches you, you are no longer "you". therefore, you don’t actually have to think about it all that much. it makes no sense to take a position on it or worry about it.
• when you have all the time in the world, life is frivolous. the inevitability of death invigorates life and adds weight to the choices you make. it also makes you responsible - for example, you might feel more passionate about environmentalism if you believe the world & its resources are finite.
• in a nutshell: the world is absurd. humans are unique. they’re free and they’re responsible for their situations. they crave meaning and a sense of purpose. they fear death and suffer from anxiety. finding meaning is central to their existence and a necessary tool to prevent descent into nihilism.
• further reading: the death of ivan ilyich, man’s search for meaning, hamlet, the trial, the stranger, the blood of others
quotes:
"the price of the church’s absolute reassurance was the abdication of your individual, personal responsibility for and passionate engagement in your own faith. this, for the existentialist, is tantamount to giving up your humanity – dare we say your soul?"
"a passionate life emphasizes HOW you go about living and not WHAT you end up doing"
"for the existentialists, a passionate life includes not only committing resolutely to a path you’re willing to die for, but also doing so in a way that embraces the fact that you can never be sure that you picked the right road to tread. as a result, passionate living means opening yourself to the vulnerabilities of life. you realize that life is, in a way, bigger than you are. you’ll never be able to truly figure it all out or have it under your control. passionate life is intense, it’s committed, it’s risky, and it’s vulnerable – open to the mysteries of existence and of life.”
August 2, 2022
Existentialism is my favourite philosophy topic and this book is just amazing . Such profound thoughts and the author present it wonderfully and easy to understand
June 28, 2014
"A Reference for the Rest of Us!"
Having been curious about the philosophical movement and only knowing about it vaguely as it incorporates itself into our lives through film and literature and abstractly as I find myself asking the questions that existentialism takes upon its hands to answer. I decided it was time for another "For Dummies" book that I figured would be the go-to-book where everything I needed to know about existentialism and nothing less would be. But I soon found out that it would not suffice and my curiosity would suffer (and probably even my need for answers - according to what I now know of the movement)- and so I cannot stop here.
The book felt like a class - and now I feel more comfortable on tackling the original texts of literature by the giants of Existentialism and thus I feel much obliged to the parts of ten that sealed the book with a list of good books to get you started.
Having been curious about the philosophical movement and only knowing about it vaguely as it incorporates itself into our lives through film and literature and abstractly as I find myself asking the questions that existentialism takes upon its hands to answer. I decided it was time for another "For Dummies" book that I figured would be the go-to-book where everything I needed to know about existentialism and nothing less would be. But I soon found out that it would not suffice and my curiosity would suffer (and probably even my need for answers - according to what I now know of the movement)- and so I cannot stop here.
The book felt like a class - and now I feel more comfortable on tackling the original texts of literature by the giants of Existentialism and thus I feel much obliged to the parts of ten that sealed the book with a list of good books to get you started.
August 6, 2016
Read this awhile back, can't remember when, I was really young though, and the idea of meaningless blew my mind and made me depressed for years. After reading this book, was when it first clicked with me.
I don't think I even finished it, I had it in Ebook form. Probably really mediocre as an introduction to existentialism unless you are a complete idiot like I was Sophomore year of high school.
I don't think I even finished it, I had it in Ebook form. Probably really mediocre as an introduction to existentialism unless you are a complete idiot like I was Sophomore year of high school.
Read
December 23, 2010Good review
November 18, 2015
"Bukowski arranged for his tombstone to read simply,"Don't try." Acceptance or surrender? Maybe a bit of both."
February 8, 2018
Muy buena y muy clara introducción al #existencialismo para cualquier profano en el tema. Me está sirviendo para ordenar ideas sobre los existencialistas y su filosofía que tenía deshilvanadas de lecturas hechas desde la adolescencia. El significado de la muerte de Dios, como la muerte de todos los sistemas explicativos totales ha sido revelador; el papel de la angustia o la ansiedad, que viene a ser como el Morfeo de Matrix que nos impulsa a desautomatizar nuestra matriz sociocultural de origen y tener que vivir peligrosamente, frente al absurdo y el sinsentido, pero como individuos libres y responsables, creadores de su propio destino, es otro punto interesante. La revisión histórica de autores, obras de ficción y ensayo, la influencia del existencialismo en política, cultura y psicología es otro añadido de interés en este libro. Muy recomendado.
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