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Existentialism, Religion, and Death: Thirteen Essays
Book by Kaufmann, Walter
- GenresPhilosophyDeath
250 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1976
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About the author
Walter Kaufmann
110 books564 followersWalter Arnold Kaufmann was a German-American philosopher, translator, and poet. A prolific author, he wrote extensively on a broad range of subjects, such as authenticity and death, moral philosophy and existentialism, theism and atheism, Christianity and Judaism, as well as philosophy and literature. He served for over 30 years as a Professor at Princeton University.
He is renowned as a scholar and translator of Nietzsche. He also wrote a 1965 book on Hegel, and a translation of most of Goethe's Faust.
He is renowned as a scholar and translator of Nietzsche. He also wrote a 1965 book on Hegel, and a translation of most of Goethe's Faust.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 18, 2018
Since many of these essays were originally written as introductions to other books, this is the sort of book that makes you want to read more books. For me, this especially includes Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, and Martin Buber. Kaufmann's enlightening essays are logical and clear while also being personal and honest. I will be reading more of his works very soon!
October 19, 2024
KAUFMANN'S SECOND COLLECTION OF ESSAYS
Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1921-1980) was a German-American philosopher, translator, and poet, who taught for over 30 years at Princeton University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1976 collection, "These essays raise some important questions. This volume should advance the discussion. Some of these essays were originally written for books, and most of the rest have long been reprinted in books by others... Here they are assembled, and the new context adds to their meaning---perhaps also to their force. My first collection of essays, From Shakespeare to Existentialism (1959), consisted of twenty historical studies... the time has come for another, smaller collection. It is smaller because since that first collection appeared, I have written few essays and articles while concentrating my energies on books...
"My interest in existentialism, religion, and death was evident in the fifties and has not abated. As I am critical of existentialism and religion, this calls for an explanation... I am much less interested in metaphysics and theology than in what religions do to people---how they affect human existence. In that sense, my own ultimate concern is existential. Much of what the major religions have done to people I find quite outrageous... It is my concern with problems we share that leads me to deal with existentialism and religion again and again." He concludes on the note, "My ultimate concern can be summed up on one word: humanity."
He suggests that Gandhi's "gospel of nonviolence was flatly opposed to the most sacred traditions of his own religion. The Bhagavadgita... consists of Krishna's admonition of Arjuna, who wants to forswear war when his army is ready for battle; and Krishna, a god incarnate, insists that Arjuna should join the battle, and that every man should do his duty, with his mind on Krishna and the transitoriness of all the things of the world and not on the consequences of his actions. The soldier should soldier, realizing that, ultimately, this world is illusory and he who thinks he slays does not really slay. It would be a gross understatement to say that Gandhi owed more to Tolstoy than he did to Hinduism." (Pg. 21)
He observes that "Heidegger regresses into secularized Christianity. Heidegger is a great reactionary, as a philosopher... as a thinker he is not, compared to Nietzsche, as he himself claims, a great radical but rather a philosopher who has never overcome the Christianity on which he was brought up. He can really hardly be understood until you realize that his concept of Being is a surrogate for God, and that his preoccupation with dread and death and guilt is an attempt to secularize Christian theology. All this is remote from Nietzsche indeed." (Pg. 36)
He points out, "Our ideas and `truths'---especially in faith, morals, and politics---have an inveterate tendency to be one-sided. Even a strong dedication to bold thought experiments cannot wholly remedy this fault. What helps more than anything else is to go out of one's way to consider, with an effort at sympathy, the views of those whom we are tempted to detest. Without suspending our critical faculties, we should ask ourselves how human beings not essentially different from ourselves have come to see things that way. For the sake of truth, insight, and psychological understanding, it is important to cultivate the habit of not hating other men." (Pg. 147-148)
He argues, "Although Jesus is widely considered mankind's greatest moral teacher, the greatest Christians, not to speak of scholars, have never been able to agree what his moral teachings were... the four Evangelists agree in ascribing to Jesus evasive and equivocal answers to plain questions... and quite generally ... avoids straightforward statements, preferring parables and hyperboles. Some of the parables are so ambiguous that different Evangelists, not to speak later theologians, offer different interpretations.
"Nor have Christians ever been able to agree on the import of the hyperboles of the Sermon on the Mount... One of the few things about Jesus' moral teachings that seems fairly clear is that he was not greatly concerned about social justice. This makes his ethic much less impressive than the prophets'... Albert Schweitzer has argued... that Jesus predicated his entire message on a false belief: namely, that the world was about to an end. If Schweitzer is right, as I think he is, Jesus was surely not the wisest of men. And can we call him the greatest moralist unless we accept his radical depreciation of THIS life and his belief in Heaven and Hell?" (Pg. 156-157)
As always, Kaufmann is caustic, yet thought-provoking. His writing will appeal to a wide variety of philosophical readers (particularly those of a more skeptical temperament).
Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1921-1980) was a German-American philosopher, translator, and poet, who taught for over 30 years at Princeton University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1976 collection, "These essays raise some important questions. This volume should advance the discussion. Some of these essays were originally written for books, and most of the rest have long been reprinted in books by others... Here they are assembled, and the new context adds to their meaning---perhaps also to their force. My first collection of essays, From Shakespeare to Existentialism (1959), consisted of twenty historical studies... the time has come for another, smaller collection. It is smaller because since that first collection appeared, I have written few essays and articles while concentrating my energies on books...
"My interest in existentialism, religion, and death was evident in the fifties and has not abated. As I am critical of existentialism and religion, this calls for an explanation... I am much less interested in metaphysics and theology than in what religions do to people---how they affect human existence. In that sense, my own ultimate concern is existential. Much of what the major religions have done to people I find quite outrageous... It is my concern with problems we share that leads me to deal with existentialism and religion again and again." He concludes on the note, "My ultimate concern can be summed up on one word: humanity."
He suggests that Gandhi's "gospel of nonviolence was flatly opposed to the most sacred traditions of his own religion. The Bhagavadgita... consists of Krishna's admonition of Arjuna, who wants to forswear war when his army is ready for battle; and Krishna, a god incarnate, insists that Arjuna should join the battle, and that every man should do his duty, with his mind on Krishna and the transitoriness of all the things of the world and not on the consequences of his actions. The soldier should soldier, realizing that, ultimately, this world is illusory and he who thinks he slays does not really slay. It would be a gross understatement to say that Gandhi owed more to Tolstoy than he did to Hinduism." (Pg. 21)
He observes that "Heidegger regresses into secularized Christianity. Heidegger is a great reactionary, as a philosopher... as a thinker he is not, compared to Nietzsche, as he himself claims, a great radical but rather a philosopher who has never overcome the Christianity on which he was brought up. He can really hardly be understood until you realize that his concept of Being is a surrogate for God, and that his preoccupation with dread and death and guilt is an attempt to secularize Christian theology. All this is remote from Nietzsche indeed." (Pg. 36)
He points out, "Our ideas and `truths'---especially in faith, morals, and politics---have an inveterate tendency to be one-sided. Even a strong dedication to bold thought experiments cannot wholly remedy this fault. What helps more than anything else is to go out of one's way to consider, with an effort at sympathy, the views of those whom we are tempted to detest. Without suspending our critical faculties, we should ask ourselves how human beings not essentially different from ourselves have come to see things that way. For the sake of truth, insight, and psychological understanding, it is important to cultivate the habit of not hating other men." (Pg. 147-148)
He argues, "Although Jesus is widely considered mankind's greatest moral teacher, the greatest Christians, not to speak of scholars, have never been able to agree what his moral teachings were... the four Evangelists agree in ascribing to Jesus evasive and equivocal answers to plain questions... and quite generally ... avoids straightforward statements, preferring parables and hyperboles. Some of the parables are so ambiguous that different Evangelists, not to speak later theologians, offer different interpretations.
"Nor have Christians ever been able to agree on the import of the hyperboles of the Sermon on the Mount... One of the few things about Jesus' moral teachings that seems fairly clear is that he was not greatly concerned about social justice. This makes his ethic much less impressive than the prophets'... Albert Schweitzer has argued... that Jesus predicated his entire message on a false belief: namely, that the world was about to an end. If Schweitzer is right, as I think he is, Jesus was surely not the wisest of men. And can we call him the greatest moralist unless we accept his radical depreciation of THIS life and his belief in Heaven and Hell?" (Pg. 156-157)
As always, Kaufmann is caustic, yet thought-provoking. His writing will appeal to a wide variety of philosophical readers (particularly those of a more skeptical temperament).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews