Anyone have any interest in existentialism here? I do, just want to know what a good first book to read on it by Søren Kierkegaard would be. I’ve been told plenty about him, and read a bit on the web, but with so many books out by a single guy, just wanted to know where I should start.
Oh my…
Dude read “The Irrational Man” by William Barrett. Its the book for getting ANYONE into existentialism.
I would suggest The Concept Of Dread. I started reading Either/ Or and it was really confusing. Had good content but wasn’t as “existential” as I had expected from what I had heard. A collection of his writings may be the best thing to start with.
Why should I care about existentialism?
Fear and Trembling was my starting point.
I’m a big fan of Nietzsche, he’s my favorite philosopher. No easy place to start with him, but I began with Thus Spoke Zarathustra and loved it. Maybe The Genealogy of Morality or Beyond Good and Evil would be a better start?
If you’re a total newbie to existentialism, then you should probably check out the works of Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis, The Trial), Fyodor Dostoevsky (Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov), and Albert Camus (The Stranger, The Fall).
This is unrelated to the threat, but also Max Stirner? ^I supposed you’d know about him considering your profile picture.
The Myth of Sisyphus is an interesting existentialist read.
You will never watch Groundhog Day the same way again.
I’m always reminded of a particular episode of Red Dwarf (Meltdown) whenever existentialism comes up. To wit:
“RIMMER: Well, Sartre, we don’t like existentialists around here, and we certainly don’t like French philosophers poncing around in their black polo necks filling everyone’s heads with their theories about the bleakness of existence and absurdity of the cosmos, clear?”
He is certainly a forerunner to existentialism (Martin Buber pointed out Kierkagaard’s debt to him in "Between Man and Man); though, while I think “Ego” is an invaluable book (as my sig shows), I do not think it would be the best place to start for existentialism
I’m just bought The Concept of Anxiety off amazon, anyone here read it?
Thank you Conza for getting my joke on existentialism [:P]
I find its’ strong focus on free will to be intriguing.
[:(] You didn’t get my joke
…so anyone ever read The Concept of Anxiety? Is that good to start off with? Cause I just bought it.
I’m going to have a Fouad Family guy moment
It’s funny because existentialism doesn’t matter anyways
I’m a big fan of Kierkegaard myself and his influences on human psychology.
I would suggest starting with an introduction to Kierkegaard type book, then moving on to the Works of Love.
This will both be a good introduction and will make you want to read more and more, the Works of Love is highly inspirational.