DE Weekly: Schrödinger’s Cat, Nausea, & Reality
Across philosophy and other mediums such as science, people have invented and relied on thought experiments to explain certain concepts and demonstrate different layers to a problem.
In quantum mechanics, one such thought experiment is “Schrödinger’s cat”.
DE Weekly: Phenomenology, Experience, & Seinfeld
Each week over the past few months, I’ve written about the “big questions” posed by the existentialists. These questions concern our existence, the essence of what makes us human, why our lives have meaning, and why these questions cause us a great deal of anxiety.
But, downstream of all these questions is what I consider “the big one”: How do we live each and every day in accordance with living a life of meaning?
DE Weekly: Hancock, Mortality, & Mystery
The old adage goes, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” That phrase was written by American founding father Benjamin Franklin.
I view only half of these certainties as truly legitimate, and that is death.
DE Weekly: Choices, Freedom, & Authenticity
“You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.”
This is a quote from Albert Camus. Like much of what Camus writes, I like it because of its simplicity. Its meaning is also twofold.
DE Weekly: Negativity, Uncertainty, & Hope
Fear and negativity are in abundance today. Uncertainty is everywhere. It seems like it’s just one thing after another. Right? That’s what we’re led to believe, at least.
Take one minute to scroll through social media, flip on the news, pick up the local paper at the newsstand (do they still have those?), and, yes, you’d think the sky is going to come crashing down tomorrow.
DE Weekly: Sartre, Hell, & No Exit
“There’s no more hope–but it’s still ‘before.’ We haven’t yet began to suffer” (Sartre 10). There have been countless memorable depictions of Hell over the millennia, but Jean-Paul Sartre’s unforgettable depiction of Hell in his play No Exit remains one of the best.
DE Weekly: Jack Symes, Panpsychism, & Consciousness
I’m constantly exposing myself to philosophical ideas that might inspire me to delve into more reading and learning. This week, I listened to two different podcasts featuring Jack Symes that did just that for me.
DE Weekly: Sartre, Being and Nothingness, & Pas Encore Vu
Besides being the preeminent existentialist philosopher, synonymous with the movement and at the forefront of its most emergent thinking, Jean-Paul Sartre also happens to be the author by whom I’ve read the most stuff (save maybe Camus).