Philosophy
Yesterday was the 80th birthday of one of my heroes, Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. His nickname was Mr. Sunshine and everyday he would say "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's play two." He wasn't playing in Los Angeles where everyday is a beautiful day for a ballgame, he was playing in Chicago. And it's not like the Cubs were winning, far far from it. But that was the point. Ernie Banks provided his own sunshine. Life is a joyful place, revel in it. In our success obsessed culture, it was about playing two. the point is to be playful, to love the process, life activities as an end and not a means.
We've got someone on campus today talking about existentialism, the early 20th century French movement in which life's meaninglessness gives rise to angst, anxiety, and fear. The lack of meaning puts the ultimate responsibility upon the shoulders of the individual to create his or her own meaning by acting, by doing, by unguided choices for which there are no, can be no helpful signposts. We create our own essence as an act of will. We choose to be who we decide to be by acting, by being that person. This responsibility, they argue, gives rise to intellectual trembling before its importance and emptiness.
Existentialism is dark, heavy, and brooding. Everything that is supposed to be the hallmark of a deep mind. But it seems that the embodiment of this existential being is not Camus' Sisyphus sneering at the Gods in contempt or his absurd murderer from The Stranger, but rather Mr. Sunshine. In the gray cold of early Chicago spring, he willed himself truly happy wanting to go out and possibly lose yet another double-header with his hapless Cubbies because, gosh dang it, he got to play. There is no dread in taking the field to likely be beaten yet again, instead there is playfulness, joy, and love of the game and life. THAT would be the true absurd hero.
- The Doctor Is Out: Peanuts, Intellectual Property, And Fair Use
I had a great idea. It was Hanukkah last year and the shorties had gotten gift cards from my grandparents for a national chain bookstore. Being the proto-nerds that they are, they had big plans for them. One advantage to being from a minority community...
- Existenitalism And Young Intellectuals
Why is existentialism so popular among young intellectuals? Is it that the angst and freedom appeal to people at the phase of life when they are typically angst-ridden and on their own, just starting the project of creating their adult selves? Or does...
- Albert Camus (1913-1960) And Absurdism
.?There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.?[1] The statement reveals one of the dilemmas of the philosophy of...
- Jean-paul Sartre..."in Camera" [aka "no Exit"]
New Horizons... The original name of the play in French is “Huis Clos” or In Camera, which means a private discussion going on behind closed doors, as in a legal situation when deliberation goes on before a sentence is passed. In its English translation,...
- "no Exit" Poll
In Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" is Hell a place or other people? People...3 Place...0 Existentialism, as a philosophical movement, is most dead now but many of its features including human interaction ideas are still applicable. No Exit [Wikipedia]...
Philosophy
Ernie Banks and Existentialism
Yesterday was the 80th birthday of one of my heroes, Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. His nickname was Mr. Sunshine and everyday he would say "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's play two." He wasn't playing in Los Angeles where everyday is a beautiful day for a ballgame, he was playing in Chicago. And it's not like the Cubs were winning, far far from it. But that was the point. Ernie Banks provided his own sunshine. Life is a joyful place, revel in it. In our success obsessed culture, it was about playing two. the point is to be playful, to love the process, life activities as an end and not a means.
We've got someone on campus today talking about existentialism, the early 20th century French movement in which life's meaninglessness gives rise to angst, anxiety, and fear. The lack of meaning puts the ultimate responsibility upon the shoulders of the individual to create his or her own meaning by acting, by doing, by unguided choices for which there are no, can be no helpful signposts. We create our own essence as an act of will. We choose to be who we decide to be by acting, by being that person. This responsibility, they argue, gives rise to intellectual trembling before its importance and emptiness.
Existentialism is dark, heavy, and brooding. Everything that is supposed to be the hallmark of a deep mind. But it seems that the embodiment of this existential being is not Camus' Sisyphus sneering at the Gods in contempt or his absurd murderer from The Stranger, but rather Mr. Sunshine. In the gray cold of early Chicago spring, he willed himself truly happy wanting to go out and possibly lose yet another double-header with his hapless Cubbies because, gosh dang it, he got to play. There is no dread in taking the field to likely be beaten yet again, instead there is playfulness, joy, and love of the game and life. THAT would be the true absurd hero.
- The Doctor Is Out: Peanuts, Intellectual Property, And Fair Use
I had a great idea. It was Hanukkah last year and the shorties had gotten gift cards from my grandparents for a national chain bookstore. Being the proto-nerds that they are, they had big plans for them. One advantage to being from a minority community...
- Existenitalism And Young Intellectuals
Why is existentialism so popular among young intellectuals? Is it that the angst and freedom appeal to people at the phase of life when they are typically angst-ridden and on their own, just starting the project of creating their adult selves? Or does...
- Albert Camus (1913-1960) And Absurdism
.?There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.?[1] The statement reveals one of the dilemmas of the philosophy of...
- Jean-paul Sartre..."in Camera" [aka "no Exit"]
New Horizons... The original name of the play in French is “Huis Clos” or In Camera, which means a private discussion going on behind closed doors, as in a legal situation when deliberation goes on before a sentence is passed. In its English translation,...
- "no Exit" Poll
In Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" is Hell a place or other people? People...3 Place...0 Existentialism, as a philosophical movement, is most dead now but many of its features including human interaction ideas are still applicable. No Exit [Wikipedia]...