Littlevision’s Comments (group member since Mar 05, 2011)

Littlevision’s comments from the Existentialism group.

If you guys feel so compelled to respond to Feliks' comments you are welcome to, but I have removed him from the group, so he will not be able to respond here.

Cheap shots, you know. If we can converse like civil individuals we should do so. If one cannot, one can take to the forest or caves or whatnot. Or they can be gently smacked with the mighty banhammer.

Feliks, stop being a fucking ass, in so many words.

No Exit, Sartre, then? I think I have it, I'll have to look.

I have been leaning towards absurdist literature lately, so I am very interested in reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead or something similar -- short because I am in a Lit class right now and have a lot on my plate. I finished Waiting for Godot last month and loved it, so should I not have time to involve myself I recommend that one for your enjoyment anyway.

So, if something IS, something certainly appears to BE, just IS (take linear concept of gravity for example; Newtonian), it would seem - well, this is a universal concept. It is totally in line with the concept of universality, can be applied on the smallest scale from particles to the largest scale of multiverses. But even the most basic things can be questioned (thank you, Einstein).

As mentioned, something that is widely accepted is "universally believed"... but not universal. So "universal" is the modifier and belief is the thing. The idea of gravity is still a belief.

"Universal laws are" laws perceived to be universal. Perception inherently equals objectivity. If it can be perceived one way it can be perceived another.

Universality is a concept, but is anything truly universal (perfect application of the concept of universality)?

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
Crop Rotation

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
The First Love

(only in unabridged edition)

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
The Unhappiest One

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
Shadowgraphs

Unrelated.. but Jimmy, I just read that poem and really like it! Especially the first and last stanzas.

I have mixed feelings about Diapsalmata. There were some parts I like, but other parts I felt like I was reading a whiny teenage girl's diary. "My soul is like a dead sea, over which no bird can fly; when it gets halfway, it sinks down spent to its death and destruction".

One part I am still trying to understand was the part about regret. "If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both." If you're dead, how can you feel regret? Since Kierkegaard is religious maybe he believes in the afterlife. I can't help but feeling I'm missing the entire point of that spiel, however.

I did really like the bit about the clown and the end of the world.

Since I am totally new to Kierkegaard I am thinking I may need some additional reading to really understand and interpret his writings. I have 2 books from the library: Soren Kierkegaard A Biography by Joakim Garff (which looks fairly exhaustive) and Kierkegaard An Introduction by C. Stephen Evans (which looks like a much lighter read). I have also gotten the opus arte DVD of Don Giovanni (since I am not very familiar with it).

Does anybody have other recommendations of supplemental materials? Maybe I am just overreacting (or overestimating the scope of his material), as I haven't yet received my copy of Either/Or yet... but since I have committed to two months of this, I figure I should go "all the way" and really get into it. :)

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
Ancient Tragedy’s Reflection in the Modern

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
The Immediate Erotic Stages or the Musical Erotic

Discussion for
Either/Or - Part One
Diapsalmata

Stefan created this "schedule", of sorts, for those of us who need a little bit of guidance to keep on track to finish this book. (Personally I find the book a little daunting, so plan to use this schedule to help make it a more manageable read for me)

EITHER/ OR (Penguin, translated by Alastair Hannay, 1992)

Part One

WEEK 1 (Jul 1-7): 1. Diapsalmata (pp. 39-58)

WEEK 2 (Jul 8-14): 2. The Immediate Erotic Stages or the Musical Erotic (59-136)

WEEK 3 (Jul 15-21): 3. Ancient Tragedy’s Reflection in the Modern (137-162)

WEEK 4 (Jul 22-28): 4. Shadowgraphs (163-208)
5. The Unhappiest One (209-222)
(5b.) The First Love (only in the unabridged version! – Hong & Hong version, vol.1, pp. 231-280)

WEEK 5 (Jul 29-Aug 4): 6. Crop Rotation (223-242)

WEEK 6 (Aug 5-Aug 11): 7. The Seducer’s Diary (243-380)

Part Two

WEEK 7 (Aug 12-18): 8. The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage (381-474)

WEEK 8 (Aug 19-25): 9. Equilibrium between the Aesthetical and the Ethical … (475-590)

WEEK 9 (Aug 26-31): 10. Last Word & The Edifying in the Thought that Against God We Are Always in the Wrong (595-609)

Jimmy, I wish you had been teaching at the high school I went to. I have such an incredibly low tolerance for BS that I left after ninth grade. :)

I like most philosophical nonsense (and most of it IS nonsense) as long as I can follow it; not so much the long-winded hypothetical stuff though.

Jimmy, you're the best.