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Articles on Existentialism

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Philosophical pessimism isn’t all doom and gloom: it’s about explaining and confronting the origins, prevalence and the ubiquity of suffering. (Shutterstock)

Stop dissing pessimism — it’s part of being human

Pessimism, as explored by the philosopher Schopenhauer, offers tools to come to terms with the idea that refusing to relentlessly pursue happiness is perhaps the most reasonable attitude.
‘Moby-Dick’ inspired the Warner Brothers film starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab – and perhaps can inspire readers today amid the climate crisis. Fox Photos/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

The lessons ‘Moby-Dick’ has for a warming world of rising waters

Melville’s epic novel about life aboard a wayward whaling ship holds lessons for the climate crisis today.
‘The Scream,’ by Edvard Munch, hand-coloured lithograph version from 1895. (Munchmuseet)

Why ‘The Scream’ has gone viral again

Artist Edvard Munch depicted despair provoked by disease in turn-of-the-century works. In these coronavirus times, his iconic image speaks to our anxieties about illness and societal collapse.
Centuries after Dante, it’s surprising to find the afterlife back, and winning awards as a successful series. Here, from left to right, actors Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, and Ted Danson. (NBC)

‘The Good Place:’ Ethics comedy asks if there’s a second chance at life

For all its fart jokes and sight gags, ‘The Good Place’ belongs to a venerable philosophical and theological tradition.
When it comes to urban planning, the question is not so much how to physically plan our cities differently. Rather, the question is how to convince both the public and our politicians to implement change. Patrick Tomasso /Unsplash

Existentialism: A guiding philosophy for tackling climate change in cities?

City planners and politicians have pitched carbon emission reduction as an individual choice but this leads to green gentrification and fails to make broad changes. We need a new guiding philosophy.
Giving, or contributing, beyond ourselves is one of the strongest predictors of happiness and health. Shutterstock/Nikki Zalewski

Happy? Consider how giving builds a life of meaning

A philosophy based on giving of ourselves to others may help us live more meaningful and fulfilling lives, while helping to bridge the extremes of our emotions and beliefs.
Sartre, Hoover and Camus. Wikimedia Commons

The US vs Sartre: what the hell is Existentialism anyway?

On 7 February 1946 we find J Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, writing a letter to “Special Agent in Charge” at the New York field office, to draw his attention to one ALBERT CANUS, who is “reportedly…
Man and superman. Wikimedia Commons

Becksistentialism: because man is a goal-seeking animal

A student came up to me after class the other day and said, “So what is this ‘Becksistentialism’ all about then?” I want to begin to answer that question by defining the negative: Sir Alex Ferguson is…

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