Author: Kiki Berk Category: Ethics, Phenomenology and Existentialism Words: 992 Do you want to be happy? If you’re like most people, then yes, you do. But what is happiness? What does it mean to be “happy”?[1] This essay discusses four major philosophical theories of happiness.[2] 1. Hedonism According to hedonism, happiness is simply the … Continue reading Happiness: What is it to be Happy?
Author: Anthony Sean Neal Category: African American Philosophy, Phenomenology and Existentialism, Historical Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Race, Ethics Word Count: 996 Race today is often presented as a social construct. But social constructions, as Black people know all too well, can create real existential crises. Philosophers of the Black Experience[1] writing during the … Continue reading African American Existentialism: DuBois, Locke, Thurman, and King
Author: Kiki Berk Category: Phenomenology and Existentialism, Ethics Word Count: 989 “Hell is other people” is a famous line from No Exit (1944), a philosophical play by the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). No Exit is popularly understood as arguing that human relationships are essentially fraught with conflict. This interpretation seems to be supported by … Continue reading “Hell Is Other People”: Sartre on Personal Relationships
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Metaphilosophy Word count: 1000 If you’ve ever wondered whether God exists, whether life has purpose, whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what makes actions right or wrong, or whether a law is fair or just, then you’ve thought about philosophy. And these are just a few philosophical topics. … Continue reading What is Philosophy?
Author: Felipe Pereira Categories: Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Phenomenology and Existentialism Word Count: 998 Many people hope to live on after death, in heaven, forever. Even those who don’t believe in heaven usually agree that an eternal life there would be better than any finite, mortal life.[1] Are they correct? Some influential philosophers have argued … Continue reading Is Immortality Desirable?
Author: Erik Van Aken Category: Phenomenology and Existentialism, Ethics Word Count: 1000 “There is only 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." – Albert Camus It might seem flippant to remark that the essential question in philosophy is … Continue reading Camus on the Absurd: The Myth of Sisyphus
Author: Justin Remhof Categories: Phenomenology and Existentialism; Philosophy of Religion; Ethics; Historical Philosophy Word Count: 985 Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for making the striking claim that God is dead. He writes, “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!” (GS 125). What does this mean? Straightforwardly, it seems nonsensical. God is supposed to be eternal, … Continue reading “God is dead”: Nietzsche and the Death of God
Author: Duncan Purves Category: Ethics, Phenomenology and Existentialism Word Count: 1000 So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for … Continue reading The Badness of Death
Author: Addison Ellis Category: Phenomenology and Existentialism, Ethics Word Count: 1000 1. Mr. Green Mr. Green is many things: a teacher, a husband, a father, a college graduate, and a medical patient, to name a few. Some of his features may be counted as accomplishments, others failures, and yet others unlucky accidents thrust upon him by … Continue reading Existentialism
