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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
As we all know, Existentialism is a hard thing to define, as there are as many variations and interpretations as there are existentialists out there. Bakewell does an excellent job of filtering out the most essential aspects of this school of thought and explore all its major variants. But instead of creating a heavy book on phenomenology and existentialism, she humanizes them my mixing in the characters and anecdotes that made it happen. It starts with the trio of characters in Paris of early 1930s – Sartre, Beauvoir, and Aron. Eventually it covers in depth all the thinkers that contributed to the development of these ideas – Camus, Heidegger, Marleau-Ponty, Mardoch, and many others. This is a not an easy bunch to discuss as each of them had truly colorful lives, full of contradictions, conflicts, and complex ideas. The author makes you feel as if you are part of the gathering. It is a great way to understand one of the greatest intellectual journeys of the past century.
Český překlad místy dost skřípal (nemyslím tím filozofické pasáže, to bych si nedovolila hodnotit) použitím podivných vazeb a spojení, zvláště v začátku knihy (nebo jsem si později zkrátka zvykla). Jeden příklad za všechny: "založili manželství se třemi dětmi" myšleno že v průběhu manželství se jim narodily tři děti.
A wonderful introduction and a perfect starting point into existentialism. The work that the author has put in to research is clearly visible, and highly appreciated.
Reading this has expanded my worldview and I feel much more comfortable to start exploring philosophy, starting with Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus.
Reading this has expanded my worldview and I feel much more comfortable to start exploring philosophy, starting with Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus.
reflective
slow-paced
A lot of history only a little bit about Existentialism
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This is a fun book for anyone with any familiarity with existentialism. It's a particularly interesting read because of the way it approaches the subject. Most overviews of a philosophical movement focus on the ideas themselves, leaving out all but the briefest of biographical details. But the lives of the major thinkers in the movement were, in many cases, deeply entwined. And, even when they weren't, Bakewell's gift for biography makes reading about their personal and, in many cases, political lives part of the fun. That said, she doesn't ignore the ideas and focus only on the lives of the thinkers. Nor does she collapse one into the other. But she does point out potential linkages between the, if you will, art and lives of the philosophers in question. She also, on occasion, brings in her own autobiographical connection to key texts, which began for her--as it did for me--early in life before she circled back to them, with a deeper understanding, later.
Anyway, it's a great read. And now I have a long list of works by existentialists I've never read before, chief among them Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Anyway, it's a great read. And now I have a long list of works by existentialists I've never read before, chief among them Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
slow-paced