This episode explores the concept of The Absurd of Camus, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky as well as the differences between these three existentialists.   

Camus defined the Absurd as: "The conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life, and the human inability to find any meaning in a purposeless, meaningless, and irrational universe, with the ‘unreasonable silence’ of the universe in response.” 

However, this world in itself is not absurd, what is absurd is our relationship with the universe, which is irrational.  He contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as Absurdism. 

Most famously expressed in The Myth of Sisyphus, which begins with the following thought-provoking statement: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.”  

Camus argued against the “leap of faith” of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky considering it as “philosophical suicide”. His response to the absurd is to revolt, which he considers as the only coherent philosophical position.

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This episode focuses on the four stoic virtues: courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. Stoicism is a philosophy most popularly associated with Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.   

The supreme goal being “living in agreement with nature”, allowing us to flow through life smoothly and with inner peace, flourishing as individuals and fulfilling our own human nature, achieving eudaimonia, commonly referred to as “happiness”, although a better translation would be “fulfilment”.

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⌛ Timestamps

There are some good reasons to believe that Nietzsche was interested in Eastern philosophy during his lifetime, especially in Buddhism and Hinduism.    

Both Hinduism and Buddhism are of interest to Nietzsche not in themselves, but as alternative positions from which to continue his attack on Christianity.    

Although Nietzsche considers these philosophies as nihilistic (wrongly), he does indicate their profundity. It seems that he studied this material closely and appreciated it greatly.  

Throughout Nietzsche’s books and notes, he refers to different aspects of Eastern philosophy on more than four hundred occasions, and in several of these he claims to be interested in it.   

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Albert Camus was a prolific French-Algerian philosopher and author who contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as Absurdism. He is also considered to be an existentialist.

This video explores his main ideas: The Absurd, Revolt and Rebellion, as well as his most notable works: The Stranger (or The Outsider), The Myth of Sisyphus, The Rebel, The Plague, and The Fall.

In the Greatest Philosophers In History series we do an in-depth exploration of the most fundamental ideas and views on life of the greatest philosophers in human history.

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Jean Paul Sartre is one of the key figures in the philosophy of Existentialism, which emphasises the existence of the individual or human subject who faces existential angst in an apparently absurd world.   

This episode explores his main ideas including: Nausea, the Absurdity of the World, Existence precedes Essence, Freedom, Bad Faith and The Look, among others.  Sartre had a great influence on many areas of modern thought. A writer of prodigious brilliance and originality. He worked in many different genres: as a philosopher, a novelist, and a cultural critic.   

Sartre is credited for revivifying and popularising Existentialism to the world after it had remained quite stagnant since the death of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.   

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As well as a philosopher, Fyodor Dostoevsky is most popularly known as a Russian novelist. His works explore human psychology in the troubled socio-political atmosphere of 19th century Russia. His novels had a great impact on psychology, especially of people who lose their reason, who are nihilistic, or who become insane or commit murder. 

He is considered as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.  His greatest novels include: Notes from The Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov.

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Søren Kierkegaard was a profound and prolific 19th century writer and philosopher in the Danish Golden Age of intellectual and artistic activity. He wrote about how we choose to live and what it means to be alive, centred in the individual or “existing being”. He is regarded as the father of Existentialism. The stress of subjectivity is one of Kierkegaard’s main contributions.  His concept of anxiety or angst is one of the most profound pre-Freudian works of psychology.

His most popular work includes the leap of faith, the concept of angst, the three stages on life (aesthetic, ethical, religious), among others.  In the Greatest Philosophers In History series we do an in-depth exploration of the most fundamental ideas and views on life of the greatest philosophers in human history.

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Soren Kierkegaard was a profound and prolific 19th century writer and philosopher in the Danish Golden Age of intellectual and artistic activity. He wrote about how we choose to live and what it means to be alive, centred in the individual or “existing being”. He is regarded as the father of Existentialism. The stress of subjectivity is one of Kierkegaard’s main contributions.  His concept of anxiety or angst is one of the most profound pre-Freudian works of psychology. 

His most popular work includes the leap of faith, the concept of angst, the three stages on life (aesthetic, ethical, religious), among others.  In the Greatest Philosophers In History series we do an in-depth exploration of the most fundamental ideas and views on life of the greatest philosophers in human history.

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In the Greatest Philosophers In History series we do an in-depth exploration of the most fundamental ideas and views on life of the greatest philosophers in human history.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher of the 19th century. He is regarded as one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy and intellectual history. He was a cultural critic of his era, of traditional European morality and religious fundamentalism, especially of Christianity.  

Nietzsche shares his views on how he wants us to perceive the world liberating ourselves from oppressive tradition. The main concepts revolve around self-overcoming, perspectivism, human nobility, the will to power, the eternal recurrence, and the overman.

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The Art of War is a book attributed to Sun Tzu, who is revered as a legendary historical military figure, as well as a philosopher, and whose real name is Sun Wu.   

“The supreme Art of War is to subdue the enemy without fighting” – Sun Tzu.  

The Art of War is not only concerned with modern warfare, but also spreads and influences the mindset of people in politics, games, and business. It presents a sort of philosophy, a state of mind or psychology for managing conflicts and winning battles. It is closely tied to the philosophy of Taoism, which follows the Tao or “The Way”.  This short book covers most elegantly the strategies that one ought to bear in mind for the defeat of the enemy.

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