*Forgive any formatting as I’m on mobile.
As I read in themes, I’m currently focusing on philosophy to try and understand it, see where I fit in the world and also reconstruct my own atheist/nihilistic worldview.
I just got done with Existentialist Cafe and got a really nice overview of all the main players in the Existentialist camp but want to finally take the leap into nihilism and absurdism proper. I’ve read The Stranger and Myth of Sisyphus and like Camus a lot so far but also wanna tackle Satre, Beauvoir, and Merleau-Ponty eventually but wonder if I need to read Husserl and specifically Heidegger and Nietzche since they are controversial because of their politics. Would I be able to get away with just reading synopses of their work? I do currently have Being and Time in my list of books to get.
Also, aside from Nietzche, who else should I read regarding nihilism? I’m currently working through The Trouble with Being Born by Cioran and wanna find some more by him but also have The Antidote by Burkeman and Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Ligotti in my backlog. I did read The Book by Alan Watts the other day and though it felt like reading my stoned friend’s wild ramblings on society and how we exist in it, some coherent stuff did come through. But I don’t know if it was what I was after. I did appreciate it for introducing me to some concepts like ego and self but maybe I should have saved it for another day?
Sidenote but I’m planning on moving back and force between philosophy and socialist theory so socialist philosphers are also welcome. Generally I’m open to all suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
I’m gonna come back to your comment for sources when I’m back at my computer.
I wonder if I was actually asking, regardless of them both being flashy, if it’s important as a foundation going into the rest of the existentialists, phenomonilogists, nihilists, etc. I think you answered that. I am less interested in Husserl to be honest so if skipping him is ok, then coolio.
I am eventually hoping to get to Merleau-Ponty but want to set aside a time specifically for him. I didn’t even know of him (or Beauvoir) until Existentialist Cafe and they both stood out to me.
I actually have A Short History of Decay and will probably get to it in the next 3 or so books. What I’m wanting to get from Pessimism is if “optimistic nihilism” or Absurdism is something worthy of me aiming for since I’m a pessimist and very doom and gloom as it is. Again I want a sort of foundation. I’m having a hard time accepting my own mortality and basically being a “useless lump” since society has been so harsh against my own existence so pessimism is sort of my base state. I’m trying to figure out if it’s more worth living in the absurd I think. I think that’s probably why Cioran and Camus both caught my attention. They seem 2 sides of that coin maybe?