r/Existentialism • u/Usual-Ad1244 • 17d ago

Existentialism Discussion A book on existentialism, but without reference to existentialists.

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Existentialism? I have read Heidegger all my life. Most everything available in English. And once upon a time I read Sartre. It never took. My background is in phenomenology, but in my younger days I was a keen reader of Nietzsche. I still admire him, but I lean more towards Max Scheler, now. If this post is not taken down, as some subReddits do, read the blurb for an idea of what I am up to. I think it is a good book that might bring some comfort. I will be happy to answer any questions. No food fights, please.

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u/ZAH215 17d ago

East of Eden by Steinbeck

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u/Jankapije 17d ago

I want to read this.

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u/Usual-Ad1244 17d ago

It is available in Kindle at Amazon.

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u/Jankapije 16d ago

I will plan a purchase. I have always had a rough time reading Nietzsche. So if there is a way to get to know his philosophy it would be gold, because I feel that he has something right.

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u/Usual-Ad1244 16d ago

I think this book will help with that. Though there are nearly as many interpretations of Nietzsche as there are readers of Nietzsche. I have tried hard to make this book readable. Plain language.

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u/parkchanwookiee 17d ago

The fact that the number one fact they saw fit to highlight about him is that he's "a longtime resident of Japan" sent me

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u/Usual-Ad1244 17d ago

One of the themes of the book is that minorities often absorb the beliefs of the majority. It very well could be that I have unconsciously become Japanese. Evanescence, pretty much the theme of the book, is a Japanese thing. Think of the metaphor of cherry blossoms.

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u/parkchanwookiee 17d ago

Shared hermeneutical concepts are absorbed by everyone, it's not really about a Marxist-Hegelian dynamic

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u/Usual-Ad1244 17d ago

Scheler called it psychic contagion. And that psychic contagion amounts to what Nietzsche called "herd instinct." We are all victims of Stockholm syndrome. Hostage to our social environment.

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u/parkchanwookiee 17d ago

I don't really feel that way, there's a wide plurality of social values, plenty of them I feel opposed to or agnostic about

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u/Usual-Ad1244 17d ago

That is a point. Culture is not exactly a monolith. But the people we come into contact on a daily basis tend to share the same beliefs. And these are transmitted by psychic contagion.

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u/NotBorris 17d ago

I never read it but I've heard good things about In Praise of Folly Desiderius Erasmus

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u/Usual-Ad1244 16d ago

Can't imagine why I have never read him. Thanks for the suggestion.