In the chapter, “Philosophy”:
Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
– Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety (Powell’s | Indiebound)
De Botton is quite adept at aphorisms.
The chapter on “Art” has convinced me to read Mansfield Park, which I think is the only major Austen novel that I haven’t read yet. Unfortunately, it did [...]
Not sure if this interpretation of Camus is correct. Sartre, in any case, would not have approved.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
But when I realized this, that I’d be liberated if I knew that I had to die in the next few weeks, I suddenly understood what [...]
For the record, I still think Camus’ solution to the absurd is a cop-out.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
So if any of you were waiting breathlessly to see how Camus would affirm life when one lives in the condition of the absurd, expect to be disappointed. Basically, he [...]
Well, I suppose I can provide an explanation of phenomenonology now, albeit not a concise one. There has been some progress in my education in the past five years.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
Camus has now discussed how the phenomenologists end up escaping the absurd in a [...]
It still makes me wince to realize how patronizing I sounded at almost-seventeen. I wonder if I would understand Camus better now if I were to read the essay again.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
I am still in the middle of The Myth of Sisyphus, by [...]