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| existential questions to ask: Into the Wild Jon Krakauer, 2009-09-22 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die. It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order. —Entertainment Weekly McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild. Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page. |
| existential questions to ask: Philosophy for Kids David A. White, 2021-09-03 Inspire animated discussions of questions that concern kids—and all of us—with this innovative, interactive book. Open your students' minds to the wonders of philosophy. Allow them to grapple with the questions philosophers have discussed since the ancient Greeks. Questions include: “Who are your friends?,” “Can computers think?,” “Can something logical not make sense?,” and “Can you think about nothing?” Young minds will find these questions to be both entertaining and informative. If you have ever wondered about questions like these, you are well on your way to becoming a philosopher! Philosophy for Kids offers young people the opportunity to become acquainted with the wonders of philosophy. Packed with exciting activities arranged around the topics of values, knowledge, reality, and critical thinking, this book can be used individually or by the whole class. Each activity allows kids to increase their understanding of philosophical concepts and issues and enjoy themselves at the same time. In addition to learning about a challenging subject, students philosophizing in a classroom setting, as well as the casual reader of Philosophy for Kids, will sharpen their ability to think critically about these and similar questions. Experiencing the enjoyment of philosophical thought enhances a young person's appreciation for the importance of reasoning throughout the traditional curriculum of subjects. The book includes activities, teaching tips, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading. Grades 4-12 |
| existential questions to ask: Existential Physics Sabine Hossenfelder, 2022-08-09 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “An informed and entertaining guide to what science can and cannot tell us.” —The Wall Street Journal “Stimulating . . . encourage[s] readers to push past well-trod assumptions […] and have fun doing so.” —Science Magazine From renowned physicist and creator of the YouTube series “Science without the Gobbledygook,” a book that takes a no-nonsense approach to life’s biggest questions, and wrestles with what physics really says about the human condition Not only can we not currently explain the origin of the universe, it is questionable we will ever be able to explain it. The notion that there are universes within particles, or that particles are conscious, is ascientific, as is the hypothesis that our universe is a computer simulation. On the other hand, the idea that the universe itself is conscious is difficult to rule out entirely. According to Sabine Hossenfelder, it is not a coincidence that quantum entanglement and vacuum energy have become the go-to explanations of alternative healers, or that people believe their deceased grandmother is still alive because of quantum mechanics. Science and religion have the same roots, and they still tackle some of the same questions: Where do we come from? Where do we go to? How much can we know? The area of science that is closest to answering these questions is physics. Over the last century, physicists have learned a lot about which spiritual ideas are still compatible with the laws of nature. Not always, though, have they stayed on the scientific side of the debate. In this lively, thought-provoking book, Hossenfelder takes on the biggest questions in physics: Does the past still exist? Do particles think? Was the universe made for us? Has physics ruled out free will? Will we ever have a theory of everything? She lays out how far physicists are on the way to answering these questions, where the current limits are, and what questions might well remain unanswerable forever. Her book offers a no-nonsense yet entertaining take on some of the toughest riddles in existence, and will give the reader a solid grasp on what we know—and what we don’t know. |
| existential questions to ask: An Introduction to Existential Coaching Yannick Jacob, 2019-03-13 In An Introduction to Existential Coaching Yannick Jacob provides an accessible and practical overview of existential thought and its value for coaches and clients. Jacob begins with an introduction to coaching as a powerful tool for change, growth, understanding and transformation before exploring existential philosophy and how it may be integrated into coaching practice. The book goes on to examine key themes in existentialism and how they show up in the coaching space, including practical models as well as their application to organisations and leadership. Jacob concludes by evaluating ethical dimensions of working existentially and offers guidance on how to establish an existential coaching practice, including how to gain clients and build relationships with strategic partners. With reflective questions, exercises, interventions and activities throughout, An Introduction to Existential Coaching will be invaluable for anyone wanting to live and work at greater depth or to succeed as an existential coach. Accessibly written and with a wide selection of references and resources, An Introduction to Existential Coaching is a vital guide for coaches in training as well as an inspiring addition to the repertoir of experienced practitioners. It serves academics and students to understand existential philosophy and allows professionals with coaching responsibilities to access more meaningful conversations. |
| existential questions to ask: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs Chuck Klosterman, 2004-06-22 Now in paperback after six hardback printings, the damn funny...wild collection of bracingly intelligent essays about topics that aren't quite as intelligent as Chuck Klosterman'(Esquire). Following the success of Fargo Rock City, Klosterman, a senior writer at Spin magazine, is back with a hilarious and savvy manifesto for a youth gone wild on pop culture and media, taking on everything from Guns'n'Roses tribute bands to Christian fundamentalism to internet porn. 'Maddeningly smart and funny' - Washington Post' |
| existential questions to ask: Little Big Minds Marietta McCarty, 2006-12-28 A guide for parents and educators to sharing the enduring ideas of the biggest minds throughout the centuries—from Plato to Jane Addams—with the littlest minds. Children are no strangers to cruelty and courage, to love and to loss, and in this unique book teacher and educational consultant Marietta McCarty reveals that they are, in fact, natural philosophers. Drawing on a program she has honed in schools around the country over the last fifteen years, Little Big Minds guides parents and educators in introducing philosophy to K-8 children in order to develop their critical thinking, deepen their appreciation for others, and brace them for the philosophical quandaries that lurk in all of our lives, young or old. Arranged according to themes-including prejudice, compassion, and death-and featuring the work of philosophers from Plato and Socrates to the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King Jr., this step-by-step guide to teaching kids how to think philosophically is full of excellent discussion questions, teaching tips, and group exercises. |
| existential questions to ask: Square Mac Barnett, 2019-03-05 From the dream team of Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett comes the second instalment in the exciting new shape trilogy. Every day, Square brings a block out of his cave and pushes it up a steep hill. This is his work. When Circle floats by, she declares Square a genius, a sculptor! “This is a wonderful statue,” she says. “It looks just like you!” But now Circle wants a sculpture of her own, a circle! Will the genius manage to create one? Even accidentally? |
| existential questions to ask: Life's Great Question Tom Rath, 2020-02-04 Life is not what you get out of it . . . it’s what you put back in. Yet our current means for summarizing life’s work, from resumes to salaries, are devoid of what matters most. This is why the work we do is often bad for our wellbeing, when it should be making us happier and healthier. What are the most meaningful contributions we can make? This is Life’s Great Question. Life is about what you do that improves the world around you. It is about investing in the development of other people. And it is about efforts that will continue to grow when you are gone. Life’s Great Question will show you how to make your work and life more meaningful, and greatly boost your wellbeing. In this remarkably quick read, author Tom Rath describes how finding your greatest contribution is far more effective than following talent or passion alone. More than a book, each copy includes a code for an online program that identifies the most significant contributions you can make. This deeply practical book will alter how you look at your work and change the way you live each day. |
| existential questions to ask: Existential Monday Benjamin Fondane, 2016-05-17 Benjamin Fondane—who was born and educated in Romania, moved as an adult to Paris, lived for a time in Buenos Aires, where he was close to Victoria Ocampo, Jorge Luis Borges’s friend and publisher, and died in Auschwitz—was an artist and thinker who found in every limit, in every border, “a torture and a spur.” Poet, critic, man of the theater, movie director, Fondane was the most daring of the existentialists, a metaphysical anarchist, affirming individual against those great abstractions that limit human freedom—the State, History, the Law, the Idea. Existential Monday, the first selection of his philosophical work to appear in English, includes four of Fondane's most thought-provoking and important texts, Existential Monday and the Sunday of History, Preface for the Present Moment, Man Before History (co-translated by Andrew Rubens), and Boredom. Here Fondane, until now little-known except to specialists, emerges as one of the enduring French philosophers of the twentieth century. |
| existential questions to ask: Digital Existence Amanda Lagerkvist, 2018-07-20 Digital Existence: Ontology, Ethics and Transcendence in Digital Culture advances debates on digital culture and digital religion in two complementary ways. First, by focalizing the themes ‘ontology,’ ‘ethics’ and ‘transcendence,’ it builds on insights from research on digital religion in order to reframe the field and pursue an existential media analysis that further pushes beyond the mandatory focus in mainstream media studies on the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of digitalization. Second, the collection also implies a broadening of the scope of the debate in the field of media, religion and culture – and digital religion in particular – beyond ‘religion,’ to include the wider existential dimensions of digital media. It is the first volume on our digital existence in the budding field of existential media studies. |
| existential questions to ask: Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher Brandy Schillace, 2021-03-02 The “delightfully macabre” (The New York Times) true tale of a brilliant and eccentric surgeon…and his quest to transplant the human soul. In the early days of the Cold War, a spirit of desperate scientific rivalry birthed a different kind of space race: not the race to outer space that we all know, but a race to master the inner space of the human body. While surgeons on either side of the Iron Curtain competed to become the first to transplant organs like the kidney and heart, a young American neurosurgeon had an even more ambitious thought: Why not transplant the brain? Dr. Robert White was a friend to two popes and a founder of the Vatican’s Commission on Bioethics. He developed lifesaving neurosurgical techniques still used in hospitals today and was nominated for the Nobel Prize. But like Dr. Jekyll before him, Dr. White had another identity. In his lab, he was waging a battle against the limits of science and against mortality itself—working to perfect a surgery that would allow the soul to live on after the human body had died. This “fascinating” (The Wall Street Journal), “provocative” (The Washington Post) tale follows his decades-long quest into tangled matters of science, Cold War politics, and faith, revealing the complex (and often murky) ethics of experimentation and remarkable innovations that today save patients from certain death. It’s a “masterful” (Science) look at our greatest fears and our greatest hopes—and the long, strange journey from science fiction to science fact. |
| existential questions to ask: Challenging Life: Existential Questions as a Resource for Education Jari Ristiniemi, Geir Skeie, Karin Sporre, 2018 There is an increasing recognition today that young people need to have knowledge about religions and world views in order to live and work in diverse societies. What kind of 'maps' are they provided with through religious, values and ethics education? Does education address the challenging existential questions that children and adolescents ask about life and the world? This volume addresses different aspects of how existential questions have been dealt with in educational research. It especially draws attention to the Swedish research tradition of focusing on life questions and the interpretation of life in education, but with contemporary international research added. It also addresses issues of ethics education and discusses possible options for the future of existential questions as a resource for education. |
| existential questions to ask: Raising Freethinkers Dale McGowan, Molleen Matsumura, Amanda Metskas, 2009 Raising Freethinkers offers solutions to the unique challenges secular parents face and provides specific answers to common questions, as well as over 100 activities for both parents and their children. Covers every important topic nonreligious parents need to know to help their children with their own moral and intellectual development. |
| existential questions to ask: The Good Life Method Meghan Sullivan, Paul Blaschko, 2022-01-04 Two Philosophers Ask and Answer the Big Questions About the Search for Faith and Happiness For seekers of all stripes, philosophy is timeless self-care. Notre Dame philosophy professors Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko have reinvigorated this tradition in their wildly popular and influential undergraduate course “God and the Good Life,” in which they wrestle with the big questions about how to live and what makes life meaningful. Now they invite us into the classroom to work through issues like what justifies our beliefs, whether we should practice a religion and what sacrifices we should make for others—as well as to investigate what figures such as Aristotle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Iris Murdoch, and W. E. B. Du Bois have to say about how to live well. Sullivan and Blaschko do the timeless work of philosophy using real-world case studies that explore love, finance, truth, and more. In so doing, they push us to escape our own caves, ask stronger questions, explain our deepest goals, and wrestle with suffering, the nature of death, and the existence of God. Philosophers know that our “good life plan” is one that we as individuals need to be constantly and actively writing to achieve some meaningful control and sense of purpose even if the world keeps throwing surprises our way. For at least the past 2,500 years, philosophers have taught that goal-seeking is an essential part of what it is to be human—and crucially that we could find our own good life by asking better questions of ourselves and of one another. This virtue ethics approach resonates profoundly in our own moment. The Good Life Method is a winning guide to tackling the big questions of being human with the wisdom of the ages. |
| existential questions to ask: Cross-Cultural Existentialism Leah Kalmanson, 2020-09-17 Engaging in existential discourse beyond the European tradition, this book turns to Asian philosophies to reassess vital questions of life's purpose, death's imminence, and our capacity for living meaningfully in conditions of uncertainty. Inspired by the dilemmas of European existentialism, this cross-cultural study seeks concrete techniques for existential practice via the philosophies of East Asia. The investigation begins with the provocative writings of twentieth-century Korean Buddhist nun Kim Iryop, who asserts that meditative concentration conducts a potent energy outward throughout the entire karmic network, enabling the radical transformation of our shared existential conditions. Understanding her claim requires a look at East Asian sources more broadly. Considering practices as diverse as Buddhist merit-making ceremonies, Confucian/Ruist methods for self-cultivation, the ritual memorization and recitation of texts, and Yijing divination, the book concludes by advocating a speculative turn. This 'speculative existentialism' counters the suspicion toward metaphysics characteristic of twentieth-century European existential thought and, at the same time, advances a program for action. It is not a how-to guide for living, but rather a philosophical methodology that takes seriously the power of mental cultivation to transform the meaning of the life that we share. |
| existential questions to ask: The Kierkegaard Reader Søren Kierkegaard, 2001-07-05 This anthology is the first attempt to present a rounded picture of 'Kierkegaard as a philosopher' in English. After an introduction explaining how Kierkegaard viewed the task of 'becoming a philosopher', there are generous extracts from the Concept of Irony and the great pseudonymous works: Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Repetition, Philosophical Fragments, The Concept of Anxiety, Prefaces, Johannes Climacus and Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Kierkegaard's own attempts to summarize the significance of his writings are also included, so that readers have the opportunity to make up their own minds about the adequacy of his retrospective accounting. The Kierkegaard who emerges from these pages is not only a penetrating analyst of temporality, individuality, and irony, but also a lithe, witty and versatile stylist. He is probably one of the greatest writers in the philosophical tradition, and surely one of the most humorous. The anthology makes use of a range of classic translations, and includes new translations by Jane Chamberlain and Jonathan Rée, explanatory introductions, an index and a glossary. |
| existential questions to ask: American Philosophy John Kaag, 2016-10-11 The epic wisdom contained in a lost library helps the author turn his life around John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book. The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence—and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books. Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around. |
| existential questions to ask: Girls and Philosophy Richard Greene, Rachel Robison-Greene, 2014-12-09 The drama-comedy show Girls—often under-rated by being perceived as Sex and the City for the Millennial generation—has made TV history and provoked controversy for its pitilessly accurate portrayal of four oddly sympathetic twenty-something female characters, notable for their self-absorption, empathy deficits, and ineptitude with relationships. Among other breakthroughs, it is the first show to depict the sex act among the alienated young as nearly always awkward and unfulfilling. In Girls and Philosophy, a team of diverse yet always sensitive, empathic, and ept philosophers approach the world of Girls from a variety of angles and philosophical points of view. Underlying this New York world is the new reality of ambitious yet unfocused young people from comparatively advantaged backgrounds having their expectations chilled by the severe and prolonged economic recession. The writers attack many fascinating issues arising from Girls, including the meaning of authenticity in the twenty-first century, coming of age in a society with no clear guidelines for most of what matters in life,Girls as the only TV show the pop-culture-hating professor Theodor Adorno might have admired, feminist appraisals of these not-very-feminist characters and their frustrations, what the wardrobes of the four mean philosophically, how each of the four deals with the anxiety that comes from inescapable freedom, whether we need to amend the traditional list of seven deadly sins in the context of present-day New York, how the speech of the Millennials illustrates Austin’s theory of speech acts, how the learning of Hannah, Shoshanna, Jessa, and Marnie compares with the ancient Greek theory of the education of the young, and of course, why we once again find it natural to think of women in their early- to mid-twenties as ‘girls’. |
| existential questions to ask: Existential Dogs Pesala Bandara, 2021-11-11 From the depths of their existential angst, these profound pooches ask some of the most pertinent questions of their time. |
| existential questions to ask: Existential Dialogues Daniel CHECHICK, 2019-04-21 Chechik takes his unsuspecting readers on a journey throughout the human mind, from its deepest and darkest caverns to its brightest heights. In the great tradition of Platonic dialogues, the author, in his very first literary work, demonstrates surprisingly mature approach to the great questions haunting the human mind since the dawn of philosophy: the finiteness of human lives; individual's struggle with the forces of socialization; inter-generational relations; and the limits of human perceptions. Each of the dialogues in this book, between the author's adolescent and mature selves, is concluded with a thought-provoking question addressed to the readers. |
| existential questions to ask: Motherhood Sheila Heti, 2018-05-01 From the author of How Should a Person Be? (“one of the most talked-about books of the year”—Time Magazine) and the New York Times Bestseller Women in Clothes comes a daring novel about whether to have children. In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with the candor, originality, and humor that have won Heti international acclaim and made How Should A Person Be? required reading for a generation. In her late thirties, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent novel considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forbearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice. After seeking guidance from philosophy, her body, mysticism, and chance, she discovers her answer much closer to home. Motherhood is a courageous, keenly felt, and starkly original novel that will surely spark lively conversations about womanhood, parenthood, and about how—and for whom—to live. |
| existential questions to ask: Man Seeks God Eric Weiner, 2011-12-05 Bestselling author of Geography of Bliss returns with this funny, illuminating chronicle of a globe-spanning spiritual quest to find a faith that fits. When a health scare puts him in the hospital, Eric Weiner-an agnostic by default-finds himself tangling with an unexpected question, posed to him by a well-meaning nurse. Have you found your God yet? The thought of it nags him, and prods him-and ultimately launches him on a far-flung journey to do just that. Weiner, a longtime spiritual voyeur and inveterate traveler, realizes that while he has been privy to a wide range of religious practices, he's never seriously considered these concepts in his own life. Face to face with his own mortality, and spurred on by the question of what spiritual principles to impart to his young daughter, he decides to correct this omission, undertaking a worldwide exploration of religions and hoping to come, if he can, to a personal understanding of the divine. The journey that results is rich in insight, humor, and heart. Willing to do anything to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to him, he travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne. He sojourns to Turkey, where he whirls (not so well, as it turns out) with Sufi dervishes. He heads to China, where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel, where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion). At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Where do all the missing socks go? With his trademark wit and warmth, he leaves no stone unturned. At a time when more Americans than ever are choosing a new faith, and when spiritual questions loom large in the modern age, Man Seeks God presents a perspective on religion that is sure to delight, inspire, and entertain. |
| existential questions to ask: Nihilism as It Is, Being Stepniak's Pamphlets Ethel Lillian Voynich, 2008-04 Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. |
| existential questions to ask: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life James Hollis, 2005-05-05 What does it really mean to be a grown up in today’s world? We assume that once we “get it together” with the right job, marry the right person, have children, and buy a home, all is settled and well. But adulthood presents varying levels of growth, and is rarely the respite of stability we expected. Turbulent emotional shifts can take place anywhere between the age of thirty-five and seventy when we question the choices we’ve made, realize our limitations, and feel stuck—commonly known as the “midlife crisis.” Jungian psycho-analyst James Hollis believes it is only in the second half of life that we can truly come to know who we are and thus create a life that has meaning. In Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Hollis explores the ways we can grow and evolve to fully become ourselves when the traditional roles of adulthood aren’t quite working for us, revealing a new way of uncovering and embracing our authentic selves. Offering wisdom to anyone facing a career that no longer seems fulfilling, a long-term relationship that has shifted, or family transitions that raise issues of aging and mortality, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life provides a reassuring message and a crucial bridge across this critical passage of adult development. |
| existential questions to ask: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll, 2010-01-01 In 1865, English author CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON (1832-1898), aka Lewis Carroll, wrote a fantastical adventure story for the young daughters of a friend. The adventures of Alice-named for one of the little girls to whom the book was dedicated-who journeys down a rabbit hole and into a whimsical underworld realm, instantly struck a chord with the British public, and then with readers around the world. Dodgson's playfulness-with language, with mathematical puzzles, with testy creatures such as the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts-still confounds and teases lovers of fantasy fiction today. Alice acolytes continue to unravel the book's strange riddles, and constantly find new meaning in the unexpected underlying themes, from the trials of early adolescence to the value of nonsense. The conundrums and delights of Alice ensures its ongoing influence over modern pop culture. This unabridged replica edition features the original illustrations by English artist SIR JOHN TENNIEL (1820-1914), and is a treasured addition to any library. |
| existential questions to ask: The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten Julian Baggini, 2010-04-01 Is it right to eat a pig that wants to be eaten? Are you really reading this book cover, or are you in a simulation? If God is all-powerful, could he create a square circle? Here are 100 of the most intriguing thought experiments from the history of philosophy and ideas - questions to leave you inspired, informed and scratching your head, dumbfounded. |
| existential questions to ask: Camus and Sartre Ronald Aronson, 2004-01-03 Until now it has been impossible to read the full story of the relationship between Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Their dramatic rupture at the height of the Cold War, like that conflict itself, demanded those caught in its wake to take sides rather than to appreciate its tragic complexity. Now, using newly available sources, Ronald Aronson offers the first book-length account of the twentieth century's most famous friendship and its end. Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre first met in 1943, during the German occupation of France. The two became fast friends. Intellectual as well as political allies, they grew famous overnight after Paris was liberated. As playwrights, novelists, philosophers, journalists, and editors, the two seemed to be everywhere and in command of every medium in post-war France. East-West tensions would put a strain on their friendship, however, as they evolved in opposing directions and began to disagree over philosophy, the responsibilities of intellectuals, and what sorts of political changes were necessary or possible. As Camus, then Sartre adopted the mantle of public spokesperson for his side, a historic showdown seemed inevitable. Sartre embraced violence as a path to change and Camus sharply opposed it, leading to a bitter and very public falling out in 1952. They never spoke again, although they continued to disagree, in code, until Camus's death in 1960. In a remarkably nuanced and balanced account, Aronson chronicles this riveting story while demonstrating how Camus and Sartre developed first in connection with and then against each other, each keeping the other in his sights long after their break. Combining biography and intellectual history, philosophical and political passion, Camus and Sartre will fascinate anyone interested in these great writers or the world-historical issues that tore them apart. |
| existential questions to ask: The Precipice Toby Ord, 2020-03-24 This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late. Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity. An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last. A book that seems made for the present moment. —New Yorker |
| existential questions to ask: How (Not) to Be Secular James K. A. Smith, 2014-04-23 How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls your hitchhiker's guide to the present -- it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work A Secular Age and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times. Taylor's landmark book A Secular Age (2007) provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present -- a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular, making that very significant but daunting work accessible to a wide array of readers. Even more, though, Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular is a practical philosophical guidebook, a kind of how-to manual on how to live in our secular age. It ultimately offers us an adventure in self-understanding and maps out a way to get our bearings in today's secular culture, no matter who we are -- whether believers or skeptics, devout or doubting, self-assured or puzzled and confused. This is a book for any thinking person to chew on. |
| existential questions to ask: Your Rainforest Mind: A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Adults and Youth Paula Prober, 2016-06-20 Do you long to drive a Ferrari at top speed on the open road, but find yourself always stuck on the freeway during rush hour? Do you wonder how you can feel like not enough and too much at the same time? Like the rain forest, are you sometimes intense, multilayered, colorful, creative, overwhelming, highly sensitive, complex, and/or idealistic? And, like the rain forest, have you met too many chainsaws?Enter Paula Prober, M.S., M.Ed., who understands the diversity and complexity of minds like yours. In Your Rainforest Mind: A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Youths and Adults, Paula explores the challenges faced by gifted adults of all ages. Through case studies and extensive research, Paula will help you tap into your inner creativity, find peace, and discover the limitless potential that comes with your Rainforest Mind. |
| existential questions to ask: The Faith of a Heretic Walter A. Kaufmann, 2015-06-09 Originally published in 1959, The Faith of a Heretic is the most personal statement of the beliefs of Nietzsche biographer and translator Walter Kaufmann. A first-rate philosopher in his own right, Kaufmann here provides the fullest account of his views on religion. Although he considered himself a heretic, he was not immune to the wellsprings and impulses from which religion originates, declaring it among the most vital and radical expressions of the human mind. Beginning with an autobiographical prologue that traces his evolution from religious believer to heretic, the book touches on theology, organized religion, morality, suffering, and death—all examined from the perspective of a quest for honesty. Kaufmann also subjects philosophy's faith in truth, reason, and absolute morality to the same heretical treatment. The resulting exploration of the faiths of a nonbeliever in a secular age is as fresh and challenging as when it was first published. In a new foreword, Stanley Corngold vividly describes the intellectual and biographical milieu of Kaufmann’s provocative book. |
| existential questions to ask: Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, 2025-01-14 A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay Letter from Birmingham Jail, part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. Letter from Birmingham Jail proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality. |
| existential questions to ask: Struggling to Surrender Jeffrey Lang, 1995 In this book Professor Lang gives a very personal account of his search for God when he found out that his inherited religious beliefs could no longer answer his questions. A chance encounter led him to Islam. But now, how does he adapt to his new community, its beliefs and lifestyle? |
| existential questions to ask: The Compassionate Sleep Solution Eileen Henry, 2016-11-21 There are two major camps on getting children to sleep through the night. These methods are hotly debated and their oppositional forces can look like a battle scene from Game of Thrones. Arrows fly across internet camps and it all feels a bit life threatening. 1.Cry it out! - Deal breaker for many parents. 2.Do Whatever It Takes, All Day and All Night Long: To get your child the F to sleep. - Deal breaker for those of us who actually need real sleep to function in the real world. There are other more gentle approaches. These offer the much coveted NO Cry result.No cry - sorry to report - is Fantasy Island. The no cry unicorn baby is, for most of us, a mythological creature. The Compassionate Sleep Solution is a gentle, honest and realistic approach. Because in reality our children rarely have a gentle reaction to our ideas of what is best for them.Eileen Henry is one of the original sleep consultants in the U.S. After working with thousands of families for almost two decades she has developed the best method for dealing with a baby's very natural process of crying as well as the unnatural process of a parent having to listen to it. The Compassionate Sleep Solution will guide you through the process and show you the way to the following reality.Sleep is a developmental skill that all babies and toddlers can learn. Since crying can be a part of that reality, my method will teach you how to calm the cry. |
| existential questions to ask: The Life of Ramakrishna Romain Rolland, 1974 |
| existential questions to ask: Constance Matthew Fitzsimmons, 2021-09 A breakthrough in human cloning becomes one woman's waking nightmare in a mind-bending thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Gibson Vaughn series. In the near future, advances in medicine and quantum computing make human cloning a reality. For the wealthy, cheating death is the ultimate luxury. To anticloning militants, it's an abomination against nature. For young Constance Con D'Arcy, who was gifted her own clone by her late aunt, it's terrifying. After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness--stored for that inevitable transition--something goes wrong. When Con wakes up in the clinic, it's eighteen months later. Her recent memories are missing. Her original, she's told, is dead. If that's true, what does that make her? The secrets of Con's disorienting new life are buried deep. So are those of how and why she died. To uncover the truth, Con is retracing the last days she can recall, crossing paths with a detective who's just as curious. On the run, she needs someone she can trust. Because only one thing has become clear: Con is being marked for murder--all over again. |
| existential questions to ask: Alex & Me Irene Pepperberg, 2013 'A moving tribute that beautifully evokes the struggles, the initial triumphs, the setbacks, the unexpected and often stunning achievemnets . . . [while] uncovering cognitive abilities in Alex that no one believed were possible.'Publishers WeeklyOn September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were 'You be good. I love you'.What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous - two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures.The fame that resulted was extraordinary. Yet there was a side to their relationship that never made the papers. They were emotionally connected to one another. They shared a deep bond far beyond science. Alex missed Irene when she was away. He was jealous when she paid attention to other parrots, or even people. He liked to show her who was boss. He loved to dance. He sometimes became bored by the repetition of his tests, and played jokes on her. Sometimes they sniped at each other. Yet nearly every day, they each said, 'I love you'.Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin - despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to another. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond. |
| existential questions to ask: Losing My Religion Jeffrey Lang, 2004 Crucial to the vitality of any religious community is its ability to attract and engage descendants and converts. By this measure, notwithstanding the proliferation of mosques and Islamic organizations, the Muslim community in America is not doing at all well. This rather sober assessment motivates Dr. Lang to address, in this book, the alienation from the Mosque of the great majority of America's homegrown Muslims. In Losing My Religion: A Call For Help, the author comes to terms with many of the queries put to him by Americans of Muslim parentage and converts to Islam since the publication of his book Even Angels Ask in 1997. Lang asserts that to effectively respond to the general malaise of American-born Muslims, the Islamic establishment in America needs to be willing to listen to the doubts and complaints of the disaffected. This entails engaging in open discussions on issues with which many in the Muslim community will be uncomfortable, but Lang avers that such open dialogue will be of more benefit to young American Muslims struggling with their faiths than the covert and uniformed discussions that often take place or no discussion at all. In addition to examining questions of theodicy, hadith authenticity, and moot practices within the American Muslim community, the author includes many testimonials and inquiries that make this book informative. |
| existential questions to ask: Parenting Beyond Belief Dale Mcgowan, 2016 Gathering the perspectives of educators and psychologists, as well as wisdom from everyday parents, Parenting Beyond Belief offers insights and advice on a wide range of topics including instilling values, finding meaning and purpose, navigating holidays, coping with loss, finding community without religion, and more. The second edition of this secular parenting bestseller brings back reflections from such celebrated freethinkers as Richard Dawkins and Julia Sweeney, and adds new voices including journalist Wendy Thomas Russell, essayist Katherine Ozment, sociologist Phil Zuckerman, and many others -- |
| existential questions to ask: The Existential Imagination Frederick Robert Karl, Leo Hamalian, 1967 |
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of EXISTENTIAL is of, relating to, or affirming existence. How to use existential in a sentence.
EXISTENTIAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
EXISTENTIAL definition: 1. relating to a philosophy (= system of ideas) according to which the world has no meaning and…. Learn more.
The meaning of "existential" - Encyclopedia Britannica
The adjective existential is often defined as, “of, or relating to, existence.” However, as you point out, that doesn’t really explain the meaning of existential in most contexts. Let’s try another …
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Existential is an adjective meaning “relating to existence,” but what does that even mean? What does anything mean? What is our purpose in the universe? These are existential questions.
Existentialism - Wikipedia
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of …
EXISTENTIAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
You use existential to describe fear, anxiety, and other feelings that are caused by thinking about human existence and death.
Existential – Meaning & Definition - GRAMMARIST
In its most basic form, existential refers to anything about existence. But I often see it used in a philosophical context, related to existentialism, a philosophy centered on the individual, …
Existential - definition of existential by The Free Dictionary
Define existential. existential synonyms, existential pronunciation, existential translation, English dictionary definition of existential. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with existence. 2. Based on …
What does Existential mean? - Definitions.net
In a psychological context, existential refers to an existential crisis or an existential state of being. This refers to a period or mindset in which an individual experiences deep contemplation, …
existential adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and …
Definition of existential adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of EXISTENTIAL is of, relating to, or affirming existence. How to use existential in a sentence.
EXISTENTIAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
EXISTENTIAL definition: 1. relating to a philosophy (= system of ideas) according to which the world has no meaning and…. Learn more.
The meaning of "existential" - Encyclopedia Britannica
The adjective existential is often defined as, “of, or relating to, existence.” However, as you point out, that doesn’t really explain the meaning of existential in most contexts. Let’s try another …
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Existential is an adjective meaning “relating to existence,” but what does that even mean? What does anything mean? What is our purpose in the universe? These are existential questions.
Existentialism - Wikipedia
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of …
EXISTENTIAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
You use existential to describe fear, anxiety, and other feelings that are caused by thinking about human existence and death.
Existential – Meaning & Definition - GRAMMARIST
In its most basic form, existential refers to anything about existence. But I often see it used in a philosophical context, related to existentialism, a philosophy centered on the individual, …
Existential - definition of existential by The Free Dictionary
Define existential. existential synonyms, existential pronunciation, existential translation, English dictionary definition of existential. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with existence. 2. Based on …
What does Existential mean? - Definitions.net
In a psychological context, existential refers to an existential crisis or an existential state of being. This refers to a period or mindset in which an individual experiences deep contemplation, …
existential adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and …
Definition of existential adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
