Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning

Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004408797
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Belliotti unravels the paradoxes of human existence to reveal paths for crafting meaningful, significant, valuable, even important lives. He argues that human life is not inherently absurd; examines the implications of mortality; contrasts subjective and objective meaning, and evaluates contemporary renderings of meaningful human lives.

Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning

Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004408797
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Belliotti unravels the paradoxes of human existence to reveal paths for crafting meaningful, significant, valuable, even important lives. He argues that human life is not inherently absurd; examines the implications of mortality; contrasts subjective and objective meaning, and evaluates contemporary renderings of meaningful human lives.

Heroism and Wisdom, Italian Style

Heroism and Wisdom, Italian Style PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1683933583
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This is an interdisciplinary work that philosophically analyzes concepts such as heroism; practical wisdom; honor; Nietzsche’s notions of will to power, the overman, and the three metamorphoses; Plato’s understanding of love; creating meaning in life; the issue of morally dirty hands in political administration; the relationship between political means and ends; the proper role of positive duties in society; the aspirations of grand strivers; and the linkages between biological, biographical, and autobiographical lives, all in the context of explaining and evaluating the lives and works of fourteen historically significant Italian: Gaius Julius Caesar, Brunetto Latini, Dante Alighieri, Caterina Sforza, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Francesca Cabrini, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Antonio Gramsci, Salvatore Giuliano, Oriana Fallaci, Giovanni Falcone, and Paolo Borsellino. By dissecting the lives and philosophies of the figures discussed in this work, by extracting moral, political, and existential lessons from their aspirations and enterprises, by reflecting on their ideals from the vantage point of our divergent social context, by evaluating their virtues and vices from a wider perspective, and by confronting the conceptual puzzles and social impediments hampering the exercise of practical wisdom and heroism, we may confront the people that we are and reimagine the people we might become.

What is the Meaning of Human Life?

What is the Meaning of Human Life? PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004495991
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
This book examines core concerns of human life. What is the relationship between a meaningful life and theism? Why are some human beings radically adrift, without radical foundations, and struggling with hopelessness? Is the cosmos meaningless? Is human life akin to the ancient Myth of Sisyphus? What is the role of struggle and suffering in creating meaning? How do we discover or create value? Is happiness overrated as a goal of life? How, if at all, can we learn to die meaningfully?

The Godfather and Sicily

The Godfather and Sicily PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438484321
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
In this interdisciplinary work, Raymond Angelo Belliotti presents an interpretation of The Godfather as, among other things, a commentary on the transformation of personal identity within the Sicilian and Italian immigrant experience. The book explores both the novel and the film sequence in terms of an existential conflict between two sets of values that offer competing visions of the world: on the one hand, a nineteenth-century Sicilian perspective grounded in honor and the accumulation of power within a culturally specific family order; and on the other, a twentieth-century American perspective that celebrates individualism and commercial success. Analyzing concepts such as honor, power, will to power, respect, atonement, repentance, forgiveness, and a meaningful life, Belliotti applies these analyses to the cultural understandings transported to America by nineteenth-century Italian immigrants, casting fresh light on Old World allegiances to l'ordine della famiglia (the family order), la via vecchia (the old way), and the patriarchal ideal of uomo di pazienza (the man of patience), as well as the Sicilian code of honor. The two sets of values—Old World Sicilian and twentieth-century American—coalesce uneasily in the same cultural setting, and their conflict is irresolvable.

Italian Rebels

Italian Rebels PDF Author: Raymond A. Belliotti
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1683933702
Category : Italy
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Belliotti analyzes the role of positive duties in moral theory, the efficacy of theocratic republicanism, strategies for political revolutions, the implications of an enduring Sicilian ethos, and the profits and perils of the individual-community continuum, while distinctively interpreting the lives and ideologies of Mazzini, Gramsci, and Giuliano.

Natural Philosophy

Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Alister McGrath
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192865730
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Recovering the forgotten discipline of Natural Philosophy for the modern world This book argues for the retrieval of 'natural philosophy', a concept that faded into comparative obscurity as individual scientific disciplines became established and institutionalized. Natural philosophy was understood in the early modern period as a way of exploring the human relationship with the natural world, encompassing what would now be seen as the distinct disciplines of the natural sciences, mathematics, music, philosophy, and theology. The first part of the work represents a critical conversation with the tradition, identifying the essential characteristics of natural philosophy, particularly its emphasis on both learning about and learning from nature. After noting the factors which led to the disintegration of natural philosophy during the nineteenth century, the second part of the work sets out the reasons why natural philosophy should be retrieved, and a creative and innovative proposal for how this might be done. This draws on Karl Popper's 'Three Worlds' and Mary Midgley's notion of using multiple maps in bringing together the many aspects of the human encounter with the natural world. Such a retrieved or 're-imagined' natural philosophy is able to encourage both human attentiveness and respectfulness towards Nature, while enfolding both the desire to understand the natural world, and the need to preserve the affective, imaginative, and aesthetic aspects of the human response to nature.

The Concept of Absurdity in Existentialism

The Concept of Absurdity in Existentialism PDF Author: Vijaya Kumar
Publisher: Sobia
ISBN: 9781805453734
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Absurdity 'is a metaphysical term to distinguish thought from reality, meaning from things, word from the subject and consciousness from the world. Existential philosophy is the profound explicit manifestation of an existential attitude that begins with a sense of disorientation and confiision in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. An important component of existentialist philosophy is the portrayal o f existence as being fundamentally irrational. Whereas most philosophers have attempted to build philosophical systems that produce a rational account of reality, existentialists have focused upon the subjective, irrational character of human existence. As a consequence of the diversity of these sources, existentialist doctrines focus on several aspects of existence. The absurdity of our lives comes from the idea that there is no meaning to be found in the world beyond what meaning we give to it. This meaninglessness also accounts for the 'unfairness' of the world. Humanity must live in a world that is and will forever be hostile or indifferent towards them. The universe will never truly care for humanity the way we seem to want it to. The Absurd refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any. In this context absurd does not mean 'logically impossible, ' but rather 'humanly impossible.' It means the discrepancy between the man's aspirations and his possibilities; the lack of any ultimate external justification of man and his projects^

Coming Back to the Absurd: Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus: 80 Years On

Coming Back to the Absurd: Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus: 80 Years On PDF Author: Peter Francev
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004526765
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
A celebration of the importance and significance of The Myth of Sisyphus, this collection of essays, from some of the world’s leading Camus scholars, examines the impact on philosophy that Camus’s The Myth has had in the past 80 years.

On Being and Becoming

On Being and Becoming PDF Author: Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190913673
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
While existentialism has long been associated with Parisian Left Bank philosophers sipping cocktails in smoke-filled cafés, or with a brooding, angst-filled outlook on life, Gosetti-Ferencei shows how vital and heterogeneous the movement really was. In this concise, accessible book, Gosetti-Ferencei offers a new vision of existentialism. As she lucidly demonstrates, existentialism is a rich and diverse philosophy that encourages meaningful engagement with the world around us, offering a host of fascinating concepts that pertain to life as we experience it. The movement was as heterogeneous as it is now misunderstood, influenced by jazz music, involving diverse thinkers from around the world, challenging received ideas about the meaning of human existence. Part of the difficulty in defining existentialism is that it was never a unified philosophy, but came to identify a set of shared concerns about the meaning and possibility of human freedom, as it may be expressed in authentic choices, actions, and projects. Existentialists all explored how, in the absence of traditional reassurances about the meaning of life, we may transcend our present circumstances, and give our situation new meaning. With existentialism, concrete, lived experience of the single individual emerged from the shadow of abstract systems and long-defended traditions, and became subject-matter in its own right for philosophical inquiry. Far from solipsistic, Gosetti-Ferencei shows that existentialist attention to the human self can be intertwined with ways of conceiving the world, our being with others, the earth, and the encompassing concept of being. Fully appreciating what existentialism has to offer requires recognizing the rich diversity of its prospects, which involve not only anxiety, absurdity, awareness of death and the loss of religious meaning, but also hope, the striving for happiness, and a sense of the transcendent. On Being and Becoming unpacks this philosophical movement's insights, and reveals how its core ideas promote creative responses to the question of life's meaning.

Existentialism For Dummies

Existentialism For Dummies PDF Author: Christopher Panza
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470436891
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered what the phrase “God is dead” means? You’ll find out in Existentialism For Dummies, a handy guide to Nietzsche, Sartre, and Kierkegaard’s favorite philosophy. See how existentialist ideas have influenced everything from film and literature to world events and discover whether or not existentialism is still relevant today. You’ll find an introduction to existentialism and understand how it fits into the history of philosophy. This insightful guide will expose you to existentialism’s ideas about the absurdity of life and the ways that existentialism guides politics, solidarity, and respect for others. There’s even a section on religious existentialism. You’ll be able to reviewkey existential themes and writings. Find out how to: Trace the influence of existentialism Distinguish each philosopher’s specific ideas Explain what it means to say that “God is dead” See culture through an existentialist lens Understand the existentialist notion of time, finitude, and death Navigate the absurdity of life Master the art of individuality Complete with lists of the ten greatest existential films, ten great existential aphorisms, and ten common misconceptions about existentialism, Existentialism For Dummies is your one-stop guide to a very influential school of thought.