Two Great Courses on Existentialism
I listened to two Great Courses lecture series on existentialism, No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life by Robert C. Solomon and Existentialism and the Authentic Life by Skye C. Cleary. No Excuses had a lot of lectures devoted to fictional works, more than I expected from a philosophy course. The title comes from Sartre’s idea of Absolute Freedom, that even chained in a dungeon you’re still free to choose your own interpretation of the facts and how you react to them. The Bad Faith concept stuck with me too, the idea that you’re acting in bad faith any time your aspirations ignore the actual facts of your situation. I could aspire to be a champion basketball player, but the facts say I’m 5'11" and almost 50, so aspiring to that would be bad faith. ...