https://llcawthorne.github.io/tags/philosophy/Recent content in philosophy on Senior Software Engineer Learns Functional ProgrammingHugoen-usThu, 01 Oct 2026 16:50:00 -0400https://llcawthorne.github.io/posts/existentialism-great-courses/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:50:00 -0400https://llcawthorne.github.io/posts/existentialism-great-courses/<p>I listened to two Great Courses lecture series on existentialism, <em>No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life</em> by Robert C. Solomon and <em>Existentialism and the Authentic Life</em> by Skye C. Cleary.</p> <p><em>No Excuses</em> had a lot of lectures devoted to fictional works, more than I expected from a philosophy course. The title comes from Sartre&rsquo;s idea of Absolute Freedom, that even chained in a dungeon you&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;m 5'11&quot; and almost 50, so aspiring to that would be bad faith.</p>