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Single Idea 19604

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 3. Angst ]

Full Idea

Whereas all beings have their place in nature, man remains a metaphysically straying creature, lost in Life, a stranger to the Creation.

Gist of Idea

Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature

Source

E.M. Cioran (A Short History of Decay [1949], 1 'The Indirect5')

Book Ref

Cioran,E.M.: 'A Short History of Decay', ed/tr. Howard,Richard [Penguin 2010], p.27

A Reaction

Nice challenge to the Aristotelian idea that we can identify the nature and function of man, and derive an ethics from it. This idea seems to state the essence of existentialism, perhaps better than anything in Sartre. We should have stayed in Africa?

Related Ideas

Idea 12281 Man is intrinsically a civilized animal [Aristotle]

Idea 3843 There is no human nature [Sartre]

The 18 ideas with the same theme [life permeated by insecurities and meaninglessness]:

20732 If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal]
22029 Irony is the response to conflicts of involvement and attachment [Schlegel,F, by Pinkard]
22096 Anxiety is not a passing mood, but a response to human freedom [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
22097 The ultimate in life is learning to be anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
21909 Ultimate knowledge is being anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
20758 Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom [Kierkegaard]
7078 The freedom of the subject means the collapse of moral certainty [Nietzsche, by Critchley]
2876 The thought of suicide is a great reassurance on bad nights [Nietzsche]
21952 Anxiety about death frees me to live my own life [Heidegger, by Wrathall]
22224 Anxiety is the uncanniness felt when constantly fleeing from asserting one's own freedom [Heidegger, by Caputo]
22165 Anxiety reveals the possibility and individuality of Dasein [Heidegger]
20755 Fear concerns the world, but 'anguish' comes from confronting my self [Sartre]
19604 Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature [Cioran]
19606 We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor [Cioran]
19601 Life is now more dreaded than death [Cioran]
23074 In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran]
20761 If existence is absurd it can never have a meaning [Beauvoir]
20734 Anxiety, nausea, guilt and absurdity shake us up, revealing our freedom and limits [Aho]