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Single Idea 19634
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 1. Existentialism
]
Full Idea
Able to live only beyond and short of life, man is a prey to two temptation: imbecility and sanctity: sub-man and superman, never himself.
Gist of Idea
Man is never himself; he always aims at less than life, or more than life
Source
E.M. Cioran (A Short History of Decay [1949], 4 'Threat')
Book Ref
Cioran,E.M.: 'A Short History of Decay', ed/tr. Howard,Richard [Penguin 2010], p.140
A Reaction
To me, Taoism embodies imbecility, and spiritual religions embody the superman idea. [This is not Nietzsche's übermensch].
The
25 ideas
with the same theme
[key to life is freedom and self-creation]:
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7585
|
Socrates emphasises that the knower is an existing individual, with existence his main task
[Socrates, by Kierkegaard]
|
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22779
|
The good is realised freedom
[Hegel]
|
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21758
|
Humans have no fixed identity, but produce and reveal their shifting identity in history
[Hegel, by Houlgate]
|
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7579
|
While big metaphysics is complete without ethics, personal philosophy emphasises ethics
[Kierkegaard]
|
|
7581
|
Speculative philosophy loses the individual in a vast vision of humanity
[Kierkegaard]
|
|
2880
|
The greatest possibilities in man are still unexhausted
[Nietzsche]
|
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24086
|
The goal is to settle human beings, like other animals, but humans are still changeable
[Nietzsche]
|
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24080
|
We should give style to our character - by applying an artistic plan to its strengths and weaknesses
[Nietzsche]
|
|
23718
|
If we say birds of prey could become lambs, that makes them responsible for being birds of prey
[Nietzsche]
|
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20111
|
We could live more naturally, relishing the spectacle, and not thinking we are special
[Nietzsche]
|
|
7164
|
Not feeling harnessed to a system of 'ends' is a wonderful feeling of freedom
[Nietzsche]
|
|
4489
|
If faith is lost, people seek other authorities, in order to avoid the risk of willing personal goals
[Nietzsche]
|
|
20104
|
Nietzsche tried to lead a thought-provoking life
[Safranski on Nietzsche]
|
|
20318
|
My helplessness in philosophising reveals my being, and begins its upsurge
[Jaspers]
|
|
20321
|
The struggle for Existenz is between people who are equals, and are utterly honest
[Jaspers]
|
|
20325
|
Once we grasp freedom 'from' things, then freedom 'for' things becomes urgent
[Jaspers]
|
|
22166
|
Dasein has the potential to be itself, but must be shown this in the midst of ordinariness
[Heidegger]
|
|
22229
|
Existentialists says that cowards and heroes make themselves
[Sartre]
|
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19619
|
To live authentically, we must see that philosophy is totally useless
[Cioran]
|
|
19634
|
Man is never himself; he always aims at less than life, or more than life
[Cioran]
|
|
20765
|
Man is a brave naked will, separate from a background of values and realities
[Murdoch]
|
|
7677
|
Central to existentialism is the romantic idea that there is nothing to lean on
[Berlin]
|
|
6691
|
It is more plausible to say people can choose between values, than that they can create them
[Graham]
|
|
6867
|
Existentialism focuses on freedom and self-making, and insertion into the world
[Le Poidevin]
|
|
21898
|
For existentialists the present is empty without the pull of the future and weight of the past
[May]
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