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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Review of Aron 'Our Knowledge of Universals'' and 'A Philosophy of Boredom'

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4 ideas

23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
We can be unaware that we are bored [Svendsen]
     Full Idea: It is perfectly possible to be bored without being aware of the fact.
     From: Lars Svendsen (A Philosophy of Boredom [2005], Ch.1)
     A reaction: True. Also, I sometimes mistake indecision for boredom. It becomes very hard to say for certain whether you are bored. I am certain that I am bored if I am forced to do something which has no interest for me. The big one is free-but-bored.
Boredom is so radical that suicide could not overcome it; only never having existed would do it [Svendsen]
     Full Idea: Boredom is so radical that it cannot even be overcome by suicide, only by something completely impossible - not to have existed at all.
     From: Lars Svendsen (A Philosophy of Boredom [2005], Ch.1)
     A reaction: [he cites Fernando Pessoa for this] The actor George Sanders left a suicide note saying that he was just bored. A cloud of boredom is left hanging in the air where he was.
We are bored because everything comes to us fully encoded, and we want personal meaning [Svendsen]
     Full Idea: Boredom results from a lack of personal meaning, which is due to the fact that all objects and actions come to us fully encoded, while we (as descendants of Romanticism) insist on a personal meaning.
     From: Lars Svendsen (A Philosophy of Boredom [2005], Ch.2)
     A reaction: This idea justifies me categorising Boredom under Existentialism. This is an excellent idea, and perfectly captures the experience of most teenagers, for whom it is impossible to impose a personal meaning on such a vast cultural reality.
The profoundest boredom is boredom with boredom [Svendsen]
     Full Idea: In the profound form of boredom, I am bored by boredom itself.
     From: Lars Svendsen (A Philosophy of Boredom [2005], Ch.3)
     A reaction: Boredom is boring, which is why I try to avoid it. Third-level boredom is a rather enchanting idea. It sounds remarkably similar to the Buddha experiencing enlightenment.