For another take on Nietzsche’s theory of truth, here’s a lecture from Prof. Robert Solomon, one of the stars of The Great Courses series. Solomon describes Nietzsche’s concept of truth as perspectivist rather than relativist. (Though, unlike Rick Roderick, Solomon is willing to concede that other Nietzsche interpreters have — rightly or wrongly — gone farther.) Solomon’s argument sources the origin Continue Reading …
Philosophical Mavericks: Pirsig, MacIntyre, Solomon, Bergmann
I made the point both on the episode and in a recent post that I thought MacIntyre to be a better model of the outsider philosopher than Pirsig. This is not a point I really want to hammer, as I like Pirsig and I don’t relish dissing someone that many of our listeners have a great appreciation for. So let Continue Reading …
Bob Solomon on Existentialism and Being and Nothingness
We’ve often name-dropped our former U. of Texas professor Bob Solomon, perhaps best known for his great original work The Passions or his appearance in the Richard Linklater film, Waking Life. For our Hegel episode, I was clutching tightly to his work explaining it: In the Spirit of Hegel. One of his central philosophical concerns was Sartre’s view of freedom Continue Reading …
Episode 4: Camus and the Absurd
Discussing Camus’s “An Absurd Reasoning” and “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942).
Does our eventual death mean that life has no meaning and we might as well end it all? Camus starts to address this question, then gets distracted and talks about a bunch of phenomenologists until he dies unreconciled. Also, let’s all push a rock up a hill and like it, okay? Plus, the fellas dwell on genius and throw down re. the Beatles, the beloved Robert C. Solomon and Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers.
End song: “My Friends” by Mark Lint and the Simulacra (2000).
Episode 4: Camus and the Absurd
Discussing Camus’s “An Absurd Reasoning” and “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942).