#whynotphilosophy

“Iya, memperumit yang sederhana,, memperumit yang selama ini dianggep sederhana,, menggugat mentalitas “ya emang gitu sih biasanya” atau “ya pokoknya gitu, nggak tau kenapa.” Semua hal dihadapkan ke dua pertanyaan: ‘apa itu?’ sama ‘kenapa begitu?’. Pada dasarnya filsafat berusaha cari jawaban sing paling mendasar. Tapi yg bikin filsafat hidup bukan karena jawaban2 sing bisa ditemukan, tapi karna proses mencarinya itu yg gak pernah berhenti. Kenapa kok gitu? Karna hidup manusia g pernah bisa tuntas dipahami. Filsafat ‘mbantu orang untuk bisa memahami sekaligus menjalani hidup sing rumit – dengan segala tetek bengeknya – ini sebagai manusia seutuhnya sing hidup ‘saat ini-di sini’. Filsafat ada karena hidup selalu perlu dan bisa dimaknai.,”

-Asal nge-crop, tapi gak asal ngomong-

WOODY ALLEN  December 1, 1935 - present born in The Bronx, New York, New York 

Non Philosopher Philosopher  Woody Allen is not a philosopher; he started out in the show business writing comedies, moving on to stand-up, plays, short stories, and writing/directing movies. I am including him in my blog because a substantial amount of his work covers existentialism, mostly in a humorous manner. He himself is an atheist and has a lot of existential views on life. He often jokes about his fear of death. Woody Allen is by far one of my favorites and a genius with his work, definitely an artist worth admiring.

Education:

studied communication & film at New York University 

briefly attended City College of New York

Comedy Works:

1950 started writing short jokes for Broadway writers Abe Burrows, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers & Peter Lind Hayes

1954-1959 joined the NBC Writer’s Development Program, The NBC Comedy hour, wrote for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, Caesar’s Hour, Candid Camera, The New Yorker, and other comedic artists 

1960-69 Allen worked as a stand-up comedian

Notable Playwright Works:

Don’t Drink the Water, 1966   

Play it Again, Sam, 1969

The Floating Lightbulb, 1981

Bullets Over Broadway, 2014

Short Stories:

Getting Even

Side Effects

Without Feathers 

Notable Filmography:

Take the Money and Run, 1969

Bananas, 1971 

Play it Again, Sam, 1972

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), 1972

Sleeper, 1973

Love and Death, 1975

Annie Hall, 1977

Manhattan, 1979

A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, 1882

Broadway Danny Rose, 1984

Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1989

Match Point, 2005

Vicky Christina Barcelona, 2008

Midnight in Paris, 2011

To Rome, With Love, 2012

Blue Jasmine, 2013

Further Reading: Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen#Theatre_works

IMDb http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000095/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Film Documentaries: Woody Allen: A Documentary Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvzULP5CuCQ

Woody Allen: A Documentary Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydkJLPWbKzY

Simone Weil February 3, 1909 - August 24, 1943 born in Paris, France & died in Ashford, United Kingdom 

Education:

1928 received certificate in General Philosophy & Logic at the Ecole Normale Superieure

1931 received her agregation diploma at the Ecole Normale Superieure

Popular Works: Gravity and Grace, 1952 The Need For Roots, 1954

Ideas: 

suffering is when one is most in touch with what is real

humiliation, degradation, slavery, sin & error are the experiences that humans most value

God has left the world after creating it to give people freedom

Uncreation: one’s attempt to purify oneself by withdrawing completely from the world because that is where God is

there is a perfect realm outside any sphere that is inaccessible to human faculty & a corresponding realm in one’s heart

we are tied to absolute good through our hearts & that is how good is entered into this world

Further Listening/Viewing: Simone Weil: Her Life & Philosophy by Wes Cecil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL_QEulh8_U

Ludwig Wittgenstein  April 26, 1889 - April 29, 1951 born in Vienna, Austria died in Cambridge, United Kingdom 

Education:

1906 engineering at Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg, Berlin 

1908 engineering doctrine at Victoria University of Manchester 

1911 University of Cambridge to study under Bertrand Russell 

Popular Works: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1961

works put together from his notes: The Blue and Brown Books, 1969 On Certainty, 1979

Ideas:

any philosophy you can’t live is wrong 

the form of language, not it content, is what allows something to be true or false

The Verification Principle of Logic: if you can get your picture of reality to line up with reality itself then it is true

what is dishonest is quiet, say nothing except what can be said, i.e. the proposition of natural science

meanings aren’t always related to causes: you cannot dismantle things into component parts & say behind every statement there is meaning, what you see in the world is what you get

Formalism: it works because it works, not because it means anything, their existence is their justification, there is no transcendental truth

people have a variable response to everything, the world contains all uncontrolled variables

live to embody what you believe 

Further Reading: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/wittgens/#H11

Fredrich Nietzsche October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900 born in Rocken, Germany died in Weimar, Germany 

Education:

studied Religion & Greek & Roman Classics

studied Greek & Language at the university until he was given a job as a professor without having to complete his degree 

Popular Works: The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, 1872 Human, All Too Human, 1878-80 Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883-85 On he Genealogy of Morality, 1887   Twilight of the Idols, 1888 

Ideas:

God is dead

Dionysian & Apollonian, finding balance of the two

Slave Mentality is poison to the soul 

suffering is necessary, suffering is human

without agon there is no challenge 

notion of shaming people is not our right, not the government’s right

Eternal Recurrence, time is a flat circle, a test of one’s character  

Further Reading: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch/#H9

Further Listening/Viewing: Fredrich Nietzsche’s Life and Philosophy by Wes Cecil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1J7OoErWvs

Time is a Flat Circle? 8 bit Philosophy by WIsecrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6esRZLAR1Q

Jean-Paul Sartre  June 21, 1905 - April 15, 1980 born & died in Paris, France

I was around 21 years old whenever I picked up a copy of Sartre’s novel Nausea. I actually had experts from the novel read to me by a cute boy during a night of drinking, and perhaps it was the wine but Sartre’s words immediately resonated with my own feelings of being sick with my existence.  I read the novel for myself and was infatuated. Sartre’s existentialist ideas on the human condition are brilliantly relatable to anyone who has ever contemplated and/or tried to discover the emptiness that comes with realizing you are the creator of your own choices and meaning.  As I stated in my previous post, Sartre was romantically involved with Simone de Beauvoir. They’re unorthodox relationship was an influence and start to their existential beings.  They were not monogamous and both agreed to continue living apart and never marrying. Sartre contributed greatly to the Western Philosophy of the 20th century. I hope you all fancy his work as much as I do.

Education:

received a degree in philosophy at the Ecole Normale Superieure

1st place in philosophy aregation exam 

Popular Works:

The Transcendence of the Ego, 1936 Nausea, 1939 Being and Nothingness, 1943 Existentialism is a Humanism, 1946 Critique of Dialectical Reason, 1960, 1985

Ideas:

existentialism

humans come into existence with no plan or history, our being precedes our essence  

there is no meaning to life

“we get the war we deserve”

freedom comes from trying to understand yourself

imagination is one of the great powers of humanity 

one can live in dialectical materialism because it doesn’t determine you, it recreates itself 

Further Reading:

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/

Further Listening/Viewing:

Jean-Paul Sartre, His Life & Philosophy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzcPpJXkPLQ

Do We Enjoy Being Free? (Sartre) 8-bit philosophy by Wisecrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHrbeBTiO5w

Simone de Beauvoir  January 9, 1908 - April 14, 1986 born & died in Paris, France  Simone de Beauvoir is first rate, she is queen. One of the most brilliant persons I have ever had the pleasure to learn from (through books and the internet of course), Beauvoir made history in the philosophical realm with her What is Woman theories. Her eloquence emanates through all of her words, inviting one to experience her ideas in an undeniably intimate presence (perhaps more so if you are a female, not to say men cannot appreciate her work). She became romantically involved with Jean-Paul Sartre, a genius philosopher in his own work, during her studies in France, and they remained involved throughout their remaining life. Simone de Beauvoir embodies fearlessness and intelligence, therefore I have chosen her to be my first philosophical icon to share on whynotphilosophy. Enjoy! 

Education:

1925 passed baccaluareat exams for mathematics & philosophy

1926 achieved Certificates of Higher Studies in French Literature & Latin

1927 Certificates in History of Philosophy, General Philosophy, Greek & Logic

1928 Certificates in Ethics, Sociology, & Psychology 

1929  2nd place in philosophy aregation exam 

Popular Works: The Second Sex, 1949 The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947 The Mandarins, 1954 Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, 1958 The Woman Destroyed, 1967 Letters to Sartre, 1990

Ideas:

being a woman is not a natural fact, it is the result of a certain history

woman is “other”

woman is oppressed if she has no legal and economical rights

feminism brings communication between women & could change society as a whole

to be human is to be free & to be free is to make choices for yourself

only the individual can know what is right & wrong

face, accept & acknowledge the human condition 

Further Reading: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy  http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/#H1

Further Listening: Wes Cecil lectures a biography of Simone de Beauvoir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efWqbzRB-1k Why I’m a Feminist: Interview with Simone de Beauvoir  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQIm1ug3q4