Are there universal truths or is all truth subjective? What does it mean to be an authentic person in light of God (or in light of myself)?
If Enlightenment thinkers like Immanuel Kant were concerned with knowledge a priori (before or outside of human experience), existentialists like Søren Kierkegaard were concerned with knowledge a posteriori—what we know first are our experiences.
You’ve heard me talk about my post-college love for Kierkegaard. Every year I teach him, I am reminded why he spoke to me so much in that season of my life. (I hope something about him speaks to you too!)
- Listen to A Curious Disputation, Season 2 Ep 6
- Read Antonio, “Friedrich Nietzsche on Will to Power” (Beyond the Pale)
- Read Livingston, “Christian Existentialism”
- Watch “Existentialism: Crash Course Philosophy“
- Read Nietzsche, The Will to Power*
- Read Kierkegaard, The Concept of Dread*
- Watch a LIVE reading of Kierkegaard and the Mermaid on Thursday 7 p.m. PDT
- Turn in Existentialism Reading Response to Populi
- Guiding question for your RR: How would you describe an existentialist epistemology (i.e. theory of knowledge)? What is truth for a Christian existentialist like Kierkegaard?
- Turn in Project Proposal