Love the live shows. I thought of J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, where Zooey tells Franny that she doesn't even understand the Jesus Prayer, that the kingdom of heaven is carried within each of us. We all have the ability to become Christ like through small acts of love, and we're all responsible for discovering the God within us. So in a way that 800 pound gorilla is there, but feed it love and it will be your friend. I haven't read any Russian Lit. but I do agree that the religious existentialist is as Dostoevsky says, unimpeachable. Excited to take the plunge, thanks again.
I get the Strong impression that Dovskyetsky...wants us to see aspects of human nature in ourselves and to nurture more compassion or rise above it in constructive way..and ofcourse some aspects we just live with it....the entertainment in his production's...are more extreme fantasy's or projections which may draw us in...as much of course what sells...but in his case is after all "substitive"...
Nevertheless there are direct characteristics...that he himself..knew were contact types in his life such as students or "relations "and other's...is obvious...as ofcourse this breaths more life into it yet ...not condescending...he also pplaces himself in some instances..to explain how he feels alienated ..himself and whats stereotypes
What if they did an episode where they got like an anthology on African philosophy and did a few essays from that. Maybe they could have Lawrence Ware on, or someone else. I got Paragon Issues in Philosophy's "African Philosophy: The Essential Readings". One controversial essay to cover would be "African Philosophy: Myth and Reality" by the African phenomenologist and "professional philosopher" Paulin J. Hountondji who argues that African philosophy is a recent phenomenon, and that older ideas from Africa ("ethnophilosophy"), or Henri Odera Oruka's method of "African Sagacity" (where Oruka goes into villages and interviews wise men (maybe just men), and document the ones that seem philosophical (dialectical, really)), are not actually philosophy at all. There is the implication that African philosophers should borrow western ideas, and maybe not African ones. It might be worth it.
There's a good discussion of this ethno vs. "real" philosophy on Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy w/o Any Gaps. I'd like us to get to this at some point, for sure. -ML
If I am allowed to express my personal opinion: Dostoevsky is one of the most overestimated writers of all time. Really D.? What can one say about Alyosha's theological discussions with a 13 year old boy? What can one think about the ending of Brothers Karamazov, where Alyosha together with some pre-adolescent children (!) are all together cheerfully happy as they celebrate... the coming of the Last Judgement Day!... Seriously? Is this suppose to be good literature? Even a believer reader should have enormous problems with such a literary, such an artistic solution, which is not. In Dostoevsky we find always the following concept: All "good" guys get to be rewarded and all "bad" guys either commit suicide or go to prison or get crazy. Ivan Karamazov, the one that could have saved Dmitri's - his brother's - life, gets crazy one day before the court! And why? Because he is the "atheist" of the novel! Is there anything more p r e d i c t a b l e in whole literature? Do we want our literature to be predictable in that silly way? How can a healthy human mind accept this forced and totally disgusting solution? And this novel is considered by many, many, many "serious" people that read (do they actually read?) serious literature as "the best novel ever written". H o l y cow! After having read Dostoevsky's works again and again I have come to this conclusion: He is the most horrible, boring and kitsch author out there. Not even his language has anything to offer! And although I don't agree with every single critical opinion Nabokov expressed for a number of authors, I totally agree with his opinion on Dostoevsky. There are so many writers out there that are... writers! D. is at least mediocre. And please, for all of you reading this comment and thinking that I am crazy: Read D. anew; don't let yourself repeating "what the world is saying". Shape your own opinion.
@@Yuvyy3 Great. Thank you for the reply and the nice "provocative" question. I will name three authors that I come back to again and again, three authors that have never disappointed me: Homer, Plato (if you are going to read just one Plato dialogue in your life, then please read 'Gorgias') and Nikos Kazantzakis. I strongly recommend to read his 'Christ Recrucified' and after that you can explore all other novels of his, but keep also in mind his epic poem 'The Odyssey, a modern sequel'. I'm currently reading the first volume of Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' and it could be one of those profound authors and works. However it's still too soon to say. I've been very often disappointed from many so-called literary "masterpieces", so I have to read further in Proust yet to be able to shape a well-founded opinion. But it could be one of these profound literary works. He is long and he describes endlessly. Still he is an artist of words, he paints and he offers insights that are deep and, yes, profound. Not to compare Proust's writing with another "great" author, famous for his long and really intimidating descriptions (at least in my opinion), with whom I have many problems indeed: Thomas Mann. Another profound reading experience was Faulkner's 'Absalom, Absalom!" as well as McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. But do read Kazantzakis's 'Christ Recrucified' and you'll see what I mean.
Cool to see all the guys, they’ve been disembodied voices to me for a decade and now they snap immediately into real faces and particular mannerisms!
Thank you for helping breakdown this book, the concepts are hard to grasp
Love the live shows. I thought of J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, where Zooey tells Franny that she doesn't even understand the Jesus Prayer, that the kingdom of heaven is carried within each of us. We all have the ability to become Christ like through small acts of love, and we're all responsible for discovering the God within us. So in a way that 800 pound gorilla is there, but feed it love and it will be your friend. I haven't read any Russian Lit. but I do agree that the religious existentialist is as Dostoevsky says, unimpeachable. Excited to take the plunge, thanks again.
Loving life regardless of logic. Ok.
You guys should do an episode of Berzerk manga. It’s very philosophically rich.
The spiritual nature of loving all things must have been learned by the 20 year-old Dostoevsky in the gulag. And learned through his sufferings there.
I get the Strong impression that Dovskyetsky...wants us to see aspects of human nature in ourselves and to nurture more compassion or rise above it in constructive way..and ofcourse some aspects we just live with it....the entertainment in his production's...are more extreme fantasy's or projections which may draw us in...as much of course what sells...but in his case is after all "substitive"...
Nevertheless there are direct characteristics...that he himself..knew were contact types in his life such as students or "relations "and other's...is obvious...as ofcourse this breaths more life into it yet ...not condescending...he also pplaces himself in some instances..to explain how he feels alienated ..himself and whats stereotypes
What if they did an episode where they got like an anthology on African philosophy and did a few essays from that. Maybe they could have Lawrence Ware on, or someone else. I got Paragon Issues in Philosophy's "African Philosophy: The Essential Readings". One controversial essay to cover would be "African Philosophy: Myth and Reality" by the African phenomenologist and "professional philosopher" Paulin J. Hountondji who argues that African philosophy is a recent phenomenon, and that older ideas from Africa ("ethnophilosophy"), or Henri Odera Oruka's method of "African Sagacity" (where Oruka goes into villages and interviews wise men (maybe just men), and document the ones that seem philosophical (dialectical, really)), are not actually philosophy at all. There is the implication that African philosophers should borrow western ideas, and maybe not African ones. It might be worth it.
There's a good discussion of this ethno vs. "real" philosophy on Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy w/o Any Gaps. I'd like us to get to this at some point, for sure. -ML
I have yet to find a discussion on the Grand Inquisitor that is free of opinion and not dictated by perspective. Probably not possible.
Turgenev: "D. is the most evil Christian I have ever met in my life."
Not an argument.
If I am allowed to express my personal opinion: Dostoevsky is one of the most overestimated writers of all time. Really D.? What can one say about Alyosha's theological discussions with a 13 year old boy? What can one think about the ending of Brothers Karamazov, where Alyosha together with some pre-adolescent children (!) are all together cheerfully happy as they celebrate... the coming of the Last Judgement Day!... Seriously? Is this suppose to be good literature? Even a believer reader should have enormous problems with such a literary, such an artistic solution, which is not.
In Dostoevsky we find always the following concept: All "good" guys get to be rewarded and all "bad" guys either commit suicide or go to prison or get crazy. Ivan Karamazov, the one that could have saved Dmitri's - his brother's - life, gets crazy one day before the court! And why? Because he is the "atheist" of the novel! Is there anything more p r e d i c t a b l e in whole literature? Do we want our literature to be predictable in that silly way? How can a healthy human mind accept this forced and totally disgusting solution? And this novel is considered by many, many, many "serious" people that read (do they actually read?) serious literature as "the best novel ever written".
H o l y cow!
After having read Dostoevsky's works again and again I have come to this conclusion: He is the most horrible, boring and kitsch author out there. Not even his language has anything to offer! And although I don't agree with every single critical opinion Nabokov expressed for a number of authors, I totally agree with his opinion on Dostoevsky. There are so many writers out there that are... writers! D. is at least mediocre.
And please, for all of you reading this comment and thinking that I am crazy: Read D. anew; don't let yourself repeating "what the world is saying". Shape your own opinion.
Who are some of the more profound authors you would recommend?
@@Yuvyy3 Great. Thank you for the reply and the nice "provocative" question. I will name three authors that I come back to again and again, three authors that have never disappointed me: Homer, Plato (if you are going to read just one Plato dialogue in your life, then please read 'Gorgias') and Nikos Kazantzakis. I strongly recommend to read his 'Christ Recrucified' and after that you can explore all other novels of his, but keep also in mind his epic poem 'The Odyssey, a modern sequel'.
I'm currently reading the first volume of Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' and it could be one of those profound authors and works. However it's still too soon to say. I've been very often disappointed from many so-called literary "masterpieces", so I have to read further in Proust yet to be able to shape a well-founded opinion. But it could be one of these profound literary works. He is long and he describes endlessly. Still he is an artist of words, he paints
and he offers insights that are deep and, yes, profound. Not to compare Proust's writing with another "great" author, famous for his long and really intimidating descriptions (at least in my opinion), with whom I have many problems indeed: Thomas Mann.
Another profound reading experience was Faulkner's 'Absalom, Absalom!" as well as McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. But do read Kazantzakis's 'Christ Recrucified' and you'll see what I mean.