virginia-atheist - Fwd: Meeting for Friday -- Kierkegaard's "The Present Age"

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Fwd: Meeting for Friday -- Kierkegaard's "The Present Age"

From: Rolph Jester Recto <>
To:
Subject: Fwd: Meeting for Friday -- Kierkegaard's "The Present Age"
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 20:47:38 -0500

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rolph Jester Recto <>
Date: Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 8:47 PM
Subject: Fwd: Meeting for Friday -- Kierkegaard's "The Present Age"
To: Victoria Gabriele <>

Can you forward this to the VAA listserv? Thank ye

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rolph Jester Recto <>
Date: Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 8:44 PM
Subject: Meeting for Friday -- Kierkegaard's "The Present Age"
To:

Philosophers,

Are you concerned about the lack of passion among people these days? Do you worry that we spend most of our time talking about and criticizing others, but never actually attempting to risk anything ourselves? If so, you're in good company. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard*, widely considered to be the "Father of Existentialism," had similar worries over 150 years ago. In his essay "The Present Age," he criticizes the contemporary society of his time for being merely a reflective age, "one of understanding, of reflection, devoid of passion, an age which flies into enthusiasm for a moment only to decline back into indolence."

Do you think Kierkegaard's criticisms are prescient and still relevant? Are we living in a reflective age? To discuss these questions, join us Friday, 7pm at Balz Library.

Read the excerpt from "The Present Age" here:

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/present_age.html

Here is also a supplementary essay by Berkeley philosopher Hubert Dreyfus concerning Kierkegaard's essay and the Internet, if you so desire more reading material:

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~hdreyfus/html/paper_kierkegaard.html

Concluding passionately,

Rolph

*Fun fact: "Kierkegaard" is Danish for "church yard" or "cemetery," which, considering his melancholic personality and his fierce religiosity, is quite a befitting name for our favorite Danish existentialist.

**Fun fact #2: Arcade Fire was influenced by "The Present Age" in making their new album, Reflektor. You can see echoes of Kierkegaard's concerns throughout the lyrics, especially in the title track "Reflektor" (see the lyrics here: http://rock.rapgenius.com/2191900/Arcade-fire-reflektor/In-the-reflective-age).

Rolph Recto

Class of 2016

BA in Computer Science

College of Arts and Sciences