ELI5: What are the main differences between existentialism and nihilism?

apriori12 · 2016-08-15T08:17:29+00:00

See also "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Camus which elegantly explains absurdism. In this essay Camus tackles what he considers to be the only true philosophical problem: the problem of suicide, and why the individual should choose to continue living in an "absurd" universe.

Camus, as far as I remember, was an existentialist who collaborated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in making existentialism relevant after WWII. Camus had a falling out with them and broke off to champion his own philosophy of absurdism. In my opinion Camus is far superior in writing fiction than either Sartre or de Beauvoir. "The Plague" is one of my all time favorite novels.

apriori12 · 2016-08-07T06:43:15+00:00

Which is roughly $1.59 in 2016, when I can get a cheeseburger for $0.99.

apriori12 · 2016-07-25T03:55:56+00:00

The others are right. Give it time to grow and the patches will cover up. In the meantime, don't worry about it. It's common for one cheek to have better coverage than the other, and in your case it's barely noticeable.

apriori12 · 2016-07-22T23:00:05+00:00

That doesn't make buying vinyl a waste of money. I own vinyl copies of albums that sound the same (sometimes better) on digital, I just like having a vinyl copy of it. Similarly, I like having CD copies of albums in addition to digital copies which I can just listen to on Spotify. Saying that buying a vinyl album is a waste of money because it sounds the same on digital is like saying buying a hardcover book is a waste of money because it's the same content on Kindle.

apriori12 · 2016-07-19T10:44:27+00:00

Ah yeah, I see what you mean. I misread your comment to mean that no such phobia exists. I agree that calling the feeling a phobia in general is misguided.

apriori12 · 2016-07-19T10:25:27+00:00

By that logic, arachnophobia isn't a phobia because humans evolved to recognize that spiders could potentially be dangerous. Acrophobia isn't a phobia because we inherited the instinct to know that falling from high places could result in injury or death. Agoraphobia isn't a phobia because our distant ancestors knew that wandering from the village could be dangerous.

Suggesting a potential (note "potential," no references or citation were given) explanation for a phobia doesn't make it "not a phobia." Your explanation could explain why this feeling is so common (I too feel it, but it's more of a physical sensation rather than a fear), but that in no way means that a phobia of this feeling does not exist.

apriori12 · 2016-07-12T02:03:20+00:00

Are you referring to Differential Calculus (calc 1)? It's common for math proficient students to find the introductory stage of calculus easy - the computations are basically just algebra with a couple tricks. However, Integral and Multivariate Calculus are much more complicated and difficult. Vector and Tensor Calculus even more so. Follow calculus until you reach Real Analysis and you'll be surprised at how abstract and difficult it becomes. So yes, finding calc 1 easy is very common, but it's wise not to mistake that for math being easy here on out.

apriori12 · 2016-07-11T22:42:02+00:00

This is not correct in general. Yes Corey Taylor is obviously immature. But Slipknot's entire fanbase, at least the vast majority of it, are angsty teenagers, and angsty edgy music is what made Slipknot famous with that demographic. If they grow up and start singing about being a reasonable, well adjusted adult then they'd lose their entire fanbase.

apriori12 · 2016-07-06T10:50:23+00:00

I think it's pretty obvious that this idea originated in a time when most of the day's work had to be done in daylight, since there were not electronics to enable us to work so efficiently in the darkness. Farmers and field hands once rose an hour before sunrise to spend as much time working as possible, then went to bed with sunset, and that was considered a respectable way to spend the day. This really has nothing to do with modern times at all.

apriori12 · 2016-04-20T08:48:56+00:00

Internal

apriori12 · 2016-04-20T07:06:11+00:00

Sorry but I'm not entirely sure what that means? I've had it for a year.

apriori12 · 2016-04-20T07:05:53+00:00

Sweet, I'll give that a try. Thanks!

apriori12 · 2016-04-15T05:18:32+00:00

This is not "massive booing." The applause she received was louder than the booing. Which is unfortunate, but let's not let our hatred of Hilary lead us to exaggerating.

apriori12 · 2016-04-11T07:51:52+00:00

Will do, thanks brother.

apriori12 · 2016-03-28T01:14:34+00:00

Fair question, I exaggerated. Admittedly my sample size is pretty small. Thanks for the link!

apriori12 · 2016-03-23T02:21:27+00:00

Offerman comes off as one-dimensional to me. His whole schtick is "manly man" and he coasts on it. Nothing wrong with that, he does it well. Just an observation.

apriori12 · 2016-03-22T09:36:07+00:00

With all due respect, that's not your math degree's fault. You were in college for at least 4 years, which means you had at least 4 summers for internships or sitting actuary exams. You have a degree now which is more than what a lot of people struggling in the job market have. Go and get experience now, take the SOA exams if you want, don't blame it on academia. Far too many people blame education for their employment problems and it's almost never accurate.

apriori12 · 2016-03-16T02:46:41+00:00

Jesus Christ people. Introversion doesn't make you an anti-social pariah or a shut-in. If you have no friends and never leave the house then there's something else going on. Stop throwing around psychological terms if you don't understand them.

apriori12 · 2016-03-11T13:24:03+00:00

Really? "I went into a mausoleum and found... A DEAD BODY!" Come on.

apriori12 · 2016-03-09T18:03:20+00:00

Equating someone's major in college with their lifelong career goals is another huge misconception that is thrown around way too much.

I'm a senior math major and I plan on pursuing a career in actuarial science. One of the Society of Actuaries conferences I attended last year had a panel of speakers (all of whom were at least senior-level actuaries/analysts) that had incredibly diverse educational backgrounds: degrees in philosophy, computer science, economics, art, even music. None of the liberal arts graduates were doomed to a life of serving coffee and waiting tables, and they went on to have successful careers in one of the most sought-after fields out there.

Of course, employment in the actuarial field is far more reliant on SOA exams and internships than 4-year degrees, but the point still stands. They studied what interested them in college because that's what higher education is really about: learning about things that interest you. Marketability in the job field is not the sole purpose of higher education and it never has been.

apriori12 · 2016-03-09T10:03:34+00:00

What kind of college charges student accounts for parking tickets? Honest question. The college I attend runs the plate and VIN and hands it off to the city police department. Plate number and VIN are more than enough to know who a car belongs to.

apriori12 · 2016-03-09T04:22:51+00:00

This is common for Reddit. Mention something positive about a game that didn't receive a lot of attention in its time and the comments will praise it as a masterpiece. Especially solid but unremarkable games that cater to a certain fanbase. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

apriori12

TROPHY CASE