An Existentialist Theory of the Human Spirit (Volume 2): To Create and Believe... or Not

Shlomo Giora Shoham

Jul 2020 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this eBook

This second volume examines how sexual mores and behavior, religious dogma and practice, and literary creativity and authenticity have influenced and been influenced by the existentialist thought of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Nietzsche, Husserl and Buber, and the writings of Camus, Dostoevsky, Beckett, Shestov, Berdyaev and Tillich.

It compares human and cultural attributes with the attributes of pagan and monotheistic Gods, and Buddhist, Gnostic, Christian and Muslim mysticism with Jewish Kabbalah. It explains society’s harsh treatment of Vincent van Gogh and Antonin Artaud, and analyzes the existentialist approach to existence, absurdity, human dialogue, cosmology, and quantum mechanics.

It will appeal to students and professionals in fields as diverse as philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, religion, law, art, drama, literature, cosmology and physics.

About the author

Shlomo Giora Shoham studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, UK. He founded Criminology departments at Bar Ilan University and at Tel Aviv University, Israel, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. His many awards include the Israel Prize in 2003 and the EMET Prize in 2008. His publications include Art, Myth and Deviance; To Test the Limits of Our Endurance; The Genesis of Genesis; The Myth of Tantalus; The Mytho-empiricism of Gnosticism; The Bridge to Nothingness; An Existential View of Opiate Addiction and its Treatment; and The Violence of Silence.