The Dionysian

"How so?"

I lean toward Nietzsche and the Existentialists( mainly Sartre)so I think you can see why I don't think much of Hegel.

Kantian

The existentialists were a reaction against the all-encompassing rationalist streak inherent in Hegel's philosophy, so there you have it- Hegel's philosophy led to the radical faction you admire.

I doubt Nietzsche ever read Hegel at all, given his unfamilarity with the literature.

Furthermore, Sartre borrows elements of Hegel's dialectic in his 800 pager Being and Nothingness, so it's not really that one-sided.

Kantian

Can't say i have had the honor of reading his tragedies. Which ones do you recommend? However, his philosophy was dispensed in the form of good advice. He took the problem of the divided will a step further than Plato or Aristotle, and increased the merits of Stoicism. However, i never got over the fact that he argued for poverty while being wealthy, seemed to condemn fame, but secretly courted it, and wrote letters from exile. A few quotes:
“Night brings our troubles to the light rather than banishes them.”
“No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.”
“When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.”
“Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.”
“Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.”
“Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.”
“A great step towards independence is a good-humored stomach.”
“The foremost art of kings is the power to endure hatred.”
“Whom they have injured, they also hate.”
“It is often better not to see an insult, than to avenge it.”
“Injustice never rules forever.”
“A good mind possesses a kingdom: a great fortune is a great slavery.”
“There is nothing so bitter, that a patient mind cannot find some solace for it.”
“Whatever is well said by another, is mine.”
“Failure changes for the better, success for the worse.”
“Time discovered truth.”
“Vice can be learnt, even without a teacher.”
“All cruelty springs from weakness.”
“Love of bustle is not industry.”
~transcendentalist~

The Dionysian

"The existentialists were a reaction against the all-encompassing rationalist streak inherent in Hegel's philosophy, so there you have it- Hegel's philosophy led to the radical faction you admire."

Oh yes I'm well aware.

lpetrich

However, some existentialists have been willing to write lengthy, obscure tracts worthy of Hegel himself.

The Dionysian

"However, some existentialists have been willing to write lengthy, obscure tracts worthy of Hegel himself."

Yes the existentialists should have stayed away from phenomenology.

Kantian

Oy, saith the voice of the MTV generation!

That or people are too lazy to reach the rarefied air of these philosophers by putting in the time to study and are comfortable assuming that their knowledge is the standard everything must conform to, and in some cases, be dumbed-down to. Since this is entirely unflattering, it's far easier to condemn anything ponderous and difficult as obscure.

The knowledge from an enlightened person breaks on the hard rocks of ignorance.

[Added a few more burns]

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Kantian ]</p>

Kantian

Were that the case, then Soren Kierkegaard is the only existentialist. True or false?

phaedrus

Among his works...the skit...Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii...is worth a look and so are the Epistulae morales...collection of essays on morality.

His plays (largely adaptions of Euripides)had quite an influence on the renaissance stage..including our man Shakespeare...in terms blood gore and revenge. You could pick up the mad hercules or the trojan women

The Dionysian

"Were that the case, then Soren Kierkegaard is the only existentialist. True or false?"

Well yes, but what would be the fun in existentialism if it was just Kierkegaard?