I obviously study historical and dialectical materialism, but there are some others I’m interested in. I want to try to get into secular Buddhism, stoicism, existentialism, and maybe absurdism. Does anyone have suggestions on any of these subjects? (I’m already intending to read Simone De Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sarte, and the book ‘capitalism- it’s nature and replacement’ which is a synthesis of Marxism and Buddhism, but the author’s a bit of a leftcom)
For absurdism, there’s really just Albert Camus. To best understand his philosophy, I’d start with his essay The Myth of Sisyphus and if you want to read more after that, maybe his novel The Fall or essay the Rebel. If you decide to read The Stranger, I recommend reading The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud afterwards.
For existentialism, you mentioned Sartre, and I’d recommend Being and Nothingness as his most comprehensive and accessible work on the subject.
I do not have any recs for stoicism (never had a major interest in Hellenistic philosophy) or secular Buddhism unfortunately.
Personally I’m not sure if I follow any specific philosophy as a life guide or anything. I’ve read a ton of it so I think it’s mostly just a soup in my head at this point, so maybe it’s more accurate to say that the culmination of various philosophical works are what shaped my perspectives and decision-making processes. Most of the philosophy I read these days is more along the lines of queer theory, feminism, CRT, postcolonialism, etc., in other words, topics that help strengthen my understanding and conceptualization of struggle.
Thanks, I’ll add those to my reading list.
Is it worth reading ‘the myth of Sisyphus AND other essays’? In their order rather than the order you originally said?
I think you’ll be fine with just Sisyphus. It does the majority of work in conveying his core ideas
Thanks