my talk at the historic Kingston Library this last weekend -- some great discussion with the participants about what's going on on Kafka's stories. . .

I love Kafka...glad you are on youtube.

@GregoryBSadler

8 жыл бұрын

+Jim Meyers Thanks!

I could definitely feel a Father Complex in him. Why do YOU think that Gregor turned into a monstrous insect? Dmitry.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

I don't Kafka reveals to us a WHY for the Metamorphosis. It just happens, and then they have to deal with it.

Like this video and the descriptions of these works of ''philosophy'' and modern existentialism....

Great video, was waiting for it to appear. Read some of Kafka's works; his books/stories have the rare quality of being both sad and funny at the same time. There are quite some interpretations of Kafka's work. Maybe because it's hard to identify/extrapolate his position. Personally I like one from Erich Fromm, using a radical humanist standpoint to interpret 'the process'(the trial). He seems to take the position that K. fails to listen to his own sense of morality, instead he just tries to appease the accusers. The priest even urges K. to stop it, and tells K. the court (external morality) only sees him when he decides to show up. The parable with the gate to the law can also be explained this way, like a man who is unable to reach his own morality because he fears authority. Although, just like all other interpretations, It's possible to both build a case for and against that position. Not sure if Kafka himself would agree with it, or dare to disagree openly. Nevertheless, I like it.

@GregoryBSadler

10 жыл бұрын

Yes, that sounds like typical Fromm. There are indeed myriad interpretation that have been produced of Kafka's works. I'll have some more Kafka stuff coming up this next month

@jankuiper3422

10 жыл бұрын

I'll look forward the next video's about Kafka.

@joukokulhelm6844

Жыл бұрын

I find most of the famous ones just deeply disturbing. There is some blackkest humour there yeas, but realy i think Kafka tappet right in to humankinds neurosis with his pyrokratic nighmates. Just think when he wrote those, and what happened in europe just decate or two later.

Hey, Dr. Sadler Can you name a few of the scholars and their works that you read/used while you were constructing this lecture? And also thank you for making these lectures available to just about anybody with a computer, Internet, and an interest in philosophy. It's fucking awesome!

@GregoryBSadler

7 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoy the lecture. You're asking me about a video from over two years ago. Typically, I read original sources, not a lot of secondary lit

@frankfeldman6657

3 жыл бұрын

@@GregoryBSadler Of course! And I am Marie of Romania. 😊

@GregoryBSadler

3 жыл бұрын

@@frankfeldman6657 No idea what you're on about. Probably best to stay out of older conversations

Dr Sadler I always thought that the Metamorphosis was like a microcosmic view of aspects he would later pick up in books like the Trial. It was the world in which Gregor Samsa was living, the restrictions of his enviroment that revealed itself in his transformation into this degraded or monstrous form. If Josef K had ever been given a reason for his arrest and execution it would because he was an invidual. Though he was outwardly successful. He was a part of the clockwork mechanism of his society. You always feel with Kafka that there is an allseeing eye that could see beyond the mask of ones outward persona. Perhaps K's final acceptance at the moment of his death is that we should all accept, or perhaps not accept that we are powerless but atleast come to terms with how difficult to break through these immutable laws. A little defeatist do I have it all wrong? There is the point that when he knows he is about to leave this world K is about to be executed he seems to declare though he doesn't say it you're not forcing me into this I walk freely and of myown will to the butchers blade. This can't just be acceptance that it is impossible to live and be an individual in the political/social enviroment in which he lived. Perhaps the parable truth is that he will be transformed in his ultimate sacrifice does that make sense or am I only reading what I want to read in it?

@GregoryBSadler

7 жыл бұрын

Well, I don't really buy the "Metamorphosis is like a microcosmic view" interpretation of Kafka's works myself. I think there's multiple interesting themes going on throughout his works, and that particular ones are not always present in any given portion of the work

@johnellis572

7 жыл бұрын

My point was Josef K arrested for his individuality or is there some deeper reason that I am missing. The metamorphosis is the same because his transformation into a vermin was an outward manifestation of of the restrictions of his enviroment. vermin was the same word nazis used in referance to jews? if you allow your enviroment to inhibit every aspect of your being maybe it will outwardly manifest itself into something less than a man. that sounds dumb but you know what I'm saying. The trial is richer every member of the society Josef K inhabits seems tobe a part of the same machine. for want of a better word (i'm no intellectual) the idea of nebulous other, he is never cogniscent of the fact that his judges are everywhere from the man on the street to the women he meets in desperate desire to delay the inevitable allmost all the way through the text hes adamant he will survive the trials. Does he use them or do they use him. The current theme is the father figure. I've been told his writing was a reflection was his inability to stand alone or stannd as an individual separate from his father. I would prefer to think his Kafkas' writing was a sign of the times recognition or warning of the sway of tyranny that would colour the lives of so many in the 20th century. many themes here but is there more than one way to look at his writing or is it much more simple than that?

@GregoryBSadler

7 жыл бұрын

Kafka dies in 1924, so there's really no connection to the Nazis as such on his part. You're of course free to produce whatever interpretation of Kafka's works you like - again, I don't see the Metamorphosis as the single key to his thought, which has multiple themes. If you'd like to discuss this in detail, and 1-on-1, I'd suggest booking my time in a tutorial session. If you're interested in that, here's my page for that - reasonio.wordpress.com/tutorials/

By the way: I really enjoyed the comments made by the gentle man on "Euro-centric narcissism". I like how it sparked debate, and I hope that you would have some way of thanking him for that comment. On the note on Solipsism: I hear it used often, but it seems to be used improperly. Dm.A.A.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

I'd have to try to remember who was sitting over there -- he might have been a guy who was just there for that lecture. I get a few recurring regulars, but also a lot of people coming in for just one or two lectures

@dmitryandreyev8579

9 жыл бұрын

He was in the other lectures, though.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

Well, that helps. Now I have to try to listen and remember -- once I get back from this trip

Some takes from the lecture: “You can't get there from here” is a fundamental theme in Kafka. Existentialism recognizes Free Will: you can try to get where you want and achieve your dreams. But it doesn't mean that you will actually make it or that anything will change of you do. Existentialism is definitely not about the self-made man. Solipsism is the perspective that only one person is real and everything and everyone is there to serve that person. I have complete control over my reality. However, there's no way you can treat others as persons if you hold this view. So it's a depersonalizing approach to life. Existentialists would say that reality is the product of mine and other people's choices and I don't have any control on those.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

Yes indeed

Have you ever read the Christian Existentialist Paul Tillich, and if so, what are your thoughts on him?

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

Yes, I've read Tillich. He's all right. If I had to choose between reading him and reading most other existentialists, I'd opt for the latter

Parallel between Kierkegaard and Kafka: they both were engaged but never married. Why? Was there an obstacle within them? The gate that could easily be crossed but never was? The right employee randomly met in the Herrenhof but not properly questioned (as in The Castle)? Kierkegaard would probably say it had something to do with being an “ironist” or living an aesthetic life, and not being able to give value to something such as marriage. Kafka would have probably given a different, more paradoxical explanation. But it feels like the two had much in common when it comes to internal struggles.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

Kierkegaard is pretty clear about why he broke the engagement to Regina off -- it has to do with a religious calling. For Kafka, you'll want to look at the Letter to My Father he wrote

@sg639

3 жыл бұрын

In the diaries, Kafka explained that he had a finite amount of energy, all of which he wanted channeled into his art. He stated that his being was wholly defined by and concentrated on his writing. Yet, he might have modified this view later with Dora Diamant.

This might be un an informed question but I studied art, why wasn’t Kafka considered a surrealist?

@GregoryBSadler

4 жыл бұрын

I guess because he wasn't part of that movement

@sg639

3 жыл бұрын

We can think about Kafka's work through the critical lens of psychoanalysis, which would enable us to foreground surrealistic concerns like the influence of dreams and the unconscious in unpacking the imagery. And, we might also consider the surrealistic technique of automatic writing in composition of stories like The Judgment.

I actually did not think of the Parable as being self-contradictory. The last voice seemed to equate "succeeding in Parable" with Phenomenalism and "succeeding in Life" with Nominalism.

@GregoryBSadler

9 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure I said it was contradictory. . . paradoxical, if I remember right.

@dmitryandreyev8579

9 жыл бұрын

Oh, sorry! I might have mis-attributed my own original impressions to you by subjectivisation. Paradoxical it is! Beautiful. Dm.A.A.

So, my friend tells me excitedly that he is embarking upon a lawsuit against a powerful, wealthy adversary. Advised him to cool his jets by reading The Trial; he laughed, saying that he rather continue praying fervently to an all powerful God. Then, suggested he consider reading The Castle.

@GregoryBSadler

10 жыл бұрын

I doubt either will make much of an impact. . . . but experience certainly can soften the ground for later readings

The Panda

@GregoryBSadler

10 жыл бұрын

No idea what's supposed to mean

@SidHancock3

10 жыл бұрын

The poster in the background. :P

@GregoryBSadler

10 жыл бұрын

I see. Yes, there's a panda. And balloons

@stephaniereed3248

4 жыл бұрын

That's my favorite Kafka novel!

Lady was annoying

@GregoryBSadler

4 жыл бұрын

Anything to say about the actual content of the video?