David Foster Wallace on Why Existentialism Sucks

How did David Foster Wallace feel about the existentialists like Albert Camus? Even better, what did Wallace think of those who adopted existentialism as their main philosophy in life?
Discover over 100 of David Foster Wallace's favorite books and the three books he wrote with by his side below
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[@Khaled-em1mp]

Cmon man he only hate about it is the pretentiousness about but if u read his work it is all about existentialism

[@marcusorr7168]

Yeah man, please don't stop making videos, you convinced me to start reading man, its made me a much better person. The end of this video gave me goosebumps honestly, these conversations matter.

[@denbrah1481]

The key to higher states of consciousness is the complete destruction of self-importance. Imagine how much energy you could recoup if you realized you're not important? Destruction of the ego is incredibly difficult because if you do try and imagine its destruction then you may fall into the trap of self-pity which is another form of egotism. You should check out J. Krishnamurti "Freedom from the Known" or Carlos Castaneda books.

[@paulklee5790]

Bang on target..!

[@NeurosenkavalierEmilSinclair]

Castaneda 😩

[@heidegger101]

love what you are doing and have subscribed. I am 64 and wish I could hang out with you in real life. You are an impressive young man

[@RoguePlanetSounds]

Love your videos, man. Haven't read any of his books but I certainly plan on it soon, these are quite inspirational and worthy of ruminating on.

[@johne.nobody2946]

Hey, Write, just curious--I'm aware this is personal. Do you have AD(H)D, by chance? I do. Your output level, general mannerisms, and speech remind me of myself when on a proper dose of my meds. It is not a dig at all, just an observation and an inquiry. Hope you're taking care of yourself amidst teaching, Youtubing, and so on.

[@Elygh33]

I’m curious if the age aspect you discussed in the beginning is a “chicken or egg” scenario. Are young, listless young adults drawn to existentialism or does existentialism create the listless, lost youth?

[@Dino_Medici]

It’s extremely 50/50 lol

[@williamfrost3554]

A person would have to be unaware of their intellectual boundaries to misinterpret a philosophy this poorly, therefore, the lost youth misinterpret texts and turn them into parody, which people that are equally as lost at older ages think the parody is the truth.

[@jacksonlandry1017]

You’re a legend man. Thank you for keeping him alive

[@iuseitToo]

Really great video Ian

[@joesmith4443]

Existentialism is Philosophy what Americans believes is a ‘lifestyle’ of their excuse for instant gratification. It’s a pop culture interpretation of the philosophy not the actual philosophy. That’s what Wallace was saying it’s the American bastardization to ‘philosophy’ to make everything meanless

[@light1908]

Absolute 🔥 per usual!

[@raymondjarrell5396]

What’s your yoga channel called?

[@rowanah-see9989]

Yogadelics

[@MrUndersolo]

Stretch Unconcious

[@jtrealfunny]

I've been in it and come out of it but I wouldd say that existentialism is a luxury good; it is available to people who can afford it.

[@williamfrost3554]

What does this mean?

[@jtrealfunny]

@@williamfrost3554 Thinking about oneself existentially is something you do when you have time, security...a general lack of more pressing concerns. It's generally not a thing for poor people, certainly not subsistence people.

[@jdstubbs9535]

@@jtrealfunny not for one questioning their own mode of maintenance?

[@jtrealfunny]

@@jdstubbs9535 I lost interest in existentialism as I came to feel it wasn't a constructive way of intellectualizing the world in order to lead a better life. Where's the heart, where's the love?

[@joesmith4443]

@@jtrealfunnyYea because you’re a pragmatist. That’s the one that doesn’t get attention and which is American made. It’s the quiet rebellion and unsexy Wallace makes about someone that’s courageous. It also helps not to talk about it… to keep it close to the chest

[@blurredlenzpictures3251]

I like the channel, I don't really understand this dietary analysis you threw in there. You went to a show with an ex, and the people ate raw food and were thin. Then, years later with different perspective, you went to a place that people eat meat and yes might be douches, sorry, bros, and they were happier and perhaps more drunk but less spiritual guided and probably died of heart attacks by now because apparently vegetables = gross, and now back to DFW saying he likes existentialism but Americans aren't interested in the deeper meaning of the discussion. Learning different recipes and possibilities is one of the good things about being vegan or vegetarian. The other is staying away from the existential idea of slaughtering living things unless absolutely needed. Like on 4th of July.

[@NicolasMoran-nn4vv]

So much respect for you bro

[@allanmojica6455]

love your passion

[@TrevK0]

great video!

[@mutnazrub8180]

I was one of those teenage existentialists. I wasn't into philosophy but those accessible ideas appealed to me: things inherently lack meaning, responsibility over one's life, radical freedom, alienation and nothingness. They already lined up with my hormone-fueled pessimistic view of reality. I don't want to say that I "grew out" of it, but it's not so appealing to me anymore, especially in action (ie the French petition on AoC violations). Still, I carry around some of those ideas because they can be useful in understanding media and living as an active agent in my own life.

[@williamfrost3554]

To be clear, you were a teenager that found a philosophy it just happened to be existentialism. "To be one of those" would imply you only discovered a stereotypical fashion.

[@Collectorp123]

Existentialism says you can create your own meaning in life - in that sense, it's not necessarily negative but a very positive philosophy. The misunderstanding of it is that "nothing matter, we're all just bugs on a floating rock, etc.

[@Casper0123]

Looking from an Asian country American people love existentialism so much, part of because of how the country was built. I take existentialism in my life but when I talk about other people and society I don’t apply existentialism all the way because it doesn’t reflect realities 100% and make you blind from criticizing facts and problems .

[@CINEMARTYR]

These videos make a difference. ✌🏻

[@youngwerther35]

Man, thank you!!! You are an awesome human!! You know, the guy that save my life is dostoievski... The guy was years already his time! Beauty will save the world!

[@paulklee5790]

All philosophy is but a ladder and we know what Wittgenstein says about philosophical ladders: don’t mistake the means with the end. Existential ideas are mind tools not advice on fashion choices or life styles or political attitudes or diets and so on. Be prepared to push that particular ladder away but acknowledge it helped to to see a bit further.

[@williamfrost3554]

Thank you

[@nz3794]

What’s ur thoughts on antinatalism?

[@TonyMichaels166]

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this for awhile now.

[@AngloSaks666]

All respect to you, and good luck in everything, but this to me is a misunderstanding of what David said, and seriously at odds with how it sits in the context of the whole conversation (viewable here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3ivq4qaiZypfcU) and also seems to be discussing some manifestation of some utterly oversimplistic misinterpretation of existentialism.I don't hear him taking a shot at existentialism at all, let alone even imagining that there is such a thing as 'existentialists', and hardly anything that you talk about as being what supposedly existentialism is about and what anyone taking it seriously would think and do if they'd half understood it seems much better than the opposite of what it's about. It's an interpretation that feels like looking at a flowing river in summer, trying to get in tune with the cause of its flow and eddies, yet simply seeing a frozen slab of ice and merely paying attention to its outlines. You seem to be engaging in worthy investigations in your channel, so I'll be following, but I have the feeling that here you're forcing the subject of discussion to fit the flow of words you enjoy, instead of letting the response to it grow from its reality. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you'll teach me something. And goths as 'existentialists'?

[@mikelpelaez]

11:55 classic anarchists like kropotkin or even prohudon were far more interested in the collective

[@williamfrost3554]

Thank you. People are unaware.

[@youtubeisevil]

Well presented video and I enjoyed your insight but at least half of it is not David Foster Wallace

[@jamesgreenldn]

3:50 Freudian slip?

[@MatthewKressel]

In some parts of the US, folks say "drug" as the past tense of "drag".

[@james2529]

This is such a baffling video. You want to explore existentialism but never actually describe it or how people actually live according to those principles (almost no one does). Nor do you actually show how public policy is in anyway existentialist (it isn't). Mainly, you seem to be confusing nihilism with existentialism. You have so many assumed truths that have no basis in reality and then combine them with AP kid energy and hallucinogenic 'revelations', and then scoff when other people haven't had the same journey as you. You just come off as stunningly arrogant. Are you still bragging about reading Camus in 8th grade? I was reading similar works at the same age but i am now an adult and don't bring that up at every opportunity unbidden. I really hope you can humble yourself a bit more and add some more substantive analysis to your videos.

[@fireball43]

Yeah, he doesn’t always have well thought out takes, but that’s part of why the channel is great. I like how many topics he can cover and deciding for myself what seems good. Some people just play it too safe and I appreciate him just being unfiltered. If I posted everything I thought, I don’t doubt I would sometimes make a fool of myself.

[@williamfrost3554]

@@fireball43 Being unfiltered on things one knows is completely different than being unfiltered on matters that one knows next to nothing.

[@fireball43]

@@williamfrost3554 Your argument is embedded in my comment.

[@neoman1858]

If he’s such a drag, why have the conceit to write such a long comment?

[@williamfrost3554]

@@fireball43 I don't see how you can appreciate this.

[@kentjensen4504]

I have profound fraternal feelings for you. Actually I feel the same about so many I encounter in the comments here too.

[@danielcruz3083]

8:18 some of the realest shit felt all that came after this time stamp

[@billpoole8541]

Your videos are amazing! I wish I had you as my teacher 20 years ago. I know we are talking about Wallace here, but half way through Blood Meridian and just past the part where (beginning of chapter 10) Tobin references God speaking to him and the Kid says that he never heard that voice and Tobin's response was, "when [the voice] stops, you'll know you've heard it all your life". Just thought that dialogue was powerful between the two and it sort of embellished what you talking about in this video. I'm going to have to go back and listen to your videos on this book when I finish.

[@exili]

honestly, I think you mean well, but this flood of Wallace…humph what to say; Logorrheic

[@watcherofthewest8597]

Great videos and channel. Some folks, can develop their consciousness through meditation and study. But for the vast majority of humanity, that's never gonna happen. Religion seems to be the best system. A framework of faith and morality that guides people based on principles. Seems like we got enough evidence that it sure as hell ain't government, ideology or science and it seems like all those are a lot worse than any religion as far as providing a path for normal people. I think we are seeing now that when a culture has no religion, those religious impulses will manifest in screwed up ways.

[@asielnorton345]

I’m like this guy.

[@SesameCake]

No offense, but I don’t think you really have much of a grasp on the school of existentialism. You dismiss the entire branch of thinking that has been built and labored upon by so many integral thinkers not just in the Western philosophical canon but with ties to sundry Hellenic, Peripatetic and even as far back as the seven sages. All you did was thoughtlessly lump together strains and instances of a nihilistic trajectory in culture and act as if they SOMEHOW are spearheading existentialism. Admittedly, existentialism is such a wide berth with so many conflicting ideas that it’s hard to define and delineate what exactly constitutes it aside from the premise of ‘existence precedes essence’ that Sartre operated on. I myself am not even college-educated, though I have read Being and Nothingness, Being in Time and perhaps hundreds of generally-philosophical books on the matter, not that it makes me an expert. I’ve noticed this trend in so many of your videos. You cajole people in with a title that smacks and is redolent of clickbait, just to lure people into watching your videos, which is fine. We all need to offer some kind of morsel of something arguably divisive to provoke an audience to watch your videos - especially in this day and age of oversaturation of information, not to mention the themes and lengths of these videos. But I wish you would just preface your videos with SOME inkling of a caveat signaling that you either do not fully understand and come at a subject out of your league or whether you simply refer to your own subjective qualia of what worked for you, which is also fine. Existentialism isn't for everybody. Neither is German idealism, rational egotism, immaterialism or Neo-Platonism but at least be honest. At times, I wouldn’t blame people for thinking you’re just piggybacking off what DFW and McCarthy have to say about these matters without actually offering your own measured opinion without just writing it off as “man, existentialism is just so lame because daddy Wallace said so!” It just comes off as lazy reasoning. Though I understand why both authors are celebrated: they’re undoubtedly great but they’re no deified Gods of intellect. They were human. Though I do get why you chose them as the main priorities when it comes to a pretty comprehensive takedown to each of their styles and canon. And to those saying that existentialism is correlated with a high rate of suicide: partially true, as even Camus and his predecessor Kierkegaard argued from the ontological basis of suicide as being such a tempting option when weighed against the absurdity of the world. And didn’t DFW end his own life? Depression isn’t necessarily linked to one’s philosophy of life, though DFW did argue that a good number of mathematicians committed suicide due to a intense self-awareness. That’s why it’s important to have some axiomatic framework to apprehend these things. For instance, what you’re asserting is all prescriptive ought’s and should, not descriptive, dispassionate , e.g. “existentialism has x and y beliefs/properties’ without inserting you’re your own or Wallace’s opinion, which, as it stands was only a tiny fragment of an interview which might not reflect his beliefs. And I get it. You taught high-school kids so you’re probably used to having to reduce the hysterical complexity of world affairs, psychology and other heady topics into gestalt, simpler parts to make them better digest. But at least inform us. It wouldn’t hurt your ego.

[@blackjack5676]

im way too woo so you should help us out with a discord

[@Dino_Medici]

HE HAD THE CUP OF COFFEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

[@MatthewKressel]

Existentialism is interesting to ponder, but it leads to a kind of cynical nihilism. "Nothing matters. Everything is relative. Everything is subjective." To consciously try to create narratives against nihilism is where the true heroes are. I've been attempting that in my fiction for a good while. Anyway, I've been enjoying your vids. Thanks for making them.

[@williamfrost3554]

You are talking about being perpetually stuck in the absurd, which is the very thing existentialism seeks to solve.

[@MatthewKressel]

@@williamfrost3554 Yes, I know: "Imagine Sisyphus happy."

[@williamfrost3554]

@@MatthewKressel I have a genuine question: What is the purpose of the quote you offered?

[@jurafa]

Veganism It’s not about the best diet for humans. It’s about reducing animal suffering. One can agree or not with the ethics of it. But you need to analize it for what it is.

[@TheChurchofBreadandCheese]

David Wallace doesn't know what existentialism is it seems.

[@Thurnishaley6969]

Guarantee youve never read any of his work

[@TheChurchofBreadandCheese]

You're right I haven't hence why I said "it seems". I am basing that view of what is presented in this video. ​@@Thurnishaley6969

[@TheChurchofBreadandCheese]

Correct. Hence "it seems" meaning based on this video it seems Wallace doesn't know what Existentialism is.@@Thurnishaley6969

[@jeffrey3498]

Existentialism doesn't work because ultimately you have to surrender your free will to God; otherwise, you're just a prisoner of the finite mind: also known as "hell".

[@biznissify]

CAMUS IS NOT AN EXISTENTIALIST PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HE IS VEHEMENTLY NOT AN EXISTENTIALIST

[@williamfrost3554]

He was a playwright, literary talent, resistance writer in the 40's, [correction: journalist], and possibly curious about phenomenology.

[@osoisko1933]

Having read a lot of Camus, and a significant amount of his influences, and his contemporaries who identified as Existentialists, I'd say his Absurdism is still at the very least a close cousin if not sibling to Existentialism proper.

[@williamfrost3554]

@@osoisko1933 I suppose the speaker should have mentioned this, instead of not mentioning it. Being a cousin isn't being a brother or a sister.

[@marquesmcpeck746]

This one's a miss

[@gregwilson6636]

I want to bring people along but often the ignorance ,and selfishness of people I meet Leeds me to despair. The main reason I feel the need to live these days is to teach my teenage daughter how to survive and prosper physically, emotionally and practically. Existentialism made me a selfish prick in my 20 s. 52 now and I believe in sacrifice and charity for loves sake