The Experience of the Tragic
Vladislav Pedder, 2025
The book The Experience of the Tragic explores the fundamental tragedy of human existence through the lens of Norwegian thinker Peter Wessel Zapffe’s philosophy. At its core, it critically re-examines Zapffe’s ideas by introducing the concept of discriminating experience as an ontological foundation of reality, alongside liminal acceptance as a mode of coexisting with the existential boundaries of reason.
ISBN: 978-5-0065-2861-1 (Digital version in Russian)
ISBN: 978-5-0067-4550-6 (Digital version in English)
ISBN: 978-5-9216-2481-8 (The printed version, Totenburg)
QUOTES FROM THE BOOK
"Existential fears are a cultural construct that appears when the mind has the time and opportunity to engage in self—reflection. But if this is the case, then existential horror itself is not something fundamental, but only one of the possible interpretations of existence created by man."
"Reaching its extreme limit, this logic turns into a kind of nihilistic paradox: if any meaningful existence is just a defense against the horror of being, then even awareness of the absurd and its radical acceptance is also a form of protection. To accept the absurd is to give structure to chaos, to tame it and thereby avoid a clash with its true, unbridled nature."
"It is precisely in this inextricable connection of experience with death and suffering that the true tragedy lies: our life turns out not to be a celebration of existence, but a funeral procession in which every cell and every organism enters into a dialogue with death, only to support the next wave of experiences."
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Contacts
peddervlad@gmail.com
