#13,048 in Literature & fiction books
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Reddit mentions of The Outsider
Sentiment score: 1
Reddit mentions: 4
We found 4 Reddit mentions of The Outsider. Here are the top ones.
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- Tarcher
Features:
Specs:
| Color | Black |
| Height | 8.2 Inches |
| Length | 5.5 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | September 1987 |
| Weight | 0.00220462262 pounds |
| Width | 0.85 Inches |
Q: Why did this Buddhist monk burn himself to death?
A: Because he was not willing to burn anyone else.
Harry does not think "that [he is] the only one who has any ethical responsibility, and everyone else's actions are simply the consequences of [his] own."
Rather, he believes that he is the only one he can personally be ethically responsible for, and he holds himself to a rigorous standard of existential discipline. This results from his ultimate refusal to be bound by anyone else's ethical ideas, having instead committed himself, in the strongest sense, to the ethical mandates of rationality. If his rational conclusions tell him he must take a certain ethical stance, and back it with all necessary action, then he is committed to do so... or else he may as well give up on rationality altogether and join the lemming horde of mediocrity.
(Edit: this is how he can credibly threaten to wreck Azkaban even at the cost of his life when nobody else would even consider it.)
If you can't fully understand this attitude, it merely means you are like most people. If you can fully understand this attitude, you are probably already a source of wonder in your social circle. You'll be the one who is not lightly messed with.
For an expanded examination of what I am talking about, hunt down a copy of The Outsider by Colin Wilson.
Edit: seriously, downvoted? Whoever you are, my opinion of your intellect just took a hit. You're trying to understand a character who isn't average, as if he were. Not gonna work.
> There is nothing outcastish about occultism. That is, except if you live in the 16th century or in a fundamentalist shithole (be it Afghanistan or the US Bible Belt).
Colin Wilson would probably disagree, but he's dead.
A couple that come to mind right now:
[True and False] (http://www.amazon.com/True-False-Heresy-Common-Sense/dp/0679772642) - David Mamet
[The Outsider] (http://www.amazon.com/Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/0874772060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361764957&sr=1-1&keywords=the+outsider) - Colin Wilson
See the irreverent, eye-opening book by Paul Johnson on Intellectuals.
ICYMI, there's the fascinating classic by Colin Wilson on The Outsider.