Martin Heidegger avoids “subject”, “consciousness”, “person” because they carry Cartesian baggage. Dasein is always already in a world, with others, thrown into a situation, projecting toward possibilities, and finally being-toward-death. Everyday Dasein lives as “the they” (das Man) — one does what one does. Anxiety and death call it back to authenticity.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad
The “Great Forest” Upanishad, oldest and longest, home of Yājñavalkya’s debates, the teaching to Maitreyī, and “neti neti”.
The World as Will and Representation
Schopenhauer’s single great work — the world is my representation; in itself it is Will; and the Will is the source of all suffering.
Mokṣa
Liberation — release from the cycle of rebirth and from all suffering, the highest goal of human life in the Hindu and Jain traditions (and, as nirvāṇa, in Buddhism). Every Indian school defines it differently, and the arguments over what it is, and how it is won, are the backbone of Indian philosophy.
Saṃsāra
“Wandering” — the beginningless cycle of birth, death and rebirth through which beings pass according to their karma, and from which every major Indian religion seeks release.
Ivan Ilyich Golovin
A successful, decent, utterly conventional judge who learns, dying, that he never really lived.
The Death of Socrates
In prison, on his last day, Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul, drinks the hemlock calmly, and asks that a cock be offered to Asclepius.