Need a philosophical pick me up? Why one French philosopher suggests a walk.

Think walking is void of philosophy? Nietzsche and Gros are here to say you're wrong.

People walk beside the Han river in Seoul. While this isn't quite what Gros has in mind, it is a start. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)
  • French philosopher Frederic Gros tells us that walking is a route to entirely being ourselves and experiencing the sublime.
  • He has a bias towards the wondering hikes of Nietzsche and Kerouac but has a place for urban strollers too.
  • His book reminds us that even something as mundane as walking can be a vital part of our lives when done for itself.
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6 famous writers who never made a dime

We all love the art, but we often forget the difficulty of being an artist. Here are some of the most famous, greatest writers of all time who never could quite make a living doing it. 

How long until he has to sell the dog? (Getty Images)

The image of the broke writer is engrained in the popular imagination. The often tortured artist who writes until they remember to eat, and then eats too little as to stretch out their failing budget.

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10 philosophers with complex views on love

Philosophers aren't known for their love lives, but a few have managed to be tragic romantics anyway.

Philosophers aren't particularly renowned for having successful love lives, but some have become hopeless romantics — and others misanthropes. Here we have 10 philosophers who have written on or been heavily influenced by love in both their work and their personal lives.

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10 new year's resolutions you can steal from philosophers

Finding New Year’s resolutions isn’t always easy. To help you out, we’ve gotten ideas from some of the greatest thinkers of all time.

Can't think of a resolution?

Finding New Year's resolutions isn't always easy. To help you out, we've gotten ideas from some of the greatest thinkers of all time.

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God's Answer to Nietzsche, the Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard.

Existentialism is great and all, but how can you really relate to the ideas if you don't think God is dead? Luckily, we've got just the thing. 

Søren Kierkegaard, the man who invented the word "angst".

Existentialism remains one of the more popular philosophies for the layperson to read about, consider, and study. The questions that it asks and the problems it confronts, ones of free will, anxiety, and the search for meaning; are ones we all face in our daily lives. While the solutions it offers may not work for everyone, existentialism can have a particularly large blind spot when it tries to provide answers for the religious.

Think of it, Nietzsche declared that God was dead, Sartre, Camus, and Beauvoir were all atheists, and the related philosophy of Nihilism also denies God’s existence. For the religious individual who seeks extra comfort from existential dread and the perspective of the existentialists on the problems of modern life, good answers can be hard to come by.

But there is an Existentialist who made Christianity one of the core principles of his thought. The founder of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard.

Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher born to a wealthy family in Copenhagen in the early 19th century. He was a prolific writer who often used pseudonyms to explore alternative perspectives. His work covers all of the areas of existential thought; anxiety, absurdity, authenticity, despair, the search for meaning, and individualism. However, unlike his atheistic successors, he places his faith in the center of the solutions to the problems of human life. Just as the death of God was key for Nietzsche, the need for God was just as important to Kierkegaard. Here are some of his insights:

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Soren Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard Existentialism God is dead God angst fear and trembling the present age meaning of life Nietzsche Lutheranism Atheism philosophy Denmark Knight of Faith Ubermensh