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jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Jonathan Webber
@jonathanwebber.bsky.social
420 followers 280 following 160 posts
Half victim, half accomplice, like everyone
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jonathanwebber.bsky.social
I'm giving an online talk on Saturday morning with the
Southern Association for Psychotherapy and Counselling

:: Bad Faith, Bullshit, and Belonging ::

mainly Beauvoir and Sartre
with some Kierkegaard and Heidegger

Everyone is welcome!

Booking is here: bit.ly/SAPCbfbb
On the right side: image of the cover of The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy, edited by me. On the left side, the following text: Bad Faith, Bullshit, and Belonging 22 November, 10 - 11.30am Exploring existentialist views on bullshit, from Kierkegaard's ‘chatter’ and Heidegger's ‘idle talk’ to Beauvoir's ‘popular wisdom’ and Sartre's development of these ideas to critique societal divisions. Online talk given by Jonathan Webber, editor of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY Tickets: bit.ly/SAPCbfbb Southern Association for Psychotherapy and Counselling
November 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Snap!
October 17, 2025 at 1:35 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Second (and final) contents page, listing –– 4. THE SECOND SEX Femininity: The Trap Simone de Beauvoir Myths Simone de Beauvoir Woman’s Situation and Character Simone de Beauvoir Conclusion Simone de Beauvoir 5. COLONIALISM AND RACIALIZATION The Lived Experience of the Black Man Frantz Fanon The Black Man and Psychopathology Frantz Fanon From One China to Another Jean- Paul Sartre AFTERWORD ‘No, I’m not an existentialist’, Albert Camus Tells Us Jeanine Delpech
September 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
First contents page, listing –– What Existentialism Is and Why It Matters How To Read This Book 1. INSPIRATIONS Crop Rotation Søren Kierkegaard The Present Age Søren Kierkegaard The Joyous Science Friedrich Nietzsche A Short Account of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud Dasein and Anxiety Martin Heidegger 2. BEING AND NOTHINGNESS Anguish, Freedom, and Values Jean-Paul Sartre Conducts of Bad Faith Jean-Paul Sartre The Look Jean-Paul Sartre Existential Psychoanalysis Jean-Paul Sartre 3. THE EXISTENTIALIST OFFENSIVE The End of the War Jean-Paul Sartre Existentialism and Popular Wisdom Simone de Beauvoir Portrait of the Anti- Semite Jean-Paul Sartre Literature and Metaphysics Simone de Beauvoir
September 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Coming soon ––

The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me

:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::

–– contents pages are in the thread below.

#philsky
Image is book cover with the release date beneath: 13 November 2025. Artwork on the book cover is Marie Raymond's painting Arabesques ou Variations sur la volute, 1948, oil on canvas, 91 x 72.5 cm, © ADAGP, Paris, banque d’images de l’ADAGP – an abstract painting in yellows, greys, whites, and black. Book is published in Penguin Classics.
September 9, 2025 at 3:19 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
#tweetyourview
The lower two-thirds of the photo is grassland with a worn path going straight ahead through it. The upper third is a blue sky with little fluffy clouds. On the horizon in the centre (and quite small) is Stonehenge. Photo taken from a pathway that has been used to approach Stonehenge for over 4000 years.
August 26, 2025 at 11:10 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
#Dorking
Photo of makeshift sign that says DUCK RACE POSTPONED NEW DATE TBC pinned to a bus stop on the edge of a village green near to the Surrey town of Dorking
July 26, 2025 at 8:06 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Kierkegaard on why you need to actually do the work rather than, say, have an AI write your essay for you —
Suppose someone wanting to learn to dance said: 'For hundreds of years now one generation after another has been learning dance steps, it's high time I took advantage of this and began straight off with a set of quadrilles.' One would surely laugh a little at him; but in the world of spirit such an attitude is considered utterly plausible. What then is education? I had thought it was the curriculum the individual ran through in order to catch up with himself; and anyone who does not want to go through this curriculum will be little helped by being born into the most enlightened age.
July 1, 2025 at 10:19 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Please delete this. It contains misinformation likely to be detrimental to your colleagues in philosophy.

Retracting it in other posts does not change this. It comes top of searches for Cardiff philosophy and for Cardiff university philosophy.

We intend to recruit students in clearing this year.
Screen shot showing the post at the top of a search for Cardiff philosophy Screen shot showing the post at the top of a search for Cardiff university philosophy
June 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Some things have changed. Much has stayed the same. The exhibit in the M Shed is well worth a visit.
Photo of the Colston statue lying on its back with red spray paint over its face and upper torso, as it is now exhibited in the M Shed. Exhibit includes changing images and text on the wall behind. In this photo, the wall is black except for an unattributed quote –– "It was poetic justice, seeing it go in the harbour where those ships sailed."
June 13, 2025 at 7:53 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Some people did install a plaque a year later, though the city council soon removed it.
Brushed steel plaque attached to the railings in Bristol harbour at the place where the Colston statue was dropped into the water. Plaque has an etching of that moment, accompanied by the text: June 7th, 2020: At this spot, during worldwide anti-racism protests, a statue celebrating the 17th century slave-trader Edward Colston was thrown into the harbour by the people of Bristol. Various campaigns to have the statue removed through official channels had been frustrated. Plaque then quotes a poem that was published the next day by - Vanessa Kisuule, who was the official Bristol City Poet at the time: "You came down easy in the end. As you landed A piece of you fell off, broke away, And inside, nothing but air. This whole time, you were hollow"
June 13, 2025 at 7:51 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Just found this —
— six pounds and fifty pence !
Ticket to see My Bloody Valentine at Town & Country Club (as was) in Kentish Town on 15 December 1991. Price was £ 6.50.
April 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Here is over there.
#bristol
Photo taken from Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol under a bright blue sky. Foreground is a ragged young tree in front of an old stone wall. In the distance is a large white office and showrooms building whose name actually is Here for some reason and the word HERE is written on it in giant letters.
March 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Sleep matters! Highly flammable! Toxic to fish!
Back of packaging for some kind of room or pillow spray my teenager won in a raffle. Along the top it says SLEEP MATTERS in gold lettering. Beneath that in white lettering it says: spray as often as needed to freshen up any space. Then it says: extremely flammable liquid and vapour. Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Then talks about allergic reactions in humans. There are also two chemical warning symbols, one is a flame in a red triangle and the other simply a bold exclamation mark in a red triangle. I have no idea why anyone would even make this never mind buy it.
March 16, 2025 at 11:54 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
In case it’s helpful …
Sign in a shop. Sign headline is: Trousers Explained. Beneath the headline is the true sentence: Legwear is a key part of your outdoor clothing system.
March 2, 2025 at 11:32 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Did also manage to photograph the flying saucer hovering over the city centre today. Hope no-one was hurt.
Photo of Birmingham city centre in the distance taken through a window of the university’s School of Education building, a window which in the camera’s eye alone reflected the ceiling light on the landing behind me to look like a flying saucer hovering over Birmingham city centre. Or did it?
January 15, 2025 at 10:37 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Excellent discussion of my paper at the philosophy of education group at Birmingham — thank you! — hope I wasn’t too distracted by the spectacular views from the seminar room window.
Sunset over the Birmingham university campus with the iconic square and ridiculously tall clock tower in the centre. Sunset over the Birmingham university campus with the iconic square and ridiculously tall clock tower in the centre. This one is later than the first one so the sunset is slightly different. Lots of colour in the sky.
January 15, 2025 at 10:32 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Celebrating Simone de Beauvoir's 117th birthday by spending the day in cafes and a library trying to write something about existentialism.
Black and white photo of Simone de Beauvoir looking despondent at a cafe table with pen in one hand, cigarette in the other, sheets of paper beneath the pen, and a coffee pot, cup, and jug (I guess milk or cream) on the table. Looks like it was taken in the 1940s. Photo taken just now of my laptop, coffee, papers, notebook, and pen on the table in this cafe where I am writing this tweet (or whatever it is).
January 9, 2025 at 9:57 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
On the fifth day of Christmas a cancan line of one-legged turkeys dragged santa and his sleigh finally towards the light.
December 29, 2024 at 5:30 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Kermit looking nervous
December 23, 2024 at 12:30 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
New paper just published!

Rethinking Existentialism:
A Response to Eshleman, Kirkpatrick, and Romdenh-Romluc

Sartre Studies International 30: 64–92 (2024)

Argues for integrating my readings of Sartre, Beauvoir, and Fanon with readings offered in critique of my work.

Free pdf :: bit.ly/mypapers
Cover of the academic journal Sartre Studies International
December 20, 2024 at 7:04 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Just found a setting that makes bluesky infinitely better …
Muted text setting with both Elon and Musk added as separate entries. (Not on screen: have also added Twitter and 20 books that stayed.)
December 15, 2024 at 11:00 AM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Cover of Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 album Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
December 7, 2024 at 12:45 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Big old machines at Underfall Yard. #Bristol
Front end of large boiler with pressure gauge and lamps. Parts of a big old steam engine driven by this boiler are fixed to the wall in the background. Close-up of big old iron steam engine that drives almost all the machines in the workshop. This bit looks like a round metal cage with an iron pepper pot in the middle. The one machine in the workshop driven directly by the boiler without the help of the steam engine. Looks almost like a Henry More sculpture in its sheer mass and in its curves. Or maybe like a Picasso junk sculpture. Think this end of it cuts things. There are two great big wheels and lots of rods and pistons and things. I don’t know anything about machines. But this one looks awesome.
December 1, 2024 at 4:27 PM
jonathanwebber.bsky.social
So many great albums but if I could only keep one it would have to be …
Cover of Kate Bush album The Sensual World
November 13, 2024 at 9:35 AM