Is just such a shock from being in China. Just got harassed and essentially threatened for being a socialist. They searched my bags and commented on my China flag and my little red books and my copy of Blackshirts and Reds. Fucking police state. The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts, whereas this guy was very aggressive about “consequences” for being a socialist.
Going by the political section of his Wikipedia entry, he doesn’t seem too much of a leftist. Then again, I know only of the name, not his content.
He’s a mixed bag, for sure, but he hung out with some interesting people who I would consider more left philosophers, and he was basically the motorcycle jacket wearing, cigarette smoking philosopher prototype. He became a pretty sharp anti-com later in life, and it broke him from his friendship with Sartre. I thought he also knew Le Guin, but I might be imagining that part looking again now.
TIL. Apart from being cool dude, are there any of his ideas that really stand out to you?