Absurdism
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Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail because no such meaning exists (at least in relation to humanity).
Absurdism is related to Existentialism, though should not be confused with it. Absurdism has its roots in the 19th century Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Absurdism as an "ism" was born of the Existentialist movement when the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus broke from that philosophical line of thought and published his manuscript The Myth of Sisyphus. The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.
Søren Kierkegaard
A century before Camus, the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote extensively on the absurdity of the world. In his journals, Kierkegaard writes about the Absurd:
- What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act... The Absurd, or to act by virtue of the absurd, is to act upon faith ... I must act, but reflection has closed the road so I take one of the possibilites and say: This is what I do, I cannot do otherwise because I am brought to a standstill by my powers of reflection. Kierkegaard, Søren. Journals, 1849.
What's the point?
The most common definition of "point" is that something (an object, or simply living one's life) must have a higher purpose to justify it. However, for that higher purpose to have "a point", then it, too, must have an even higher purpose. These "chains of justification" never come to an end; therefore, nothing can be considered to have ultimate purpose. If they did come to an end, they might still not satisfy us. For example, for a cow to know that its higher purpose was to be eaten would probably not satisfy it.
Humans historically attempt to find meaning in the universe, according to Absurdism. Yet, the world is irrational and does not conform to the standards or wishes of mankind and so this search is inevitably in vain. The search traditionally leads people down one of two paths: the conclusion that life is meaningless, or the filling of this vacuum by some other means, such as belief in God or adhering to a religion. However, the above argument can be applied again: What is the purpose of God? Kierkegaard believed that there is no knowable reason for the purpose of God, making faith in God absurd.
Suicide is a solution to some because it seems a rational reaction to the absurdity of life; but most people try to find an alternative solution. According to Albert Camus, as discussed in The Myth of Sisyphus, suicide is not a worthwhile solution, because if life is truly absurd, then the only way to engage it is to keep the internal reaction to the absurd going. If the consciousness is not alive, this interaction between mind and absurdity cannot exist. And while the final result of life is death, which gives no meaning to life, there is also no meaning in death, and suicide is seen only as a means to quicken the resolution of one's ultimate fate. But it was the "beauty" that Camus encountered in life that made it worth living for him.
Another solution is simply to reject the definition — to hold that "the point of life is to live." This is not a solution to the above problem, but a different problem. People may create meaning in their own lives, which is not ultimate meaning, but provides something to do. However, Camus insisted that one must always maintain an ironic distance between this invented meaning and the knowledge of the absurd lest the fictitious meaning takes the place of the absurd.
Camus argued for the path of accepting that life is essentially meaningless while continuing to live. He introduced the idea of acceptance without resignation and asked if man can "live without appeal", defining a "conscious revolt" against trying to dodge the absurdity of the universe. In a world without higher meaning or judicial afterlife, man becomes absolutely free. It is through this freedom that man can act either as a mystic (through appeal to some supernatural force) or an absurd hero (through a revolt against such hope). Henceforth, the absurd hero's refusal to hope becomes his singular ability to live in the present with passion, forever responsible but never guilty. Camus describes three archetypes of 'absurd heroes': the Actor, the Conqueror, and the Don Juan. Also noteworthy is Camus' novel, The Stranger, which depicts an ordinary man's struggle with the absurd.
Examples
- Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death
- Theatre of the Absurd, most famous being Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
- Edward Albee's The American Dream, The Sandbox and The Zoo Story
- Albert Camus' novels The Stranger and The Fall, and philosophical works The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel.
- Tom Stoppard's comedy play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
- Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis.
References
Further reading
- OBERIU, edited by Eugene Ostashevsky. Northwestern 2005 ISBN 0-8101-2293-6
- Thomas Nagel: Mortal Questions, 1991. ISBN 0521406765
See also
External links
- [The Absurd Hero] by Bob Lane, 1996.
- [The New Absurdist]
- [Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens - A Journal of Absurd and Surreal Fiction]
- [Absurdist Monthly Review Magazine]
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