Works depict the absurdity of human existence

Works depict the absurdity of human existence

• Works depict the absurdity of human existence

• The efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail

• No such meaning exists – in relation to humanity

• Individual is isolated

• Humans historically attempt to find meaning in their lives

• They can find life meaningless and what we have is the here and now; OR
• They can fill the void with a purpose set forth by a higher power

• Suicide is a solution when confronted with living a life devoid of all purpose

Camus – Absurdity is a conflict between two ideals

• Camus – Absurdity is a conflict between two ideals

• Human condition is absurd – Man’s quest for significance v. cold, silent universe
• Specific human experiences evoke notions of absurdity
• Such an encounter with the absurd leaves the individual with a choice:
• Suicide
• Life is too much
• Offers way out of absurdity
• Leap of faith
• Act with the strength of the absurd
• Deceiving the self
• Intellectual laziness
• Acceptance
• Man embraces his own absurd condition
• Individuals are truly free to create their own meaning
• The individual is the most precious unit of existence

Man can either act as a mystic or an absurd hero

• Man can either act as a mystic or an absurd hero

• Mystic – appeals to some supernatural force
• Absurd hero
• A revolt against the hope of a supernatural force
• Refusal to hope allows him to live in the present with passion

Nietzsche – Proclaimed the death of God

• Nietzsche – Proclaimed the death of God

• Sartre – The absurdity of individual experience

• Saw rationality as a form of "bad faith“ - an attempt by the self to impose structure on a world of phenomena
• “Bad faith" hinder us from finding meaning in freedom

• Kierkegaard

• Deep anxiety of human existence — the feeling that there is no purpose
• Absurdity of certain religious truths prevent us from reaching God rationally
• There is no human-comprehensible purpose of God
• Faith in God is absurd

Philosophical movement that claims that individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives

• Philosophical movement that claims that individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives

• People make decisions based on what has meaning to them rather than what is rational

• Central idea: Existence precedes essence

• One is not bound by the generalities and definitions of what “being human” connotes
• This is a reversal of what Aristotle believed