The Absurdity of Human Life

517 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theory of absurdism

Human life is absurd and there is no universal meaning, but humanity suffers from this inevitable fact so they try to find meaning through various created purposes to feel significant in their life. The absurdity of life is one of the biggest issues of philosophy because of the consequences it can cause in peoples lives. As human beings we desire purpose, meaning and order in life. Without the content of a meaningful life we feel lost and strive to find something that gives us meaning. We are all suffering from this unattainable goal to find a meaningful life. Albert Camus and Thomas Nagel agree with the fact that life is absurd but disagree on the right approach to life after realizing that life is without meaning. To say human existence is absurd is to say human beings have a tendency to seek value and meaning in life but are not able to find any. According to Camus, we want to find meaning in the world but the world is silent and doesn’t give us any answers. As human beings we want an understanding of the world. We are all driven to find that greater meaning of life and if we did...

Show More
Related

  • Christy Wampole's How To Live Without Irony

    1548 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Christy Wampole’s “How to Live Without Irony” and Richard Taylor’s “The Meaning of Human Existence” both authors argue how humans ought to live a meaningful life. Wampole tackles the argument in a different way than Taylor but they both have similar positions on the meaning. I agree with both authors in some of the ways that we should dictate our lives to justify meaningfulness but I also believe that meaningfulness can differ from person to person. Life is very precious to us; since humans have had the ability to consciously think, we have always questioning our existence. No other animal on the planet has had the luxury of pondering whether or not their life is meaningful.

    Read More

  • A Character Analysis Of Meursault In The Stranger By Albert Camus

    375 Words  | 1 Pages

    Absurdism holds that the world is absurd and that looking for order or meaning of any kind is a futile endeavor. Humans must accept the absolute indifference of the world towards human life. Ironically, it is only the thought of imminent death that leads Meursault to acknowledge anything like meaning or importance in life. Though he still spurns the notion of essential meaning, Meursault's impending execution fills him with an overwhelming, heart-felt desire for life that contradicts his stated goal of being "level-headed" and considering life and death as equal

    Read More

  • Existentialism In Albert Camus

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    writings where people as humans struggle to find purpose and ask themselves what is the meaning of life to which the universe responses by simply showing a complete and utter disregard for such a question or any questions as a matter of fact. It is “This paradoxical situation, then, between our impulse to ask ultimate questions and the impossibility of achieving any adequate answer, is what Camus calls the absurd.” Existentialism essentially deals with the absurd which had been “cultural movement that flourished in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s.” and besides Albert Camus there was other Philosophers who adopted such ideas like “Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Martin Buber in Germany, Jean Wahl and Gabriel Marcel in France, etc.….. [with]

    Read More

  • Makes Me Wanna Holler

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."

    Read More

  • Logic of the Absurds

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    Man's fundamental bewilderment and confusion, stems from the fact that man has no answers to the basic existential questions: why we are alive, why we have to die, why there is injustice and suffering, all this serve as the impetus for such a thinking. Man constantly wonders about the truth of life and realizes that the more you expect from it, the more it fails you or may be the more we expect from ourselves the more we find ourselves engaging in a futile battle with the odds. May be the truth is the realization of our limitations and the potency of these odds that press you down with their brutal truths….….brutal?, can the truth be brutal. But the truth is the God, ourselves, the destiny that rules us and fashions us, after a strange decree which we fail to unravel.

    Read More

  • Kierkegaard's Fear And Trembling

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    Camus’ philosophy of absurdism states that life has no inherent meaning, and that search for meaning will only result in confrontation with the absurd. His quote, “[life] will be lived all the better if it has no meaning”, perfectly exemplifies the meaning behind his philosophy. I believe this quote is describing what happens when one confronts the absurd head-on and embrace it, rather than evade it. This idea

    Read More

  • Annie Dillard Living Like Weasels Summary

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people wonder: what is the meaning of life? What is the human purpose on this earth? At least one time in our lifetime, we all look at ourselves and wonder if we are living our lives the way we were meant to live them. Sadly, there is not a definite answer to the principles of human life. Every human comes from different backgrounds and different experiences throughout their existence. Each person is different, each with different emotions and reactions to their surroundings. People strive to uncover the secrets to the meaning of life. In reality, humans are given the desire to live the way we want and have a critical thinking mind, unlike animals. In the essay Living like Weasels, Annie Dillard believes we should live more carefree and instinctual as weasels, but what we were given as humans is a gift that no other creature has – free will and choice to shape our own lives.

    Read More

  • The Human Condition

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Does life ever seem pointless and discouraging? In Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Camus describes the correlation between Sisyphus’s fate and the human condition. In the selection, everyday is the same for Sisyphus. Sisyphus is condemned to rolling a rock up a mountain for eternity. Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus” forces one to contemplate Sisyphus’s fate, how it relates to the human condition, and how it makes the writer feel about her part in life.

    Read More

  • Death and the Absurd

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catch-22 does not hide its satirical edge. Joseph Heller chooses to let the reader in on the joke early with absurd names, repetitive dialogue, and a loose sense of authority among American military ranks. In the center of Heller's historical anarchism is Yossarian, the antihero bombadier whose only real mission is to live and return home regardless of morality or emotional attachment to the men who are responsible for the success of his assignment. Yossairan can escape the war, but Heller makes a profound statement on the inescapability of death through a satirical looking-glass.Yossarian longs for freedom, yet will never be free from mortality. It takes a doctor, a man whose profession is protecting life, to remind him, "We're all dying. Where the devil else do you think you're heading?" (187)

    Read More

  • Existentialism: The Kafkaesque Study Of The Human Condition Essay

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Philosophy, a construct of rich, educated, and, frankly, intoxicated navel-gazers has been a persistent companion of humanity throughout the ages. The most eccentric school of thought, popularized by figures such as Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus, became known as Existentialism. Holding that all of reality itself was absurd, existentialists sought meaning in their own chaotic lives as part of the shared “human condition”, which Franz Kafka demonstrates in “The Metamorphosis”, which eventually became the staple diet for grumpy literature majors and angsty college freshmen alike. “The Metamorphosis”, together with Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat”, reveals the ephemeral and absurd nature of mankind, and also demonstrates the power in discovering meaning in one’s life.

    Read More

  • Existentialism And The Absurd: Literary Analysis

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    Existentialism is a 20th century philosophical belief that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It was first brought to public attention, through Jean Paul Sartre’s book L’existentalisme est un humanisme in the mid 1940’s. The philosophy allows humans to define what the true meaning of life is, to make their own rational decisions despite living in an irrational world. It deals with the absurdity of life and emphasizes action, freedom and decision as a fundamental. And the only way to rise above the essentially absurd condition of humanity (which is typically categorized as suffering and death) is by exercising personal freedom and choice. The philosophy of Existentialism and the Absurd is presented through the literary works

    Read More

  • My Philosophy of Life: Metaphysics

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    Life is the ultimate value for each and every one of us. Probably the single most important thing we can do in life is to serve the purpose in which we were created. I still do not have a clear view of what my Philosophy of life is, but I do have a better understanding of the path I need to take to seek those answers and am well on my way of accomplishing this goal.

    Read More

  • Meaning Of Life Essay

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ultimately, Nagel’s, Frankfurt’s, and my theory are just three of many possible theories regarding the meaning of life. Neither Nagel’s explanation of the contradiction between meaning within a life and meaning of life as a whole, Frankfurt’s idea that love functions to make lives meaningful, nor my argument that the search for the meaning of life is the meaning itself are universally accepted views. Open-ended problems such as this one about the meaning of life are rooted in the subject of philosophy, since there is often no right answer. Philosophy allows people to come up with a variety of theories and opinions that attempts to solve certain philosophical issues. Therefore, the debate on what the meaning of life really is will continue in the future as others take their turns in searching for the meaning of life.

    Read More

  • Virtue Ethics: Aristotle Vs. Al’ Ghazili

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is the purpose of life? This is a question that has been argued since the beginning of time. Countless honorable and wise men have pondered and made conclusions about what our true purpose is in life. Aristotle and al’Ghazili are two philosophers that studied this purpose of life for almost all of their human existence. Their two proposals about the purpose of life and the ethics that are required to accomplish this purpose share some common ideas, while also having serious contrasts.

    Read More

  • Absurdity: An Essay On The Stranger

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    To keep the absurd alive, you only have to live the absurd. Life will be more fully lived in so far as it has no meaning. is a quote from Camus that shows this. Camus shows that you can “hope” for the best without hope. The “Hope” is not the same as hope.

    Read More

More about The Absurdity of Human Life

Open Document