The Problem of Meaning: Nihilism vs Existentialism vs Absurdism

[Music] ten years ago i sat in my first philosophy lecture and the lecturer read the opening lines of albert camus 1942 philosophical essay the myth of sisyphus there is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy sitting there i was amazed at the directness towards such a taboo subject camus and the philosophers i later grew to love circumvented the history of philosophical systems and went straight to the heart of the problem facing modern civilization that being the problem of meaning today i will look at meaning from three possible viewpoints starting with the problem of nihilism before moving to two possible answers in exitentialism and absurdism [Music] nihilism seems to be relatively new in human history in the 19th century people began to move away from the belief in the bible as a historical book in 1859 the publication of darwin's on the origin of species gave a credible explanation of evolution without the need for religious intervention in 1882 nature announced the death of god a passage so significant that i feel compelled to recite it to you verbatim where there is god he cried i shall tell you we have killed him you and i all of us are his murderers but how have we done this how were we able to drink up the sea who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon what did we do when we unchained this earth from its sun whether is it moving now whether are we moving now away from all suns are we not plunging continually backwards sideward forward in all directions is there any up or down left are we not straying as through an infinite nothing do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying god do we not smell anything yet of god's decomposition god's too decompose god is dead god remains dead and we have killed him how shall we the murderers of all murderers comfort ourselves what was holiest and most powerful of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives who will wipe this blood off us the decline in religion had a profound effect with many questioning the purpose of their lives and values without the reward of heaven or the punishment of hell what need was there to live a humble and lawful life do we not start to hear the echoes of dostoevsky stating that if there is no god everything is permitted [Music] you may have seen images like this which easily break down the differences the main point here for nihilism is in its complete refutation of meaning [Music] daniel meisler argues that there are three possible reactions to this lack of intrinsic meaning in the world the first being philosophical suicide which essentially involves refusing to accept the meaninglessness of life and instead embracing religion or spirituality next and the most nihilistic answer that being physical suicide for those who are unable to accept the lack of meaning finally there is acceptance the best answer and an answer which can take different forms we will look at two different approaches to the acceptance of a meaningless world the first being existentialism [Music] it may have been coined in 20th century france but existentialism can be said to have started as far back as kierkegaard through nature before reaching a climax in france with the likes of sartre and simone de bevoir with existentialism sartre began by trying to understand what it is to be human he concluded that man is a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept of it he further states that man first exists he materializes in the world encounters himself and only afterwards defines himself how existence precedes our essence as satra famously stated simply meaning that unlike a pair of scissors whose essence or purpose existed before they were created man can only be defined after existing exitentialism believes that through a combination of awareness free will and personal responsibility one can create their own meaning within a world that intrinsically has none of its own sartre understood the burden this brings the weight of our freedom means we are not only choosing for ourselves but for all mankind this is the source of anguish which often leads mankind away from this responsibility and into the philosophical suicide we mentioned earlier this is why sarah declares we are condemned to be free condemned because he did not create himself yet nonetheless free because once cast into the world he is responsible for everything he does there is meaning to be found in this responsibility in fact the search for any meaning is in itself meaningful and then extensionism while both existentialism and nihilism both believe the world to be meaningless nihilism doesn't support the search for meaning or that the search itself could ever hold any meaning existentialism is a much better answer but not the only one as we will now turn towards absurdism [Music] this brings us back to camus and absurdism while existentialism saw acceptance within the responsibility for creating your own meaning absurdism sees acceptance differently absurdism identified the same three reactions to the apparent meaninglessness of life that we spoke about earlier these being philosophical suicide or leap of faith physical suicide and lastly acceptance within absurdism this involves accepting the clash between our desire for meaning and the indifference of the universe furthermore camus says that the absurd man or woman must rely on two characteristics one being their courage as to not hope for anything more than life has given them the second being reasoning that tells them that their actions are limited to having consequences in this world and not in a world beyond this is why absurdism embraces itself as an act of rebellion it goes against what would be easier for humans to process and accept which includes the coming to religion or spirituality but also to resort to suicide in this way we rebel against committing suicide even in the face of a universe that coldly refuses to provide answers absurdism doesn't tell us to look for or create your own meaning rather just accept the lack of meaning rebel against that human instinct to know and understand why we are here [Music] this is why khmer states we must imagine sisyphus happy if you are unaware of the myth a quick youtube search will fill you in in short sisyphus is the quintessential absurd hero condemned by the gods to continually roll a bold rapper hill just to watch it fall back down there is no goal no point to this activity but he must do it anyway this may remind you of your life waking up going to work coming home just to sleep and do it all again the next day we must face the absurd and accept it living our life in the here and now while forever remaining conscious of the lack of inherent meaning and there we have three differing stances on the problem of meaning nihilism being the darkest and most hopeless path while exitentialism and absurdism provide more life-affirming options when it comes to the inherent meaninglessness of our lives what do you think is the best course of action when faced with the lack of meaning both in your personal life or in life as a whole do any of these schools of thought provide enough to live out a meaningful life let me know in the comments below otherwise thanks for watching and goodbye [Music]

Channel: Sorrow is Knowledge Philosophy

Views: 40,626

Keywords: existentialism, absurdism, suicide, nihilism, satre, camus, nietzsche, meaning, meaningless

Id: I-02olS0rO0

Length: 9min 0sec (540 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 22 2022