Absurdism

Caution: You are about to enter the philosophical corner. Philosophy begins... Right now!

I just finished reading Camus' The Plague for lit class and one of the themes in the book is absurdism. Absurdism is philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe.

Now absurdism shouldn't be confused with nihilism, extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence. And nihilism and absurdism aren't like existentialism.

Existentialism is the belief that through a combination of awareness, free will, and personal responsibility, one can construct their own meaning within a world that intrinsically has none of its own.

Nihilism is the belief that not only is there no intrinsic meaning in the universe, but that it’s pointless to try to construct our own as a substitute.

Absurdism is the belief that a search for meaning is inherently in conflict with the actual lack of meaning, but that one should both accept this and simultaneously rebel against it by embracing what life has to offer.

There's three ways that one can choose to accept the absurd...

Suicide due to life being ultimately meaningless and therefore either too boring or too painful
Embracing a meaning framework such as religion or spirituality
Acceptance of the lack of meaning, and living on in spite of it.

Personally, I accept the lack of meaning and move on with my life. Yes, my little life in this ginormous universe doesn't make much difference in said universe and is there fore meaningless. Oh, woe is me, my life means nothing, blah, blah, blah. I accept this and you know what, life goes on. Now, back to The Plauge (slight spoilers ahead).

**** Slight Spoilers Ahead!!!****

The Plague has examples of all three responses with the plague itself representing the absurd. In the beginning, Cottard tries to kill himself because of his guilt of a past crime (his own plague of sorts). However, Cottard doesn’t succeed and uses the plague to his advantage and profits off other’s suffering. Father Paneloux tries to make sense of the plague by saying it’s the punishment of God. He later watches a child die and his own faith wavers. He eventually dies of an illness might have been plague but wasn’t completely known. Rieux, Rambert, and Tarrou respond the way Camus prefers. They recognize the absurd, the plague and the threat of their own demise, but continue to work against it and find meaning in trying to heal others.

**** End of Slight Spoilers****

So, that's absurdism and nihilism and existentialism, well, a brief over view of them. I'm more of an absurdist. I'm not trying to create my own meaning like existentialists and I'm not sitting around like the nihilists. I'm accepting that my own life is meaningless in this world and you know what, I'm okay with that, so I continue on in my small meaningless life and life goes on. Sanders out.