The Absurd

Question 1

What is meant by a routine?

Answer 1

A repeated sequence of behaviors that do not require conscious effort or thought and which minimize the unpredictable variability of everyday life.

“The absurdity of a person’s life occurs when the routine that characterizes each life is irrevocably destroyed.”

Question 2

What is absurdism?

Answer 2

Existence is meaningless, pointless, and irrational.

1. Meaningless:
   Man cannot transcend his human condition. If there is a significance to our existence it is beyond man and impossible to know.
2. Pointless:
   Attempting to find meaning is futile.
3. Irrational:
   The world is chaos - good/bad events are random and cannot be understood through man’s ability to reason.

Question 3

What do people do when faced with certain death?

(2 options)

Answer 3

Suicide takes one’s own life - yet it is not always literal … some may drink or work oneself to forget life even exists (s. Lost Generation).

• is a surrender to despair.

Religion is an ilusion that provides comfort. It goes: sacrifice our life to us now, and you will be rewarded later (there is no later). Life and morals are directed by established religious laws.

• is a constructed illusion to circumvent certain death

Question 4

What does the absurd hero does when faced with certain death?

Answer 4

Accept life as is!

• Enjoy the physical world and sensual pleasures
• Be responsible for yourself as opposed to following the will of a non-existent God

The absurd man decides for himself: not to kill or steal. His success or failures are his own - not because of some divine plan.

Staying centered on tightrope facing certain death as a reminder of how precious each present moment is.

Question 5

What are the concequences of accepting the absurd?

(3 reasons)

Answer 5

1. Revolt: refusal of suicide and refusal to be comforted
2. Freedom: lack of imprisonment due to religious rules and others’ moral codes [amoral not immoral]
3. Passion: facing certain death and living every moment fully

Do we have a right to kill others? The answer is no, because by embracing our individual lucidity of the Absurd, we have implicitly embraced the value that life matters; and why should it matter just for me?, If life matters, then surely it matters for others as well.

However, sometimes violence seems necessary. A true Absurdist Hero rebels not for his or her own sake, but for everyone’s sake. True rebellion recognizes that we all have the right to life and liberty and decent treatment, and says to oppression: “you have gone too far and need to be stopped”, and then works to free everyone from the oppression.

Question 6

Contrasting

sex v. the concept of love

Answer 6

Sex → physical connection, therefore real
Love → social construct, therefore not real

• How do we reconcile love [the social construct]
  and desire [the physical expression]?
  ↳ Camus writes, “A love which cannot be faced with reality is not a real love. Love must be grounded in the
  actual, rather than abstractions or love that is desired and socially recognized. Love, therefore, must be experienced.”

“It is a disastrous fact that love and desire must be expressed in the same way,” - Camus