Eli5 what is absurdism
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Absurdism is one of the philosophies that believes that the world is irrational and meaningless. Nihilism and existentialism are other beliefs that have the same premise.
The absurdist solution is unique because it argues that we should accept that the universe is meaningless but rebel against it. We don’t try and make sense of life, we simply embrace the meaningless of it and enjoy life just the same.
Nihilism says that life is meaningless, and so we should not care.
Existentialism says that life is meaningless, so we can give it our own meaning.
Absurdism says that life is meaningless, but that’s perfectly fine.
Absurdism is the philosophical position that there is no Creator in the sense of a conscious being, and thus the universe has no inherent meaning or purpose and that attempting to ascribe meaning to it is pointless and even contraindicated.
It works something like this:
1. Meaning and purpose are artifacts of consciousness. They are abstractions applied by a thinking being. A person who throws a rock at a window may have a reason for doing so, but the rock has no reason or purpose itself. It just has momentum and a trajectory.
2. There is no God or Creator to have a purpose for or to give meaning to the universe. Therefore, the universe is inherently meaningless and purposeless.
3. Attempting to ascribe meaning or purpose to something that has no meaning or purpose is pointless and a waste of time. It has none.
This does not mean that you cannot give, for example, a meaning or a purpose to your life. It just means that the meaning doesn’t just exist. It has to be created. You are a thinking being, and having ***your own*** meaning or purpose for what you do is perfectly proper.
EDIT:
As another poster pointed out, my answer was probably closer to existentialism than absurdism. Absurdism more embraces lack of meaning rather than creating your own.
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