Life is absurd might mean that some of the things,
arguments, or problems we encounter in life are pointless and really do nothing
but set us back or depress us. Some people might feel, I know I certainly do
not, that life is pointless because of this absurdity. They might feel like
fate is working against them just to make things more difficult for them. They
also might feel that life is meaningless in that if they accomplish something,
100 years from then it will be pointless since they’ll be dead. We can’t answer
the question why we are here and why we are on Earth. Also, people cannot
prevent random events from happening and these things might prevent us from
doing what we want or accomplishing our ideas. Why would having a different
life even matter if we are all going to die. The world itself is irrational,
inhospitable, and, at times, hostile.
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7 comments:
I looked up absurd for the fun of it and it was defined as "wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate." I don't know if I'd call like inappropriate, but it certainly is illogical. When you think about it, everything we do is illogical. Even the stuff we think is illogical. Why do we take action? To achieve of goals. Why do we have goals? Because we want to. It's illogical and absurd and that's just how life is.
I agree with your whole analysis except for the part about fate. For those who think that life is absurd, I would assume they don't believe in any kind of fate or predetermination. It seemed like they believe that life is random and pointless. I think introducing fate would imply that life is controlled by a higher power, which would probably give a meaning to life and existence.
Another thing about about out accomplishments is that they ultimately fall to someone else when we died. We may not get to enjoy our own accomplishments and contributions as much as someone else might. On another note, I think the absurdity factor does partially come from some amount of inappropriateness. Take for example No Exit and the scene where they all laugh about how hopeless their situation is. In actuality they couldn't be more frustrated with it, they find it sickening that they simply can do nothing at all about anything. The unfairness seems almost out of place to them, they might not say that it's inappropriate, but in terms to what they are used to (being for the most part in control) it is definitely off place and inappropriate.
I'm not sure that viewing life as absurd necessarily makes life pointless. An absurdity is something that is random and illogical. If we view life as a series of scenarios then life becomes less and less absurd as we go on, because we experience more and more things. For instance, the first time someone tried to shake my hand I had no idea what they were trying to do-I found it to be illogical, and in a minute way, absurd. So perhaps life is absurd because we can never make sense of everything, because we can never know everything.
"Life is absurd" is a saying that is in itself, absurd. We live out everyday lives with no real guide and we can actually do whatever we want, yet we choose to do the things we do. However I do not think that this means that life Is pointless. For there not to be a reason for life is not enough to say that it has no meaning. I think people are too quick to say that something is pointless and meaningless, it actually bothers me, because this is reality (or so we think) And it is as meaningful as you perceive it to be. So when people "give up" and say life is meaningless, it may be so for them, but that isn't the case for everyone else.
In existentialism individuals creates their own essence and self defines themselves based on their decisions. Hence can life really be absurd and pointless? Would not that be up to each individual to determine. Since each person defines their own life, they can determine the purpose of life and its meaning. LIfe is absurd, however people do what they do based on their own interpretations regarding life, and their attempts to make sense of the vast, illogical world presented.
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