The Difference Between Existentialism, Nihilism, and Absurdism
Many philosophers have believed for centuries that there’s no intrinsic meaning in the universe. Here I’ll summarize three of the major responses to this belief.
- 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.
Those are the philosophical structures for those beliefs, but practically there are three ways people deal with the situation:
- Embracing or creating a meaning framework, such as a religion or a spirituality framework
- Acceptance of the lack of meaning, and living on with—and in spite of—this knowledge
- Suicide due to life being ultimately meaningless and therefore either too boring or too painful
I view Camus’ Absurdism as the most satisfactory response, as it remains practical without abandoning intellectual integrity. It teaches simultaneous acceptance and rebellion.
To commit suicide is to turn one’s back on the beauty that life has to offer, and I believe it to be a legitimate option only in extreme cases.
Adopting a religion or some sort of nebulous “spirituality”, as someone who as accepted the truth of intrinsic meaninglessness, amounts to either intellectual laziness, emotional weakness, or some combination thereof. It is to say that the truth is too difficult to consume and accept, and that you’ve chosen to accept something untrue because it is easier.
This is a weak position, but it often looks identical to Absurdism option which is not.
Absurdism has us either construct or adopt a belief structure that provides a practical reprieve from the impossibility of true meaning while never actually rejecting that the system used is itself also meaningless.
So a person who has surrendered will say that they believe in something, and that it provides meaning in the universe, while someone who has not surrendered may say that they’ve adopted a scaffolding that may look similar, while knowing the whole time that it’s artificial.
The barrier is delicate between embracing a belief structure because not doing so is too painful, and only doing so for practical purposes while still knowing it is false. Many start as one or the other and then migrate, or exist day to day as one and become the other when pressed.
Knowing where one stands among (or perhaps outside) these options is a crucial part of self understanding.
NOTES
- I’m quite aware that one can, and people have, written entire books on each of these definitions. The goal of this exercise is not to dive deeply into each, but instead to summarize as cleanly as possible how they respond to a lack of intrinsic meaning.
- The choice to rebel is specifically Camus’ response to the situation, but since he’s associated with the term I include it in the definition here.
Essence precedes existence. I wonder how before postmodern era pessimism was always in vogue. It is only the expectations that hurt! Keeping no expectations leaves no space for the hurt since when there are no expectation then what is to be shaken. A simple example, a student expecting A grade gets B+ and a student expecting C also gets B+, then student expecting C would be way more happier than the other student. Satisfaction is perspective and happiness too. Being too much happy and satisfied makes it hard for you to be happy since it is unity of opposites. Pessimism has its share of wisdom.
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