Absurdism

[Cain]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

Salient parts c+p'd

Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and, hence, are absurd) because no such meaning exists (at least in relation to humanity).

What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act... The Absurd, or to act by virtue of the absurd, is to act upon faith ... I must act, but reflection has closed the road so I take one of the possibilities and say: This is what I do, I cannot do otherwise because I am brought to a standstill by my powers of reflection.

,Äì Kierkegaard, S??ren

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus considers absurdity as a confrontation, an opposition, a conflict, or a "divorce" between two ideals. Specifically, he defines the human condition as absurd, as the confrontation between man's desire for significance/meaning/clarity and the silent, cold universe (or for theists: God). He continues that there are specific human experiences that evoke notions of absurdity. Such a realization or encounter with the absurd leaves the individual with a choice: suicide, a leap of faith, or acceptance.

man can choose to embrace his own absurd condition. According to Camus, man's freedom, and the opportunity to give life meaning, lies in the acknowledgment and acceptance of absurdity. If the absurd experience is truly the realization that the universe is fundamentally devoid of absolutes, then we as individuals are truly free. ,ÄúTo live without appeal,,Äù as he puts it, is a philosophical move that begins to define absolutes and universals subjectively, rather than objectively. The freedom of man is, thus, established in man's natural ability and opportunity to create his own meaning and purpose, to decide himself. The individual becomes the most precious unit of the existence, as he represents a set of unique ideals that can be characterized as an entire universe by itself.


I believe our current project to be the metaphysics of the Absurd.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Ding dong

Discordia is Dead

Hail Absurdia!

[Cain]

Camus considers absurdity as a confrontation, an opposition, a conflict, or a "divorce" between two ideals.

Sound like Chaos much? 

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah but Chaos and Strife are such depressingly passive experiences. Absurd is more an opinion based on that.

[Cain]

Still, there is a relationship between the two, one that I find very....interesting.

And believe me, with my attitude, chaos and strife are very much in your face experiences (I'm actually writing a rant about this, so wait and see).

[P3nT4gR4m]

Still, there is a relationship between the two, one that I find very....interesting.

And believe me, with my attitude, chaos and strife are very much in your face experiences (I'm actually writing a rant about this, so wait and see).

I await with baited badgers

[rygD]

absurd.org

[LMNO]

Good find, Cain.  I tried reading Myth of Sysyphus in highschool, didn't get much out of it.

Why do teacher assign kids with almost no life experience books that only make sense after the Universe has kicked your teeth in a few times?


A seed has been planted in my head about a possible next step after BIP has been established.

[Cain]

It seems Americans are given far better books to read than us.  The closest I got to a classic (bar Lord of the Flies) is Death of a Salesman, the most depressing fucking book ever.

I look forward to your developments.

[LHX]

absurdity is key to keep in mind


its the only way you can explain attempting to consider an unpredictable situation seriously

in this regard - the whole notion of 'life as something to be cherished' is absurd


it is inconsistent with the apparent state of affairs in the physical universe


also makes you wonder whether pain is actually something that is supposed to be avoided

I believe our current project to be the metaphysics of the Absurd.

great description man

[P3nT4gR4m]

It seems Americans are given far better books to read than us.  The closest I got to a classic (bar Lord of the Flies) is Death of a Salesman, the most depressing fucking book ever.

I look forward to your developments.

Hell yeah that play/book fucking sucked.

We got to read 1984 and brave new world at school (I think mainly to balance out crap like arthur miller)

[Triple Zero]

we got to pick most of our own books for the final exams. i got 1984 and brave new world as well, boys from brazil (but just read the excerpts, you know what it was like), "the beach" (only read half), "clockwork orange" .. my english literature list was kind of filled with dystopian or apocalyptic mindfuckery scifi stuff  [oh, and "the hobbit"],
where my dutch reading list dealt mostly with stories about artists living a life of sex drugs and messing about with other disgusting habits and cracking a few jokes here and there (that's basically a good summary of dutch literature of the past century, srsly)

[LHX]

i got to read Camus' Outsider (english and french)
1984
Brave New World
Crime and Punishment
Tale of 2 Cities
100 Years of Solitude

some good shit over here

[Ratonderio]

Sorry to bump such an old post, but I ran across it and couldn't help but say something =P.  I think the thing that drew me to Discordia originally was having read The Myth of Sisyphus and getting so much out of it and then having read the Black Iron Prison and seeing the inherit similarities between the two I just kind of fell in love with Discordia as well.  I think the thing about Absurdism/Discordia is that it doesn't assert anything at all really (no meaning in life, absurd/random events rule the nature of thing, the attempt to control things leads to them becoming more convoluted and chaotic than they were in the first place, no real purpose to anything really) and that they both allow a kind of freedom that's not really felt with just living in your environment.  Living routine leads to nothing, living with spontaneity leads to nothing, living safe/living dangerous leads to nothing, "living" leads to nothing, so whichever way you choose that works for you can be the right way without buckling to social constructs or norms of living.  Of course if that's what you want you could always do that too.
</ramble>

I just couldn't resist this thread. =P

[Requia ☣]

It seems Americans are given far better books to read than us.  The closest I got to a classic (bar Lord of the Flies) is Death of a Salesman, the most depressing fucking book ever.

I look forward to your developments.

Depends on the school/state.  Closest I ever got was David Copperfield.  And I had to join an untra advanced learning program to have that assigned.

Edit: On second though, Les Miserabes (or however you spell it), is probably more of a classic.