the nature of death

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the absurdity of life

• 6.19.06

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is life absurd?

• three questions
• 1. what does it mean to say that life is
  absurd?
• 2. are we justified in believing that life is
  absurd?
• 3. what is the connection, if any, between
  absurdity and nihilism?

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the schopenhauerian absurd

• famous 19th cent German pessimist
• Unless suffering is the direct and immediate
  object of life, our existence must entirely fail
  of its aim
• Buddhas 1st Noble Truth
• life is suffering
• absurd unnecessary/purposeless pain

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arg from suffering

• p1. life is meaningful only if there is not
  unnecessary/superfluous pain (i.e., only if life
  is not schop-absurd).
• p2. there is unnecessary/superfluous pain (i.e.,
  life is schop-absurd).
• c1. so, life is meaningless.

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vs. p1

• p1. life is meaningful only if there is not
  unnecessary/superfluous pain (i.e., only if life
  is not schop-absurd).
• cf. a movie with one mediocre scene is not
  horrible if the rest of the movie is great.

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pascal

• 17th cent mathematician
• writer/philosopher/theologian
• reflected on the human condition
• wretchedness
• death
• diversions
• belief in God afterlife
• Infinites

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arg from infinity

• p1. we are tiny specks in the infinite vastness
  of the universe.
• p2. if we are tiny specks in the infinite
  vastness of the universe, then our lives are
  meaningless.
• c. so, our lives are meaningless.

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vs. p2 (nagel)

• p2. if we are tiny specks in the infinite
  vastness of the universe, then our lives are
  meaningless.
• how would size help? wouldnt that just increase
  the absurdity?

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arg from the future

• p1. nothing we do now will matter 1 million years
  from now.
• p2. if nothing we do now will matter 1 million
  years from now, then our lives are meaningless.
• c. so, our lives are meaningless.

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vs. p2 (nagel)

• p2. if nothing we do now will matter 1 million
  years from now, then our lives are meaningless.
• how would that help? if life doesnt matter now,
  how could its mattering then make it matter now?

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the camusian absurd

• There is but one truly serious philosophical
  problem, and that is suicide (533).
• You continue making the gestures commanded by
  existence for many reasons, the first of which is
  habit. Dying voluntarily implies that you have
  recognizedthe ridiculous character of that
  habit, the absence of any profound reason for
  living, the insane character of that daily
  agitation, and the uselesness of suffering
  (534).
• In other words, you have recognized the absurdity
  of life.
• absurd without reason (an incomprehensible
  condition)
• one day the why arisesBelief in the meaning
  of life always implies a scale of valuesBelief
  in the absurdteaches the contrary (534-535).

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arg from no-justification

• p1. there is no ultimate justification for our
  actions and pursuits in life.
• p2. if there is no ultimate justification for our
  actions and pursuits in life, then our lives are
  meaningless.
• c. so, our lives are meaningless.

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vs. p2 (nagel)

• p2. if there is no ultimate justification for our
  actions and pursuits in life, then our lives are
  meaningless.
• what is ultimate justification?
• justifications must come to an end somewhere
  what exactly is wrong with them coming to an end
  within life, as they do?
• in fact, non-ultimate justification justifies our
  actions and pursuits in life just fine
• aspirin example
• besides, if a finite chain cannot justify our
  actions and pursuits in life, how would an
  infinite chain help?

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vs. p2 (nietzsche)

• p2. if there is no ultimate justification for our
  actions and pursuits in life, then our lives are
  meaningless.
• ultimate justification
• ultimate aim (purpose or goal), unity (system or
  whole), or truth (the real)

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psychological stages of nihilism (nietzsche)

• ask, what is the ultimate justification for life?
• posit a source of ultimate justification.
• existence of source becomes unbelievable.
• result nihilistic attitude
• solution stop asking life to justify itself
• life (the world) is innocent
• dont seek meaning externally
• create your own meaning ? existentialism

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the nagelian absurd

• x is absurd iff it is impossible to avoid taking
  x seriously and it is impossible avoid doubting
  whether x merits seriousness.
• three solutions
• 1. stop taking x seriously
• 2. make it so that x undoubtedly merits
  seriousness
• 3. avoid x or remove oneself from the situation
  involving x
• in the case of life, (1) (3) are either not
  available or not at all attractive, making the
  absurdity of life inevitable.

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arg from perceived discrepancy

• p1. x is absurd iff it is impossible to avoid
  taking x seriously and it is impossible to avoid
  doubting whether x merits seriousness.
• p2. it is impossible to avoid taking our lives
  seriously.
• p3. it is impossible to avoid doubting whether
  our lives merit seriousness.
• c. so, our lives are absurd.

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two absurds

• seeming/feeling absurd vs. being absurd
• Nagel has reduced being absurd to seeming/feeling
  absurd
• the situation is not absurd until the perception
  arises (39).
• Question is a non-reductive account of absurdity
  preferable, according to which being absurd is
  distinct from seeming/feeling absurd?
• For example
• x is absurd iff x ought to (or must) be taken
  seriously and x is in fact arbitrary.

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does the nagelian absurd imply nihilism?

• the absurdity of life is the dragooning of an
  unconvinced transcendent consciousness into the
  service of an immanent, limited enterprise like a
  human life (38).
• yet absurdity is one of the most human things
  about us a manifestation of our most advanced
  and interesting characteristicsit is possible
  only because we possess a certain kind of
  insightthe capacity to transcend ourselves in
  thought. So, it results from the ability to
  understand our human limitations. It need not be
  a matter for agony unless we make it so (39).

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nagels arg against Camus

• p1. if sub specie aeternitatis there is no
  reason to believe that anything matters (i.e., if
  nihilism is true), then that does not matter
  either.
• p2. if that does not matter, then we can
  approach our absurd lives with seriousness laced
  with irony rather than heroism or despair.
• c. so, if nihilism is true, then we can approach
  our absurd lives with seriousness laced with
  irony rather than heroism or despair.

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today

• we looked at
• four arguments for nihilism
• suffering
• infinity
• the future
• no-justification
• Nietzsches psychological stages of nihilism
• Camus on the absurdity of life
• Sisyphus, the absurd hero
• Nagel on the absurdity of life

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for tomorrow

• read
• (CP) Conee, Fatalism
• focus in particular on (pp. 22-30 39-42)
• Introduction
• The Sea Battle
• God Knows
• A Final Note
• (CP) Sider, Free Will and Determinism
• both essays are from Riddles of Existence