Theatre of the Absurd

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Theatre of the Absurd Existentialism
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Theatre of the Absurd

• Works depict the absurdity of human existence
• The efforts of humanity to find meaning in the
  universe will ultimately fail
• No such meaning exists in relation to humanity
• Individual is isolated
• Humans historically attempt to find meaning in
  their lives
• They can find life meaningless and what we have
  is the here and now OR
• They can fill the void with a purpose set forth
  by a higher power
• Suicide is a solution when confronted with living
  a life devoid of all purpose

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Albert Camus

• Camus Absurdity is a conflict between two
  ideals
• Human condition is absurd Mans quest for
  significance v. cold, silent universe
• Specific human experiences evoke notions of
  absurdity
• Such an encounter with the absurd leaves the
  individual with a choice
• Suicide
• Life is too much
• Offers way out of absurdity
• Leap of faith
• Act with the strength of the absurd
• Deceiving the self
• Intellectual laziness
• Acceptance
• Man embraces his own absurd condition
• Individuals are truly free to create their own
  meaning
• The individual is the most precious unit of
  existence

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Camus Absurd Hero

• Man can either act as a mystic or an absurd hero
• Mystic appeals to some supernatural force
• Absurd hero
• A revolt against the hope of a supernatural force
• Refusal to hope allows him to live in the present
  with passion

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Sartre , Kierkegaard Nietzsche

• Nietzsche Proclaimed the death of God
• Sartre The absurdity of individual experience
• Saw rationality as a form of "bad faith - an
  attempt by the self to impose structure on a
  world of phenomena
• Bad faith" hinder us from finding meaning in
  freedom
• Kierkegaard
• Deep anxiety of human existence the feeling
  that there is no purpose
• Absurdity of certain religious truths prevent us
  from reaching God rationally
• There is no human-comprehensible purpose of God
• Faith in God is absurd

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Existentialism

• Philosophical movement that claims that
  individual human beings have full responsibility
  for creating the meanings of their own lives
• People make decisions based on what has meaning
  to them rather than what is rational
• Central idea Existence precedes essence
• One is not bound by the generalities and
  definitions of what being human connotes
• This is a reversal of what Aristotle believed