Absurdism?

[Zoroaster]

What is it exactly?

[The Feral Underclass]

The wikipedia is a fairly accurate summation of absurdism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

In summary, it's an existentialist philosophy that identifies the conflict between the human need to find meaning in the universe and our inability to do so. The nature of human existence is such that all search for meaning and understanding is ultimately futile. The absurd, therefore, is the resulting contradictions of our existence and the anguish, either conscious or unconscious, that is generated within our daily lives. That being said, absurdism calls for you to embrace the absurd and be content and emboldened with your anguish; to find meaning in spite of its meaninglessness.

This extract from the Myth of Sisyphus is an attempt to create a metaphor to understand the nature of the absurd: http://www.revleft.com/vb/myth-sisyphus-t189077/index.html

[Zoroaster]

Ok, thanks. That actually makes a lot of sense, come to think of it. I should look into it more, though.

[LiaSofia]

Although I understand that the absurd emerges when our search for meaning fails (in other words, when we encounter meaninglessness), I thought existential philosophy states that nothing is true in the absolute sense and meaning is imposed upon the world by individuals. If the absurd is treated as an experience (i.e. we experience absurdity) then it is no more real than anything else so surely it could just be discarded too? Absurdism is then just a concept that applies to some but not all people.

I'm not being very articulate here, it's hard to express what I mean in words. I'll come back if I can explain it better. :unsure:

[Slavoj Zizek's Balls]

The wikipedia is a fairly accurate summation of absurdism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

In summary, it's an existentialist philosophy that identifies the conflict between the human need to find meaning in the universe and our inability to do so. The nature of human existence is such that all search for meaning and understanding is ultimately futile. The absurd, therefore, is the resulting contradictions of our existence and the anguish, either conscious or unconscious, that is generated within our daily lives. That being said, absurdism calls for you to embrace the absurd and be content and emboldened with your anguish; to find meaning in spite of its meaninglessness.

This extract from the Myth of Sisyphus is an attempt to create a metaphor to understand the nature of the absurd: http://www.revleft.com/vb/myth-sisyphus-t189077/index.html

*existential, not existentialist. Existentialist implies that Absurdism is an offshoot of Existentialism, it isn't. Existentialism was considered as life-denying for Camus.

[Slavoj Zizek's Balls]

http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie//vol5/camus.html

This might help with Absurdism and Existentialism.

EDIT: woops I posted twice, was supposed to be an edit of the above :/

EDIT 2: Footnotes are translations.

[RedSunrise]

The Wikipedia article (as posted) is great. I would read Camus (as posted). But my personal favorite o,n the topic is Thomas Nagel's "The Absurd". Short and sweet. A great intro (but still in depth) paper to absurdism. https://philosophy.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/The%2520Absurd%2520-%2520Thomas%2520Nagel.pdf