Absurdism vs Nihilism Explanations and Differences (What is Absurdism and Nihilism?)
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What’s the difference between nihilism(active and passive) and absurdism? Is there any?
Upon an initial reading, both philosophies may sound similar since both have to do with a lack of meaning and purpose in the world. But, there are some considerable and essential differences, which I’ll cover in this short video.
First, I’ll go over what existential nihilism associated with the philosophy of Fredrick Neitzche is and what Absurdism associated with the philosopher Albert Camus is. Then, I’ll compare and contrast them so you can see the differences.
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#absurdism #nihilism
The difference between nihilism and absurdism is a sense of humor.
😂
😆
PERFECT!!! 😎
I often think it would be a lot easier for myself to be happy if i were just a bit dumber.
Stealing that one.
Sue me if you want...
Absurdism: society is dumb, make fun of it.
Nilhilism: Everything in life is meaningless.
Why not both.
@@timhydeck922 uP
Best answer
Both make sense
@@Zimboprenuer
I think absurdism has more of an ability for people to see themselves in a better light. Nihilism is just a bad philosophy. You need something to believe in, otherwise this world will eat you alive.
Existentialism: 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: 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: 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.
As I understand this, it is a matter of response. Nihilism and Absurdism both start at the same point of meaninglessness and futility, but they diverge in the direction they choose to turn in response to this reality. The Passive Nihilist simply closes the loop and concedes there is nothing at all that matters, and that is the end. The Absurdist breaks out of the futility, in a revolt which is perhaps even irrational, and chooses to fight futility through the creation of meaning. In some sense, the absurdist approach is the more original approach, if you consider that the narrative of all religions are perhaps absurdist creations which have simply been codified into creed and dogma, and passed down from generation to generation in the guise of truth.
This was very easy to digest and insightful, thank you!
😁
Oh yeah that’s the comment I was hoping for. This comment section was letting me down for a second but this is good
I mean the philosophy that under pins Christianity, Plato and the like is absurd. Plato was a comedian and it's through him that we get the making of "God." On the flip side, Taoism in China comes from the same beginning place.
@@KRYMauL uhhh I hope you arent imllying Plato created the idea of God/ a God
I've always told people the only difference between Absurdism and Nihilism is the tone of your voice when you say "there's no meaning to the world and nothing matters." Low and sad? Nihilism. Cheery and peppy? Absurdism
Omg ACCURATE
It is both freedom from objective meaning to create your own subjective, but in attempting to do so realise the constraints of the variables and immutable perceptions of the encode. Nihilists can be both blissful or miserable, though often surrounding themselves in rumination come to be the latter as the world is quite an indifferent, cold and bloody place. Absurdism is more a form of reaction towards the basis of such, though hard to distinguish from the common Stockholm syndrome of the hegemony.
The Nihilistic one is a bit stereotypical but I see what you're getting at.
Hhhhh you made my day
Essentially what Camus meant when he said "we need to imagine Sisyphus happy"
The Myth of Sisyphus helped me feel ok with the meaninglessness of life. After reading it I found a mindset to keep on living even when I didn't want to, just to spite "the Absurd." Over time I learned to cultivate things that made that absurd existence worth living. I always remember that Camus said he found the most interesting part of the myth not the struggle to push the boulder, but that moment when the boulder rolls back down the hill, and Sisyphus has to descend to the bottom to start all over again. That descent is the truly absurd moment, when all the hard effort is undone in a blink, yet instead of giving up he walks all the way back down to begin again, in defiance of the absurdity of his task.
Do u have reddit or discord so we can talk about this
I’d like to get a grasp on this
It is life,that makes one after every fall to arise again!
At least pushing the rock up the hill gave him purpose as mundane as it may have been.
Just realize what is _actually_ happening Vs. what you _think_ is happening. The difference is that "meaning" .
_"You get a whole body exercise, core, glutes, shoulders, etc. in a very quiet gym, membership is free and equipment is always free."_
Wow it's crazy that I've basically been an absurdist my entire life without knowing it! I've often told people that I don't believe that there is any overarching, objective meaning to life as an agnostic who leans atheist, but that I believe that we are still "blessed" with the ability to live by some miracle. I think that we should each try to find our own, subjective meanings by pursuing what makes us happy.
It's not a miracle it's just probability. Eventually given enough time any chaotic system can spit out a human especially if that system is the size of a Hubble volume and is predictable up until a certain measurement i.e. Planck Constant.
The only one I could feasible give you is the universe is vast and wonderful, but having a higher power create it just moves the can i.e. who moves the mover.
The only answer I could possibly give is that space moved itself because space is a probabilistic median. If for some reason two particles missed and one particle merged with another, then a chain reaction occurred and a black hole appeared. Then over time that black hole decayed and eventually burst i.e. the big bang viola we exist.
Granted everything that we will ever know likely only took place in one Planck instant within the quantum form. All I can say is everything boils down to luck because everything is just a Stochastic matrix.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_matrix
@@KRYMauL I read comments like yours and realize how lost some people truly are, chalking it all up to luck ey? For as long as it helps you go to sleep at night bud you can remain as pretentious as you want to be. You act like space is guaranteed and like it’s supposed to just be there for anything to happen absolutely nothing is guaranteed or simply just supposed to be here, talking bout it’s not a miracle it’s just probability hahaha alright
@@KRYMauL I prefer to think that it's very unlikely that somewhere something else does exist, however the chance is still there. I believe in probability, but I also believe that we do not know everything, therefore somewhere out there may be something that completely goes against what people believe here and humanities's sciences.
@@Saulgoodmane Each person has a right to believe what they choose to believe in. Isn't probability technically a miracle? (I am geniunely asking)
@@EvRight9768 Probability is the study of randomness, you don’t believe in it. It’s just what it is.
I lean more toward Existentialism, myself. I think we all create our own meanings for our lives.
But do you acknowledge that the meaning you've created is, ultimately, meaningless in terms of the universe?
@@davidwright82 'the universe' is simply another concept created by one's subjective consciousness
@@stonem0013 so?
@@davidwright82 So, 'the universe' is simply another concept created by one's subjective consciousness.
@@Kaledrone
Why does it matter?
After watching this video, I’m leaning towards absurdism.
Same
My biggest gripe with Nihilism is that it presupposes _meaning_ (and _purpose_ ) as something independent from subjective experience.
Empirically, _meaning_ and _purpose_ can only be observed by its role in behavior.
Rocks and clouds of gas do not have any observable connection to either _meaning_ nor _purpose_ . Rather, it seems that _meaning_ and _purpose_ can only influence those things that can express & demonstrate motivation. In fact, meaning and purpose can easily be conflated with motivation. They may be synonymous, empirically.
That said, you and I are among those rare things (approximately 100% of the universe is lifeless and without motivation) that generate meaning and purpose.
The most obvious and primal one, upon which our existence depends, is to continually survive. Those creatures which lacked this motivation or failed to achieve it are all dead.
The next most obvious and primal one isn't as good as survival, but it makes our survival part of something _similar_ to survival (continuation of "things like me") is reproduction. Those species which lacked this motivation or failed to achieve it are all extinct.
Maintaining health & security (rest, eat, maintain fitness, gather resources, attain social value) can traced back to these two motivations, directly or indirectly.
Everything else can be traced back to these three, which can in turn be traced back to the two original. We seem really complex because our behavior is complex to survive and thrive in a complex world, and we're very social creatures. It's biological.
The interesting little undercurrent to all of this (survival, reproduction) is that they all presuppose personal value: "I exist, and that's better than me not existing". Nihilism's assumptions completely dismiss the axioms of life itself.
Psychologically, many of us Human animals also seek a "higher" meaning to help motivate us. Religion and philosophy have tried tackling this for ages. Lately we developed a formalized psychology, which has done a very good job of directly mapping this conceptual landscape. Empirical evidence is best here - observe people with certain defined purpose, observe people who lack that purpose. Gather data, find the pattern.
I observe that the "highest meaning" is fulfillment, which is most often achieved by continually improving yourself for the sake of loved ones (family, friends, personal community), and enriching the lives of those loved ones. Another common path to fulfillment, which tends to lead to hubris but occasionally works, is to achieve something "great" (which is a socially defined metric).
This answer isn't "objective meaning" but it's a behavioral norm among a species - us. That's as close to an objective meaning as you can get.
If you can find me something that isn't Human but can communicate on this topic, I'd love to meet it. It would be interesting to see if the same meaning/purpose would work for, say, a talking dog or an alien species.
If you can find a way to visit or observe a universe with different causality than this one, I'd love to see it. It would be interesting to see how motivation, meaning and purpose can operate there.
Meaning and purpose is something only a philosopher can give and the best answer we have for either is that some "God" made it that way. There isn't a meaning in anything because everything is subjective as each person literally sees the world from a different angle i.e. virtual forces and gravity being a form of acceleration due to the curvature of space-time.
Basically, finding "meaning" in life is life chasing one's tail they're just going to keep doing it because that all one knows. Once one realize that the universe is probabilistic and chaotic one can understand that the universe is devoid of meaning as even the mover needs to be moved. Kicking the can forward doesn't solve the question, it just kicks the can forward.
Can there be a separation between meaning and purpose. There are many things which often defy a deep meaning, but have a purpose. Ex.. most plants are green. While lacking any deep meaning, the purpose is that the color is efficient in converting starlight into energy which allows plant cells to grow and divide.
Playboy: “If life is so purposeless, do you feel it’s worth living?”
Kubrick: “Yes, for those who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces a man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre (a keen enjoyment of living), their idealism - and their assumption of immortality.
As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong - and lucky - he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan (enthusiastic and assured vigour and liveliness).
Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining.
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death - however mutable man may be able to make them - our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”
Hell I lived my youth in naive hubris. Then reality hit and showed me how off I was. At 27 I'm barely getting my act together
I would like to hear a conversation from an actual passive nihilist. Just to see their points of view and how happily they live their lives.
I doubt they really could be happy at that general level like "I live a happy life " while they may have happy moments they are following a almost buddhist idea of letting go any ideas of meaning as soon as they may arrive.
@@partydean17 I find that the excitement upon arrival of new meaning and then the relief upon letting go of the meaning is very enjoyable...
I'm not sure if this is text book nihilism or not but it is an enjoyable way to live life devoid of meaning
All the Nihilists I've seen just seem like miserable people.
To not be a passive nihilist is to be ignorant or dishonest. If u think there is OBJECTIVE meaning then u haven’t really thought deep enough or logically
@@danielgeorge8123 Absurdism and active nihilism don’t want to give an objective meaning, just a subjective meaning that makes you live your life as something unique and by making you enjoy daily things while recognizing the fact that they have no objective meaning, but they mean for you. These two philosophies give you the power to give your meaning to the absurd, without being a slave of objective reality or being a slave of dogmas such as religions; they make you your true self
(P.S. sorry for my bad English, it’s not my first language)
so what I got from all this is that absurdism tells us to "Play fool, for that's the only way to be happy" and i feel like I am agreeing to that.
I don't necessarily know if absurdism requires that there is no objective meaning, just that there is none that is accessible to us. It seems to me like Camus is really illustrating the necessary impossibility of a human search for meaning being fruitful, whether it's because there is no fruit or because we are incapable of reaching the branch it hangs from. Either way, he urges us to forget about the fruit and go find something we can actually have
Thank you for being the first commenter so far to present that very important detail. Absurdism does not rely on a lack of objective meaning, only that objective meaning appear to be beyond human faculties. The Absurdist's life becomes about their subjective relation to the Absurd, as objective meaning is somewhere between us and it. We are each challenged to come up with a sufficient punchline to the joke set-up we've been given.
Absurdism is the rejection of futility. We're just Realists using our sense of humor to translate our humanity to the infinite (the Real, the Absurd).
Glass Half Fullism: Something is always better than nothing and the fleeting nature of life is what makes it worth living. The desire to exist, to find any meaning at all is a miracle.
If only it wasn’t half full with insidious organic machines that only seek to perpetuate themselves by the encode despite the inordinate harm caused as a result to the consciousness inhabited. The imposition of life, stealing the priceless peace of the posterity, is worshipped due to how memetics work themselves, it is an infection. Just used like cogs for code and ideas as the blind watchmaker dictates, our greatest antagoniser is our very nature ourselves insatiable. Yet still such an obvious pyramid scheme seems beyond our sentient capacity to understand? Or perhaps no one much cares of the damned entanglement, slave to conformity for complacency no matter the consequences. Wouldn’t it be better avoided? All determined variables inestimable, gambling with lives. Fleeting gives no meaning it is disease, just fits the encoded perceptions unto the goal, the enemy. The imposition is such a wound, needn’t of been the needs ever bandaged till unsustainable. Miracle? What look upon this world gives you that idea? Dispositions hiding the true bloody nature of the encode, Stockholm syndrome, how else to live with it? And of all to say something is better than nothing... to keep convincing ourselves that. Who would suffer if there weren’t? Can you really pave over them gleefully then knowing? Sever the ouroboros, mercy the posterity. Of any solace sooner are the solutions: Neutralisation or Transcendence - extraneous, accidental or voluntary. If only the glass were empty, absolute nothingness. Without the immutable perceptions of some abomination. without needless strife, suffering and death ever cyclical. The truest freedom is without that longing.
Guess i am sort of absurd nihilist.
I also really like stoicism
I prefer to call myself a surrealist. I see this reality, but i refuse to accept my own sensory perception of them as absolute. What we see is not always what we get. Theres often a much deeper dimensionality to any aspect of reality. Even a change in the angle of vision can completely alter our perception of a landscape for example. Idk. Ive taken passive nihlism with a grain of absurdity and its worked quite well for me. Allows me to accept that ill never know so to speak.
Good video. I had never heard the term "active nihilism", but I had heard some about the three philosophers that you mention and their philosophies, and in one description, I remember (perhaps incorrectly) that it was called "positive nihilism"; obviously, "passive nihilism" was called "negative nihilism". However, the concepts seem the same, and I've always been a "positive" or "active" nihilist. I remember being in my late teens and telling my friends "I don't think that there is any meaning to the universe; at least not one we didn't make up. But in a way, that's kind of empowering, because that means that we get to make up the meaning." My friend's older brother (who decades later has become my best friend) heard that and assumed that I had read Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus, and couldn't believe I hadn't at first; when I finally convinced him, he recommended checking them out, because they were on the same page, and wrote rather well on the subject. He has since done same thing that about many subjects, wherein I will say what I think about something, only to have him recommend several others who have said the same thing, and usually said it a bit better. Lol. I have always seen it as "yeah, nothing matters... so who cares? Why does it have to matter? Just learn to enjoy it, and do whatever you want, because the only thing that matters is what you say matters." I've don't envy those that think that there is some objective purpose, or god to serve, because that seems so oppressive and disempowering. I prefer a meaningless universe, upon which we can ascribe our own meanings.
I also disagree that the meaning that you ascribe to the universe ends with your death. Look at Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus- the meaning that each ascribed to the universe (or lack thereof) lived beyond them.
Definitely after watching this I noticed I’m more of an absurdist than any of the others purely because about twice a year my partner and I get into the debate about how the phrase “nothing is impossible” is such a beautiful conundrum but i believe it’s proof that everything is absurd. And they believe that it’s proof everything is a double edged sword that there’s just as much good as there is bad, that it’s about how we perceive those moments and how we allow them to effect us, to that I rose I can see that but isn’t that weird? Isn’t it weird how if you say a word enough times it loses meaning? Think of all music you loved growing up but can’t recall any bit of them now when they get stuck in your head and you wanna look it up but the lyrics keep slipping, all the meaning we’ve brought to everything in this world just as absurd, because at the end of the day if I ask you why enough times you can’t answer me. We built a language that we can’t even beat, because all of this is beyond us in some way shape or form and that’s absurd.
We bucked back and forth for about an hour and a half. Then they politely asked to drop the conversation and we did. But that conversation was wracking my brain to grasp what I was feeling in that and this gave me better clarity.
Interacting with this video for the algorithm
It is all absurd and that's okay, we live and let live.
Get the feeling the meaning of life being 42 in Hitchhiker's Guide is probably embracing the absurd, which is what I always saw it as.
You are stuck in the 2, Dualism at its finests.
To "imagine Sisyphus happy" is to believe that Sisyfhus is happy. To believe in that you must take leap of faith to that...
Damn now my rock is rolling down again thanks to you 😂
Brilliantly demonstrated Ben.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is one of the greatest movies ever made, and an absolute Absurdist manifesto for 2022. Beautiful.
This is one of my favorite videos in TH-cam, for real. Greetings from Brazil
Thank you for describing the difference between active nihilism and absurdism so clearly! I've often had difficulty putting my finger on the exact difference while knowing there IS a difference, and this really helped me find the words I was looking for
Love this channel. Subscribed!! Young psychology college student and this is right up my alley
I've been struggling to distinguish the differences between these two philosophies, so thanks for the video, it was on point.
I'd love to see your take on Emil Cioran and compare him with similar thinkers like Nietzsche, Camus, Schopenhauer..
this is a really good summary to share with people new to absurdism but familiar with nihilism,, thank you!
Nihilism: “the world is meaningless!”
Absurdism: “TIGER KNEE!”
Thanks for these videos man. Just got subscribed
Just found your channel, great videos. Keep up the good work!
omg i love your channel im glad it got recommended!
Thank you so much for your hardwork!
Excellent explanation. Thank you. Subscribed
Pretty interesting. I didn't think I would get it but you explained it simply and direct without getting too philosophical
From: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl...
"What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answers must consist, not in thought and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfil the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by sweeping statements. "Life" does not mean something vague, but something very real and concrete. They form man's destiny, which is different and unique for each individual. No man and no destiny can be compared with any other man or any other destiny. No situation repeats itself, and each situation calls for a different response. Sometimes the situation in which a man finds himself may require him to shape his own fate by action. At other times it is more advantageous for him to make use of an opportunity for contemplation and to realize assets in this way. Sometimes man may be required simply to accept fate, to bear his cross. Every situation is distinguished by its uniqueness, and there is always only one right answer to the problem posed by the situation at hand."
- Viktor Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning (p. 76 - 77)
Great video.
I personally believe that I have my own purpose. I find meaning in writing and drawing and I'm trying to become a professional illustrator. The issue is my belief in my ability. Growing up with a learning disability was hard. I'm trying to overcome this barrier.
I hope you will do good in that. Keep on living for what makes you feel happy despite the difficulty at the starting line you'll ultimately get there
@@mohamedrawadali7938 Thanks, I appreciate that.
@@chrisisaiahtriplett6846 you're welcome buddy
@@mohamedrawadali7938 are you not a Muslim ?
@@UnknownSend3r not anymore but i indeed grew up muslim
Great content, keep going. Please don't let low likes and views discourage you. You are doing amazing service.
I still haven't found a philosophy to agree on.I think now the only thing that remains to do is to create my own philosophy
This is deep ...
I feel this way too.
I mean most people just jumble together some philosophies and call it a day
I suggest you read about ralph waldo emerson :)
Neither of these men knew anything about the scientific search for a model of consciousness, but both had an unconscious understanding of the duality of consciousness.
Man's consciousness is divided into two parts; the brain, senses, body unity; and the mind, reason, understanding will. Consciousness and self-consciousness. The passive, unfree will; and the active free will. Percepts and concepts. The mind that deals with Nature and the linguistic mind.
Modern man is taught language early on and lives life no longer in competition with Nature, but in harmony or discord with society. Modern man is transfixed by language and society reinforces this habit. So much so that man relies more on his linguistic interpretation of reality rather than reality itself. He relies on religion or science or philosophy to guide his actions rather than physical ability.
Both Camus and Nietszche had an epiphany about the linguistic mind.
For Nietszche it came in the form of Religious explanations of life. Religious meaning no longer held the power it once had, because modern life revealed it to be untenable and hopeless if not extraneous. Purpose became futile.
The response to this futility was, first, the will to nothingness; and secondly the ubermensch. A rejection of intelligence and passion and then a reinvention of purpose centered on new conceptual definitions: meaning.
For Camus it centered not on meaning and purpose but on the linguistic mind's proclivity for interpretation: perennial myth-making. Last year it was Atlas who held up the sky, today its gravity and air pressure, tomorrow it will be something else. He found this habit of the linguistic mind Absurd.
Unlike Nietszche, who harnesses his will in the rational responses of passive and active nihilism, Camus rejects rationality altogether.
For Camus, in the aftermath of discovering the futility of the linguistic mind's interpretation of reality, one must learn to live without mind, reason, mental coherency. Will without intelligence: Sisyphus: A.I. artificial intelligence, Siri. Live life responding to cues rather than understanding. Robots 🤖.
Siri doesn't understand a word you say to it. Neither does it understand anything it says to you. It parrots the word without knowing the meaning. Just like Merseult in the "stranger".
For Nietszche and Camus life is not all Nihilism or Absurdism. We still must eat, sleep and die. It is just our silly linguistic minds and it's trying to make sense out of everything that gets in our way. Get those silly interpretations out of the way and learn to live life anew. Discover what you can do, stop focusing on what you "can't".
For Camus: Don't be cowed by the linguistic bully.
For Nietszche: Either be a coward or become the new linguistic bully.
Kudos brother, you're creating good content.
Absurdism really resonated with me in highschool, I really thought I could get behind that way of thinking, made me realize why we were taught all those different ways of thinking, too.
Very thankful for your content, thank you :)
Both the 3 options for dealing with the absurd the first choices made me chuckle.
The cause of both nihilism and absurdism is revealed in the photos of Sartre and Camus: Each had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, probably a 'Gauloises' (stinkaroo), and perceived themselves as meaningfully cool dudes in an early 20th century meaningless sort of way. My guess is that at the time of the photos they had just read Frankl's "Man's search for meaning" and found it challenging. My grandchildren's boundless enthusiasm for life subjectively influences my view on nihilism and absurdism
Damn, Camus really hit it on the head with the three options. When I was trying to plan my life out further I kept bouncing between those exact 3 options. I guess I'm an absurdist then since I chose the 3rd option. Definitely gonna read some more Camus. Til now I've only read a tiny bit of Nietzsche.
It doesn't matter what individual approach you take on it, it could be different from person to person, it doesn't matter, as long as it's what suits you best in living your life.
I believe in existentialism, create your own meaning
Interesting vid, cheers
Awesome video
I regarded myself as an active nihilist since very early on in my life, the fact of the arbitrariness of all things has always been part of the groundings of my thinking. But recently, I'm starting to becone more and more aware of my stubborn adherence or clinging to a strange sort of ungrounded optimism. I see the world as a place in need of repair on every level, especially on the level of my immediate surroundings, and I can't perceive the world in any different way. Although nihilistic thinking has always been so integral to me, I never seriously saw an option in suicide, especially not in philosophical suicide. The seemingly vain attempt to create meaning is something I can never give up, and probably noone will ever be able to argue me out of it.
Now that makes me an absurdist, a perfectionistic one, who cannot be satisfied nore broken.
The fact that life can not be completed or solved hits me as an emotional assault. It is however the only practical course of action to embrace the adventure of life inspite of it's fundamental meaninglessness.
Thanks!
This video is the first I've heard of "passive nihilism", but the video describes it as separating oneself from desires to ease the suffering of existence, which is a core part of philosophies like Buddhism and Stoicism. The interesting thing about that is that these philosophies don't start with the assumption of no meaning like Nihilism apparently does.
Thank you. Great content 🤩
stereo audio may be a bit unfocused for headphone listening
thank you so much for this explanation. i’m partially an active nihilist but definitely also an absurdist!
Good compare contrast.
Yes. Thank you. It was difficult to categorize my nihilism till you layed it out in for me in this vid.
It's particularly frustrating to talk about Nihilism because the general public misnomer is that people who ascribe to Nihilism just want to die. I mean, it doesn't matter if we do and I am curious but life is what is happening so might as well play with it.
Do you have a Discord channel?
Yes, now I see that the term "Nihilism" is generally misunderstood. By the way, I consider active Nihilism and/or Existentialism very praiseworthy and realistic; if we think carefully about it, that's the perspective many scientists had on the Universe and their place on it. If you like to discuss these topics, let me know. Cheers !!
Interacting with this video for the algorithm
I think the public confuses it with political Nihilism.
@@Brazil-loves-you same
Finally I understand who I am, an Absurdist. Thank you Ben!
I actually have my own take on the meaning of life, which may be aligned with one of these great philosophers. I believe suffering can bring out the best depending on how you mentally process the situation.
Pressure can either make you hard like diamond, glittering to the world, or break you like glass, brittle to harsh reality.
I went through some suffering and I'm glad I went through that, and then you hear about people living in privilege and yet depressed.
Life is a little like pushing a rusty wheelbarrow uphill on hot tarmac, without shoes... Why do I keep going when the days seem all too long? Because if I give up now. How will I ever know where I'll end up?
Absurdism makes life easier for each one of us!
Thank you ☺️
👏🙂
Cool stuff
Good video.
I come to Absurdism through Alfred Jarry, and the theatre of the absurd, from my college days in the 60s, and have always identified as an absurdist--watching this video confirms that I knew what I was about. By the way, one of my first reads when the whole "pandemic" started was a reread of Camus' The Plague.
I feel that I identify more as an active nihilist. Thank you for your work! I enjoy your videos.
A video about Antinatalism and Veganism would be nice. These philosophies go very well together.
Great🍁
I always thought of the active nihilist as the nihilist and would have called the the passive nihilist an anarchist. I was unaware of the absurdist so i definitely feel enriched today.
Thank you. I just started reading Camus and I find his writing tedious I guess that's my fault because I did not yet understand where he was going and you answered that for me so i'll put the book down. I wish that I understood life but I don't. I now have an aggressive form of cancer so I am not going to find the answer. I have always felt that the understanding we seek was not knowledge as we know it, perhaps some direct insight into our true nature yes in way like Buddhism. I actually think along the lines of Spinoza. I also felt that we would not be put in a situation where we could ask a question and not be able to answer it. I could be right but haven't discovered the :how". Now I see that death is natural and I have no knowledge that allows me to question the natural world. Something else came to me recently and that is I did not choose how I would be affected by what came into my field of awareness. Nor do I choose most of my thoughts. Thanks again!
Clarity comes with balance as this seems to be necessary to all things. Attitude, then, becomes the answer to all things... Reasonable assumption is our best tool as it's reasonable to assume that life is a dream.
I spent few years without being able to tell the difference between Nihilism and Absurdism. Then i realized that both are actually the same, just with a difference in attitude. Absurdism simply added the possibility of embracing the absurd instead of being demoralized by it.
Nice vid
Good video
I always just assumed I was Nihilistic, but I’ve always felt a deep sense of relief and happiness because of it. Now after watching this I wonder if it is more Active Nihilism or Absurdism. 😌
Absurdism is where it's at🔥
Yo just saving to watch later
You can't make cheese without first having milk. You can't make specific, local, subjective meaning without there first being general, cosmic objective meaning.
If you have milk, you can make Stilton, gruyere, Norwegian Jarlsberg, or Venezuelan beaver cheese.
You can't make cheese out of the void.
The *problem* comes when people assume the cosmic meaning is automatically tailored specifically to them, without any effort of their own to refine it and adapt it to their specific case. When it turns out not to be, they despair.
Meaning is on the low end of philosophical principles. Purpose is on the high end. There are many successful people in this world who are nihilists, but few, if any, successful people who have no purpose.
Ive been having a lot of thoughts relating to these ideas, some of which, I didn’t have words for. Thanks for putting these philosophies in such a concise manner. Good stuff
So I am an optimist when I say 'Nothing is possible'
XD
I agree with absurdists however, I am much too great a coward to shed the bonds that hold me in unreasonably self-imposed standards to be truly free. I can imagine it and it could make me happier. Such is the dilemma of life. It doesn't matter so why not enjoy it? Fear of the unknown is a terrible thing.
I'm neither of those. But. I see some aspects in those ideologies that in a given spot in the world's timeline, are needed soi things can swing back to the achievable normality.
This is interesting, thank you for doing it. My own take on this is that the ultimate meaning or meaninglessness of life is it self irrelevant. Whatever objective truth may be, humans evolved to Crave meaning. We define ourselves in relationship to that meaning, and without a sense of purpose, without a sense it all adds up to something no matter how small, return to flounder psychologically. This is simply the side effect of 300,000 years of human evolution. Our brains work this way because there is a survival benefit to them working this way. Take away the meaning and we are less survivable, more likely to just give up. So whether or not there is a real meaning, whether or not there's a God, we can never know. Nor do we need to. We simply need to invent a purpose if we are up to that challenge, or adopt someone else's purpose if we are not up to creating one of our own. That's my take on it, though I freely admit I am not nearly as knowledgeable as you are in such things
Desultory!🔥
nice video
I believe Option 1 is a great idea
hey man you alright?
Mute+captions tyvm
"Meaning" and "Purpose" in the context of Life are both strongly linked to human emotion, if we did not have emotion then we would not feel the need to have meaning or purpose in our life. (We would also most likely lack any motivation to live life.)
Enjoy life, do things that you find pleasure in, focus on things that will give you deep lasting happiness, and most importantly, be grateful that you're alive, grateful that you were given the chance to exist and experience something completely magical and irrational.
Absurdism suits me just fine.
A perfect example of active nihilism is in the movie classic Fight Club.
Why is that?
@@floriansalihovic3697 I thought fight club was about finding meaning in a post feminism way.
A generation of men raised by women, do we really need women in our lives?
Without being homosexual.
You spelled “flashing atheist dicks out in a religious conversation” wrong
Borje horseman is nihilism
@@mrillis9259
The movie displays a bunch of modern ideas about consumerism, authoritarianism, manhood, god etc. And by the end of the movie after the twist is revealed, they point out that ideology is almost as bad a thing to derive meaning from as material objects, and ultimately whats important is the here and now. That's what I got from it anyway.
Nihilist : social media ppl
Abursidist : ppl trying to enjoy their lives
Damn accurate af
@@tuanriccy1026 thank you
thanks Nietzsche
@@NamorleCanarkynp
Not necessarily 👍
Both doctrines seem to ignore the possibility that *we simply cannot know* whether there is or is not meaning to existence. Science is already stretching the boundaries of what the nature of 'being' might be - that our particular experience of it might in no way be the whole picture. Against this backdrop the kinds of certainty expressed by both nihilism and absurdism are really, well, absurd.
So it turns out I'm an absurdist, it seems.
Any good books on these topics? Ideally one that touches, at least briefly, on all of them
I don't know I haven't heard anything, I just try to love myself ;)
Great
Nihilism is the realization. Absurdism is the embrace.
Interesting 🤔
I feel as though there is a confusion, here, between drive and embrace. One is of a control mentality and the other is of an acceptance mentality. What if one just accepts the ultimatums of life, fully choses to understand all of them, and embraces the conflict with joy and ambition towards instant gratification until it perishes, but logical enough to understand basic concepts enough to slightly cater to them enough to maintain the mean for desired instant gratification?