Memes @lemmy.ml dunz @feddit.nu 1mo ago

Virgin nihilism vs Chad absurdism

57 comments

Nothing matters (so do nothing because there is no reason to do something)

Nothing matters (so do anything because why not!?)
- I consider myself as mostly existentialist (nothing matters, so find your own meaning), but absurdism has a strong pull, I must admit.
  
  Existentialism doesn't necessarily claim that nothing matters, so yours sounds more like optimistic nihilism, which is very similar if not identical to absurdism.
- Because I didn't know absurdism, I read the second one differently at first:
  
  [The] nothing matters.
  
  And I immediately had to think of this gem:
  
  "But it doesn't do anything!" - "No, it does nothing."
- And that's okay! Make your own meaning! Radical, dude!
  
  Making your own meaning is Existentialism talk! Embrace the lack of meaning!
The absurdism depicted isn’t pure absurdism because there’s the presence of style, which is a system of meaning and value. So, as depicted, that’s more existentialism or a healthy and cool blend of absurdism with existentialism.
Did you mean optimistic nihilism?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14
- Extremely similar to absurdism.
mfw I realize that maybe absurdism is my coping mechanism
- Yeah, mine as well.
- If you can get to the point that it's okay that nothing inherently matters, it will no longer need to be a coping mechanism.
- Sartre says you can be angry and furious at the absurd, Camus says to laugh at it. The absurd is the gap between what we expect to happen, and what actually happens.
  
  Many absurdists also believe in a mind-body split (see Nagel's "What is it like to be a bat?" essay, available for free in pdf format) or that consciousness may be something other than physical and that's where I tend to disagree with them. In general, the essays tend to be extremely interesting and worth reading even if you disagree. Philosophical literature is usually written so precisely and specifically that it's unlike other types of reading.
Man i switch between those 2 and existentialism like every day. Sometimes even on the same day depending on mood and stuff
Nothing really matters, anyone can see.
- Nothing really matters
  
  …..t’meeeeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeeEeEeEeEe
  
  🎹
Someone who comes here today will be happy to see this. I was, and I hope you are too. Exurb1a is just a treat, check out his other work too.
- Thank you, one of those someones is me. Now i have a new dude to peep (and i should read camus).
  
  Edit for the void: one page into 'The Plague' and I'm getting chills.
- Thanks. This video is gold. I watched it a year ago but this is something i should rewatch once in a while.
I strive to be like Gonzo from the Muppet movies. That whatever is the very picture of the ubermensch.
- Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Is that Willem Dafoe on the right?
- And left
  
  And right
  
  On the left it’s Willem DeFriend.
- (It's from The Life Aquatic)
Why not neither?
- You can do neither. Knowing that there's no inherent meaning to existence isn't for everyone. And I would argue that it's better to not be a nihilist at all than to be a pessimistic one.
  
  Indeed, I do think the same. What I have trouble understanding, and even with close friends, is how "no inherent meaning to existence" seems to quickly become, in some cases, "no meaning to existence". I always tend to think this slide tends to exclude another possibility. A non-inherent meaning.
The fact that things just keep getting weirder lends more credence to absurdism.
Wow it's really hard to pin down a definition of Nihilism. Anyway, I always saw Nihilism as a view that nothing is meaningful, that everything means nothing. But not that nothing matters. If you have no meaning to ascribe value to anything or anyone, you wouldn't find meaning in unnecessary harm or discomfort to others, in a harm reduction mindset.
- To me, the definition is "the belief that there is no intrinsic meaning to human existence." You then have two choices: despair that nothing matters (pessimistic nihilism), or recognize that we humans create our own meaning and strive to enjoy existence on those terms (optimistic nihilism). One way I heard it expressed recently was "The universe doesn't care. But people do."
  
  Exactky. We can pick what we care about.
- Hurting other people makes me unhappy, therefore I choose to try and make other people happy, because that makes me happy and I enjoy being happy.

57 comments