thomas nagel, "the absurd"
TRANSCRIPT
Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (1971)
PHIL 102, Spring 2017UBC
Christina Hendricks
Except images noted otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC-BY 4.0
Nagel: bad arguments for absurdity (1a)
“Nothing we do now will matter in a million years” (716)
1 million yearsActions Now
Won’t matter
But then: “nothing that will be the case in a million years matters now”
(716)Doesn’t matter now
Nagel: bad arguments for absurdity (1b)
“Nothing we do now will matter in a million years” (716)
1 million yearsActions Now
“If their mattering now is not enough ... how would it help if they mattered a million years from now?” (716)
Matter now but not
in 1m years: current actions
absurd
Matter now and/or in 1m years: current
actions not absurd ??
Nagel: bad arguments for absurdity (2)
Would infinite duration or larger size make our
lives less absurd?
We are tiny in the universe in terms of time and space (717)
Image of galaxy by NASA
What matters is absurdity now
Are our lives meaningful or absurd now, as we are? • If lives have no meaning/ are absurd
now, adding more years or size in universe wouldn’t make our lives less absurd.
Life infinitely absurd ..................
Life absur
d
Nagel & Camus on absurdity
Camus: a “divorce,” a “confrontation” between what humans want & “what the world offers” (7)
Image of space licensed CC0 from pixabay.com
Nagel & Camus on absurdity
Nagel: absurdity is a “discrepancy between ... aspiration and reality” (718)• More specifically: a collision between “two
inescapable viewpoints” in us (719)
Image of space licensed CC0 from pixabay.com
“a collision within ourselves” (722)
Two viewpoints on our lives
Seriousness
Detachment
From inside: we are seriously engaged in our lives, with effort, plans, goals; things have meaning (719)
From outside: lives arbitrary b/c all meaning & purpose comes from internal perspective
internal
external
Internal & external
Goals in life
Reasons justifying those goals (e.g., beliefs, values)
Detached from goals,
reasons, beliefs, values
These are only meaningful to me if I take them seriously, from perspective inside my lifeintern
al external
Collision of viewpointsWe need to take our lives seriously to live • Need to hold seriously to our beliefs,
values, goals...make plans and work towards them
Yet we can take a detached view • and so not take our lives, beliefs,
values, etc. seriouslyCan these two be combined? How can we live with both?
internal
external
Irony & HumilityDetachment
Seriousness
“We return to our lives, as we must, but our seriousness is laced with irony” (724).
Live with humility: between complete detachment & “blind self-importance” (The View from Nowhere 222).