thomas nagel, "the absurd"

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Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (1971) PHIL 102, Spring 2017 UBC Christina Hendricks Except images noted otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC-BY 4.0

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Page 1: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (1971)

PHIL 102, Spring 2017UBC

Christina Hendricks

Except images noted otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC-BY 4.0

Page 2: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 3: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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 ??

Page 4: Thomas Nagel, "The 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

Page 5: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 6: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 7: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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)

Page 8: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 9: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 10: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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

Page 11: Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"

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).