I almost forgot: by coincidence I posted an absurdist short story juts last week: here is the link for anyone who desires a few laughs in the style of a Twain satire.
"Absurdism is a philosophical thesis that maintains the universe is fundamentally irrational and meaningless.". Perhaps Absurdism is best thought of as irrational by looking for meaning in the universe in the first place.
Really glad you liked the post! Absurdism has always been an interest - and now I've got to reread Camus again! Thanks, too, re my milestone - it's been a labour of love producing those 200 - but I've also regained a writing discipline I'd lost for years while doing it. Reducing to one new topic a week means I'll spend the other time working on one of those novels that are still languishing in various states of incompletion! Glad you're aboard! Do you have good seats? Preferably near the back where the cool kids sit?
We are actually quite ignorant about why persons kill themselves. Only about 12% of suicides leave notes, for instance. But Durkheim famously suggested, in his 1897 'Suicide', that only the structural variables in each case are explanatory. He came up with a four-celled chart - with an empty set cell that I have referred to as the 'fatalistic' category - that covered the bases across different social organizations. Mechanical solidarity promotes altruistic suicide due to collectivist sentiment. Organic solidarity produces two outcomes: in European modernity anomic suicide (the sense of being lost and disconnected in Camus' mood), and in highly individuated North American modernity, that egoistic (the 'goodbye cruel world no one understands me' sensibility). 'Fatalistic' describes a situation wherein the person has too many demands and strictures upon them; certain teen anorexic or trans cases might fit in this originally empty and unnamed category, constructed by Durkheim to balance his model and then only mentioned in a footnote.
If we accept his frame, then personal confrontations with the so-called 'existential anxiety', so beloved of Camus' gang, don't actually factor in at all. Which is presumably good for Tom and his wife!
This whole absurdist question about the meaning of life (and lack thereof) is a regular touchstone for my wife and I, so much so that we regularly describe what we’re doing for the day as pushing the rock up the hill. I still want to push it.
I genuinely think that still wanting to push that rock is - after reproducing - the meaning of life. Absurdist or not, it's the only 'explanation' that makes sense to me. My wife and I also use that reference - but mostly to explain our exasperation with teaching (and parenting) teenagers. But, yeah - we still want to push it, if only to see it careen down the other side so we can trudge down and do it all over again.
No sir. First regular row.
I almost forgot: by coincidence I posted an absurdist short story juts last week: here is the link for anyone who desires a few laughs in the style of a Twain satire.
https://drgvloewen.substack.com/p/why-they-dont-sell-tums-in-tulsa
"Absurdism is a philosophical thesis that maintains the universe is fundamentally irrational and meaningless.". Perhaps Absurdism is best thought of as irrational by looking for meaning in the universe in the first place.
Well said!
Thank you!
Thanks for another excellent post, Bryan! Congratulations on 200, and I will continue to ride this bus wherever (and whenever) it rolls.
Really glad you liked the post! Absurdism has always been an interest - and now I've got to reread Camus again! Thanks, too, re my milestone - it's been a labour of love producing those 200 - but I've also regained a writing discipline I'd lost for years while doing it. Reducing to one new topic a week means I'll spend the other time working on one of those novels that are still languishing in various states of incompletion! Glad you're aboard! Do you have good seats? Preferably near the back where the cool kids sit?
I like to sit behind the driver so I know where I’m going.
In that little jump-seat, I presume?!
No sir. First regular row.
We are actually quite ignorant about why persons kill themselves. Only about 12% of suicides leave notes, for instance. But Durkheim famously suggested, in his 1897 'Suicide', that only the structural variables in each case are explanatory. He came up with a four-celled chart - with an empty set cell that I have referred to as the 'fatalistic' category - that covered the bases across different social organizations. Mechanical solidarity promotes altruistic suicide due to collectivist sentiment. Organic solidarity produces two outcomes: in European modernity anomic suicide (the sense of being lost and disconnected in Camus' mood), and in highly individuated North American modernity, that egoistic (the 'goodbye cruel world no one understands me' sensibility). 'Fatalistic' describes a situation wherein the person has too many demands and strictures upon them; certain teen anorexic or trans cases might fit in this originally empty and unnamed category, constructed by Durkheim to balance his model and then only mentioned in a footnote.
If we accept his frame, then personal confrontations with the so-called 'existential anxiety', so beloved of Camus' gang, don't actually factor in at all. Which is presumably good for Tom and his wife!
Happy 200 issues. :).
Thanks! It's great to have you aboard. I hope you've got good seats? Back where the cool kids sit?!
This whole absurdist question about the meaning of life (and lack thereof) is a regular touchstone for my wife and I, so much so that we regularly describe what we’re doing for the day as pushing the rock up the hill. I still want to push it.
I genuinely think that still wanting to push that rock is - after reproducing - the meaning of life. Absurdist or not, it's the only 'explanation' that makes sense to me. My wife and I also use that reference - but mostly to explain our exasperation with teaching (and parenting) teenagers. But, yeah - we still want to push it, if only to see it careen down the other side so we can trudge down and do it all over again.