Philosophy Made Simple: Understanding the Meaning of Life via Existentialism, Nihilism and Absurdism.
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"There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."
~ Plato
- Reading Time: 3 minutes
Hello everyone! Philosophy is a topic that I greatly enjoy due to its richness and depth in enhancing our lives. Philosophy actually means a love of wisdom as derived from ancient Greek.
Philosophy is so good, I'd highly recommend everyone to try to learn a little bit about philosophy so we can discover our meaning in life.
That said, much of philosophy feels difficult to approach for newcomers due to the overly heavy usage of jargon.
With that, I thought I'd share my first attempt at writing a simple bite-size post that anyone can read and understand easily, while giving awareness as a start on learning philosophy.
We'll begin with a simple yet deep theme.. what is the meaning in life? While I can't truly answer that question, I can offer 3 basic views that frame how we approach meaning in life, and thus how we live it.
Existentialism is the belief that we can create our own meaning in life via our own actions and thoughts. Made popular by the French writer and philosopher Jean Paul Satre, this is the most common meaning outlook in most people's lives. It allows people to live fulfilling lives while contributing to society and thus human progress. A key importance of existentialism is it empowers people to take responsibility in their lives. Viktor E. Frankl in his inspiring book "Man's Search for Meaning" also exemplifies this worthy idea.
Nihilism is the belief that life has no inherent meaning whatsoever. Therefore, it is seen as pointless to do anything in life. Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher properly conceptualized and explained the idea of nihilism. While it is a controversial and negative life outlook, acknowledging its presence is in fact good, as it then gives us a better understanding of reality and our existence in life. Nevertheless, nihilism can lead to damaging behaviours as it gives us the impression of hopelessness and despair.
Absurdism is the belief in accepting that while life has no inherent meaning, we should defy and rebel against this by creating meaning in our lives and thus live a fulfilling life. It combines both existentialism and nihilism. The idea was created by Albert Camus, another French philosopher. In my opinion, it is the best of both worlds and perhaps underlines the paradox of how we as human beings live our lives.
Lastly, here's a simple yet insightful quote to end this post.
"The purpose of life is a life of purpose."
~ Robert Byrne
Thank you for reading this post and I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did making it. If you like it, do upvote or comment! I'd be happy to hear what you think about it. Would appreciate constructive feedback too.
For a better understanding of the key differences between these 3 viewpoints, see this post:
https://danielmiessler.com/blog/difference-existentialism-nihilism-absurdism/
This is an interesting read. The purpose of life is to be happy and to share that happiness with others so we can all be happy. A few words a huge task.
Thank you, @rlewing! Deeply appreciated. I totally understand where you're coming from cause I had the same view as you did. However, the purpose of life is simply a life of purpose we set it to be. The best we do is help each other reach our purposes in life.
That said, I believe we shouldn't chase happiness. Happiness must be a by product of our life's work and fulfillment. This quote below best explains it.
“Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.”
― Henry David Thoreau
I don't believe you need nor should you chase happiness, simply be present and happiness will find you.
Aptly said.
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