Q&A: Existential Absurdity
Existential Absurdity
Question
Hello. I tried searching the site for your discussion of existential absurdity in existentialism and didn’t find anything. So I’d be glad if you could address the claims raised by thinkers like Albert Camus and the solution he proposes in The Myth of Sisyphus. Also, do you think a Jew can be in that kind of absurdity on the philosophical level? Or be an existentialist at all?
Answer
It’s no accident that you didn’t find anything. In my view, existentialism is psychological nonsense and has nothing to do with philosophy. Therefore existentialist claims are descriptions of a mental state, not philosophical claims. Whether a Jew can or cannot live that way is a question for a psychologist. And if not—he should take a pill.
See column 140, and here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%96%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%96%D7%9D-2/