Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions - Nina Medvinskaya
-
0:08 - 0:12Albert Camus grew up surrounded
by violence. -
0:12 - 0:16His homeland of Algeria was mired
in conflict between native Algerians -
0:16 - 0:19and colonizing French Europeans.
-
0:19 - 0:21He lost his father in the First World War,
-
0:21 - 0:24and was deemed unfit
to fight in the second. -
0:24 - 0:29Battling tuberculosis in France
and confronting the war's devastation -
0:29 - 0:33as a resistance journalist,
Camus grew despondent. -
0:33 - 0:39He couldn’t fathom any meaning behind
all this endless bloodshed and suffering. -
0:39 - 0:42He asked: if the world was meaningless,
-
0:42 - 0:47could our individual lives
still hold value? -
0:47 - 0:51Many of Camus’ contemporaries
were exploring similar questions -
0:51 - 0:56under the banner of a new philosophy
called existentialism. -
0:56 - 1:00Existentialists believed people
were born as blank slates, -
1:00 - 1:04each responsible for creating their life’s
meaning amidst a chaotic world. -
1:04 - 1:08But Camus rejected
their school of thought. -
1:08 - 1:11He argued all people were born
with a shared human nature -
1:11 - 1:14that bonded them toward common goals.
-
1:14 - 1:21One such goal was to seek out meaning
despite the world’s arbitrary cruelty. -
1:21 - 1:27Camus viewed humanity’s desire for meaning
and the universe’s silent indifference -
1:27 - 1:31as two incompatible puzzle pieces,
-
1:31 - 1:37and considered trying to fit them
together to be fundamentally absurd. -
1:37 - 1:42This tension became the heart
of Camus’ Philosophy of the Absurd, -
1:42 - 1:46which argued that life
is inherently futile. -
1:46 - 1:49Exploring how to live without meaning
-
1:49 - 1:53became the guiding question
behind Camus’ early work, -
1:53 - 1:57which he called
his “cycle of the absurd.” -
1:57 - 2:01The star of this cycle,
and Camus’ first published novel, -
2:01 - 2:04offers a rather bleak response.
-
2:04 - 2:09"The Stranger" follows Meursault,
an emotionally detached young man -
2:09 - 2:12who doesn’t attribute much
meaning to anything. -
2:12 - 2:16He doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral,
-
2:16 - 2:19he supports his neighbor’s scheme
to humiliate a woman, -
2:19 - 2:25he even commits a violent crime —
but Meaursault feels no remorse. -
2:25 - 2:31For him the world is pointless
and moral judgment has no place in it. -
2:31 - 2:35This attitude creates hostility
between Meursault -
2:35 - 2:37and the orderly society he inhabits,
-
2:37 - 2:43slowly increasing his alienation
until the novel’s explosive climax. -
2:43 - 2:49Unlike his spurned protagonist, Camus
was celebrated for his honest philosophy. -
2:49 - 2:54"The Stranger" catapulted him to fame,
and Camus continued producing works -
2:54 - 2:58that explored the value of life
amidst absurdity -
2:58 - 3:03many of which circled back
to the same philosophical question: -
3:03 - 3:05if life is truly meaningless,
-
3:05 - 3:10is committing suicide
the only rational response? -
3:10 - 3:13Camus’ answer was an emphatic “no.”
-
3:13 - 3:18There may not be any explanation
for our unjust world, -
3:18 - 3:22but choosing to live regardless
is the deepest expression -
3:22 - 3:24of our genuine freedom.
-
3:24 - 3:27Camus explains this in one
of his most famous essays -
3:27 - 3:30which centers on the Greek myth
of Sisyphus. -
3:30 - 3:33Sisyphus was a king
who cheated the gods, -
3:33 - 3:38and was condemned to endlessly
roll a boulder up a hill. -
3:38 - 3:43The cruelty of his punishment
lies in its singular futility, -
3:43 - 3:47but Camus argues all of humanity
is in the same position. -
3:47 - 3:51And only when we accept
the meaninglessness of our lives -
3:51 - 3:55can we face the absurd
with our heads held high. -
3:55 - 4:01As Camus says, when the king chooses
to begin his relentless task once more, -
4:01 - 4:04“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
-
4:04 - 4:08Camus’ contemporaries
weren’t so accepting of futility. -
4:08 - 4:11Many existentialists advocated
for violent revolution -
4:11 - 4:17to upend systems they believed were
depriving people of agency and purpose. -
4:17 - 4:22Camus responded with his second
set of work: the cycle of revolt. -
4:22 - 4:26In "The Rebel," he explored rebellion
as a creative act, -
4:26 - 4:28rather than a destructive one.
-
4:28 - 4:31Camus believed that inverting
power dynamics -
4:31 - 4:35only led to an endless cycle of violence.
-
4:35 - 4:39Instead, the way to avoid
needless bloodshed -
4:39 - 4:44is to establish a public understanding
of our shared human nature. -
4:44 - 4:48Ironically, it was this cycle
of relatively peaceful ideas -
4:48 - 4:53that triggered his fallout with many
fellow writers and philosophers. -
4:53 - 4:54Despite the controversy,
-
4:54 - 4:59Camus began work on his most lengthy
and personal novel yet: -
4:59 - 5:04an autobiographical work
entitled "The First Man." -
5:04 - 5:08The novel was intended to be the first
piece in a hopeful new direction: -
5:08 - 5:10the cycle of love.
-
5:10 - 5:15But in 1960, Camus suddenly died
in a car accident -
5:15 - 5:19that can only be described
as meaningless and absurd. -
5:19 - 5:22While the world never saw
his cycle of love, -
5:22 - 5:28his cycles of revolt and absurdity
continue to resonate with readers today. -
5:28 - 5:32His concept of absurdity has become
a part of world literature, -
5:32 - 5:3720th century philosophy,
and even pop culture. -
5:37 - 5:43Today, Camus remains a trusted guide
for moments of uncertainty; -
5:43 - 5:49his ideas defiantly imbuing
a senseless world with inspiration -
5:49 - 5:50rather than defeat.
- Title:
- Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions - Nina Medvinskaya
- Speaker:
- Nina Medvinskaya
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/is-life-meaningless-and-other-absurd-questions-nina-medvinskaya
Albert Camus grew up surrounded by violence. His homeland of Algeria was mired in conflict. He lost his father in World War I. Seeing World War II's devastation, Camus grew despondent. What was the meaning behind all this endless bloodshed and suffering? And if the world was meaningless, could our individual lives still hold value? Nina Medvinskaya explores Camus’ philosophy of the absurd.
Lesson by Nina Medvinskaya, directed by Avi Ofer.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:54
lauren mcalpine approved English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions | ||
lauren mcalpine accepted English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions | ||
Tara Ahmadinejad edited English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions | ||
Tara Ahmadinejad edited English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions | ||
Tara Ahmadinejad edited English subtitles for Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions |