1. March 24 – Existentialism & Absurdism
Agenda:
Is death bad for you?
Discussion
Existentialism & Absurdism
Albert Camus
Existential Moralism
The Stranger
Absurdism
Homework:
Read “The Myth of Sisyphus” and complete the reading questions
Take out:
Pen/Pencil
Notebook
Highlighter
“…Death…” reading and answers

2. Kagan – Is Death Bad for You?
Deprivation Account: In death, I lack life.
Death is bad because life is good.
Epicurus: “when death comes, then we do not exist.”
Death isn’t bad when you’re dead because you’re not alive.
Existence Requirement: Something can only be bad for you if/when you exist.
Modest: Something can be bad for you only if you exist at some time or other.
Bold: Something can be bad for you only if you exist at the same time as that thing.
Lucretius: Death is nonexistence, and therefor cannot be bad.
Loss: The state of nonexistence after you die.
Schmoss: The state of nonexistence before you’re born.
Nagel: Death is a contingent fact about an individual, birth is not.

3. Kagan – Is Death Bad for You?
Considering what you have read about (the deprivation account, the existence requirement (modest and bold), Epicurius’ argument, Lucretious’ argument, shmoss vs. loss) try to answer the question a second time:
Is death bad for you?
This is an EXISTENTIAL question

4. Notes: Two Philosophical Movements
Existentialism:
Absurdism:
Human need for meaning is greater than the ability of the universe to be meaningful, making all philosophical positions absurd
Absurdism essentially says that the world is so nonsensical, so absurd, that you can’t expect to find meaning in it anywhere
The search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe
Centered on the analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe
Considers the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad
It is:
A belief that neither human beings nor the universe has any essential, predetermined nature.
Therefor human beings construct their natures through their choices.

5. Camus’ Existential Moralism
Human beings inhabit a moral universe in which there are no absolute guidelines
Nonetheless, we have an ethical sense that we try to live up to
Most of us want to be “good people,” though it is difficult to define exactly what this means
Life constantly presents us with moral choices without giving us the right answers
The various ways that we try to define a moral code and live by it constitute our moral being
We define ourselves as moral beings by the choices that we make within the ethical system that we construct

6. The Myth of Sisyphus