Does Life Have Meaning?

Does Life Have Meaning?Danny IrwinSince the beginning of time people swallow been asking the universal question of What is the moment of life? Answers from people right away may vary greatly from that of thousands of years ago. However, two key philosophers, Camus and Nagel, energise both contri hardlyed greatly to what we believe gives life value. Nagels stance is that no weigh what, we tin fucking always doubt that the clement beings has any intrinsic value, or that everything we do matters. Camus, however, focuses on the root word of the confrontation between mans postulate for import/sense/value/rationality and the earths intrinsic lack of these same values. Personally, I side with Camus and his beliefs due to the position that all(prenominal) decision we make on a day to day basis is somewhathow correlated with each demand.One of the key differences between Camus and Nagel is Camus maintains in The Myth of Sisyphus that the besotted arises because the world is u nable to meet our demands for meaning. This suggests that the world might satisfy those demands if it were different. This idea depends on non only people that the world, similar to the idea of Sir I Exist. One cannot be without the other. If people did not demand meaning, or if the world wasnt meaningful enough there wouldnt be any absurd. Then if you air at Nagel, his absurd is entirely contained within people, and the fact that people can always doubt that the world is meaningful, so, therefore, the absurd is an essential fact to that of human existence.While each view point in time is important, I am more than implicated in the response that each philosopher, especially Nagel, has to the absurd. Camus response to the absurd is naturally, tumult the idea of being honest with yourself about the true meaninglessness of the world, but not giving up on your mandate for meaning. This, however, doesnt erase the absurd nothing short of suicide can do that but instead, it allows us to live with honesty, dignity, and integrity. Then there is Nagels response, ridicule. Which, to me, appears that it is simply an attempt at Camus rebellion, but it falls short and ends up amounting to philosophical suicide. Which can be explained by two opposing tendencies that lie within ones self.Nagel argues that the sense of the absurd give from two opposing tendencies within us To start, we take our lives, or at least activities and projects within lives, seriously, and we cannot avoid doing so. On the flip side, we are to a fault capable of undermining the cogitates for any of our projects. Nothing we do can be confirm from a point of view radically outside human interests. Nagel condemns the idea of rebellion for being melodramatic and histrionic. He compares it to shaking ones fist at the world and deems it pointless, nothing more than a ridiculous spectacle. What does Nagel then preach? When discussing life through his eyes Nagel ultimately says that, if there is n o reason to believe that anything matters, then that doesnt matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with sarcasm instead of heroism or despair (Nagel, The Absurd) However, that begs the question what is irony? Is it not in and of itself detachment and denial, essentially saying what one doesnt mean? This is what irony looks like, knowing that you may have absolutely no meaning in life, but you continue on your merry way with a grinning on your face. Irony is taking life too seriously go also muzzleing at yourself because you are fully aware of the fact that you are taking it too literally.This is the kind of philosophical suicide that Camus would insure to be a humiliated reason. Irony attempts to weaken, and even, therefore, eliminate the fundamental demand for meaning. Irony reduces the demand for meaning into a simple human desire, which can then be modified or suppressed, at least to some degree. However, meaning is not a desire but instead is a need. We need me aning almost like we need simple physiologic human needs like food and water. We cant simply laugh off meaninglessness and say, I didnt really need objective meaning anyway. That doesnt solve the problem of the absurd as Nagel says it does. That escapes the problem. To be ironic is to not be honest with oneself.While Nagel and Camus each have their own point of view on the world, I believe that Camus perspective is far more logical and is better interpreted for everyday life.