Existentialism became popular among the younger generation of intellectuals in the 1950s – the Beat Generation. Existentialism focuses on the freedom to choose. If we realize that our choices are free, then we can act responsibly and with integrity. But if we fail to understand that our choices are free and that we need to act responsibly, then we will often make poor choices. These ideas became popular with the works of Sartre and most eminently his friend Albert Camus. For Camus, demanding significance and meaning in our lives is absurd. Our actions are meaningful when we understand that nothingness is real and that we cannot change anything about reality. Instead of making ourselves happy, we should try to understand what is happening around us. Life is meaningless, but we should still strive to live well. To escape the pain of this reality, we might commit suicide, but this is not a solution. Suicide is giving up on life, and giving away hope. A better choice is to embrace the absurdity of life and rebel against its injustices. It was Camus’s ideas that influenced the ‘theatre of absurd’ in the later 20th century, and dramatists like Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Edward Albee, and Tom Stoppard.
Introduction
How do we really define Philosophy? The Greek word φιλοσοφία – Philosophia. Or as the term has been coined by modern Western language – Philosophy. The literal meaning of this word is relatively static. Derived from its Greek origin it comprises two separate words...
