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Absurdity in the Early 21 Century
This essay argues against contemporary theorists who claim that the concept of Absurdity that flourished in Western Europe in the 1940s is now of purely historical interest. It is argued instead that while it is important to locate the concept of Absurdity in an appropriate historical context, peopl...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Philosophy
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613270222831616 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Jurgens, Francois |
| author2 | Galgut, Elisa |
| author_browse | Galgut, Elisa Jurgens, Francois |
| author_facet | Galgut, Elisa Jurgens, Francois |
| author_sort | Jurgens, Francois |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This essay argues against contemporary theorists who claim that the concept of Absurdity that flourished in Western Europe in the 1940s is now of purely historical interest. It is argued instead that while it is important to locate the concept of Absurdity in an appropriate historical context, people living in the early twenty-first century are, in fact, living within an historical period that makes the experience, and thus the concept, of Absurdity relevant again. While Absurdity in the 1940s involved a loss of certainty due to the role the Second World War played in undermining secular and religious beliefs, Absurdity in the twenty-first century involves a loss of certainty due to intense exposure to alternative points of view. This loss of certainty means that when one's typical point of view is brought into relief by an atypical perspective, one struggles to reaffirm one's typical perspective. This robust clash of perspectives strikes at the heart of the way in which we understand the world and ourselves, forming part of the experience that has come to be known as Absurdity. If the analysis of Absurdity that is offered in this essay is correct, then Absurdity is best understood as a personal epistemological condition, rather than a universal metaphysical condition that affects all people simply in virtue of their being human. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3676 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:28.738Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Department of Philosophy |
| publisherStr | Department of Philosophy |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3676 Absurdity in the Early 21 Century Jurgens, Francois Galgut, Elisa Fried, Gregory Philosophy This essay argues against contemporary theorists who claim that the concept of Absurdity that flourished in Western Europe in the 1940s is now of purely historical interest. It is argued instead that while it is important to locate the concept of Absurdity in an appropriate historical context, people living in the early twenty-first century are, in fact, living within an historical period that makes the experience, and thus the concept, of Absurdity relevant again. While Absurdity in the 1940s involved a loss of certainty due to the role the Second World War played in undermining secular and religious beliefs, Absurdity in the twenty-first century involves a loss of certainty due to intense exposure to alternative points of view. This loss of certainty means that when one's typical point of view is brought into relief by an atypical perspective, one struggles to reaffirm one's typical perspective. This robust clash of perspectives strikes at the heart of the way in which we understand the world and ourselves, forming part of the experience that has come to be known as Absurdity. If the analysis of Absurdity that is offered in this essay is correct, then Absurdity is best understood as a personal epistemological condition, rather than a universal metaphysical condition that affects all people simply in virtue of their being human. 2014-07-30T03:42:30Z 2014-07-30T03:42:30Z 2010 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3676 eng application/pdf Department of Philosophy Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Philosophy Jurgens, Francois Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| title_full | Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| title_fullStr | Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| title_short | Absurdity in the Early 21 Century |
| title_sort | absurdity in the early 21 century |
| topic | Philosophy |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3676 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jurgensfrancois absurdityintheearly21century |