Absurdity, incongruity and laughter

Philosophy 84 (1):111-134 (2009)
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Abstract

In "The Myth of Sisyphus", Camus recommends scornful defiance in the face of our absurd, meaningless existence. Although Nagel agrees that human life possesses an absurd dimension, he objects to Camus' existentialist 'dramatics'. For Nagel, absurdity arises from the irreducible tension between our subjective and objective perspectives on life. In this paper I do two things: (i) critically reconstruct Camus' and Nagel's positions, and (ii) develop Nagel's critique of Camus in order to argue that humour is an appropriate response to absurdity

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Bob Plant
University of Aberdeen (PhD)

References found in this work

Mortal Questions.Thomas Nagel - 1983 - Religious Studies 19 (1):96-99.
Culture and Value.Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. H. Von Wright, Heikki Nymam & Peter Winch - 1982 - Philosophy and Rhetoric 15 (1):70-73.
Nietzsche, zarathustra and the status of laughter.John Lippitt - 1992 - British Journal of Aesthetics 32 (1):39-49.
Nietzsche, Zarathustra And The Status Of Laughter.John Lippitt - 1991 - British Journal of Aesthetics 31 (4):39-49.

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