Absurdism
Etymology
From Latin "absurdus," literally “out of tune,” hence “senseless.” The philosophy was developed by Albert Camus, most famously in his 1942 essay “The Myth of Sisyphus,” where he argues that Sisyphus, eternally rolling his boulder, can be imagined happy. For Camus the “absurd” is precisely the gap between our demand for meaning and the world’s silence.
noun · /ab-SUR-diz-um/
The view that human beings crave meaning in a universe that offers none, and that we should face this clash honestly rather than escape it.
What it names
A name for a specific stance toward meaninglessness — not denial, not despair, but a kind of clear-eyed defiance that keeps living fully anyway.
Example
There was something absurdist in how he laughed at the leaking roof and fixed it anyway, expecting nothing from the sky.
Related idea
Nihilism concludes that meaninglessness makes everything pointless; absurdism accepts the meaninglessness but treats rebellion and engagement as worthwhile in themselves.
See also