Full podcast episode: ruclips.net/video/jRBksDVs4tg/видео.html Lex Fridman podcast channel: ruclips.net/user/lexfridman Guest bio: Paul Conti is a psychiatrist.
You mention Camus a lot, but the other great philosopher at that was Sartre. “Life has no meaning a priori… It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre
Camus wasn't driving and surely didn't commit suicide and the morning of the fatal accident he wrote passionate letters to each one of his three beautiful lovers and how he couldn't wait to be with them. Furthermore his best friend with his wife were in the car and the kind of man Camus was would surely not have murdered his friend and wife to die with him.
This is what I was thinking! Like, uhhhh no Camus was not suicidal, there's books about how it was possibly the KGB rigging the vehicle to crash due to Camus' view of socialism and criticism of regimes, specifically the Soviets. Maybe this guy misremembered but damn dude, Camus is one of the few people who enjoyed rebelling against the meaninglessness of existence.
@@bradchambers4229 It was raining hard, visibility was bad and his friend was driving too fast as they were in a hurry and that's not in this complicated way that kgb killed people. There really is no doubt on the nature of the accident.
“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.” ~ Albert Camus
"he (Bakunin) favored a strong dictatorial government whose purpose it would be to educate the people to the point that such dictatorship becomes unnecessary." Bakunin's letter to tzar Nicholas from his jail cell. Positive welfare, as Humboldt calls it, should always be a means to an end. A way to bring the rabble out from their oppression. Not a tool to subdue them.
I always found it interesting how Andrew Carnegie turn to charity after literally killing the poor to make his wealth.... But then again he turned to charity under a god complex, he believed his conscience was heavenly superior to the impoverished. Merely an alibi of a tyrant.
I went through a phase of not seeing the point. But eventually came out of it understanding I can create the point, and have decided that that's the point. Which I deem a blessing.
The meaning of life is that everyone must choose the answer to that question for themselves. No one can write your story for you. If you think you have no meaning, you're right; and also if you do.
Albert Camus died in a car accident drove by his publisher and friend Michel Gallimard. The manuscript Le premier homme was in the trunck to be published in Paris. He was about to leave his second wife to reunite with Maria Casares, his great love. Their 900 letters between 1944 and 1960 were published in 2017 at the initiative of Camus daughter.
For what its worth I really like how you ask the question of all your guests at the end of your interviews; "what's it all about is there any meaning to life" etc. Great question to get at the heart of things but unfortunately no one nails it better than Camus does.
My goodness, nihilism... I was plagued by this for such a long time. What a scary and bleak existence that was.... I could write volumes about my life in this condition (perhaps condition isn't the best word to describe it,but maybe it is) but I have shit to do. I just got a shiver at the very utterance of the word. I'm so glad that I discovered my purpose, or that I have a purpose. Love ya Lex! You make the world a better place!
I don't find Nihilism to be that daunting. If you take purpose to be fiction from the start, then you can recognize that you haven't lost anything, but instead, you've gained clarity. What is the purpose of playing in a sandbox? None. Normal sandbox play ends with the destruction of what you build. Yet paying in the sandbox, or even a sandbox game, is fun. This shows us how purpose isn't required. Purpose is a fictional concept that holds us back. Mindfulness is the alternative. When you recognize that purpose is fiction, then you can make purpose yourself. You can even live by that purpose, knowing that it's fiction. Just like your goal in a sandbox. Build a castle for no reason other than the irrational good feelings you get.
@@YSFmemories I apologize. I thought I sent my response yesterday but it didn't go through. In fairness, I should start by saying me finding my purpose is merely the conclusion that I've come to at this point, at age 39. I've based that conclusion on my strengths,people's perception of me and the impact they say I've had on them. That is to help people. I seem to have a knack for communication and building people up and helping them realize where they're strong and,putting their perceived obstacles in perspective so they don't seem so overwhelming to them. I get a true sense of gratification and happiness from that. But hey,tomorrow I COULD get a brand new trajectory. For now,I'm satisfied with that.
@Patrick Covault I think what you're doing is you're engaging in the goal that is our shared goal: survival. Offering people help may help in small ways, but ultimately, you are helping them survive. And by living that purpose, you give yourself a reason to keep on living. I'm the same age as you, and I've come to the conclusion that I can live by any purpose I wish. As long as I believe in that purpose, then it keeps me going. Whatever you do to keep going, as long as it's overall positive and helpful to you and those around you, is probably the right thing. Also, "probably" is likely the most certain we'll ever be in regars to purpose. So it is best to simply enjoy your direction rather than overly worry about what direction that is. I think.
I eventually settled on absurdism as the closest formal philosophy which resonates with me. It gives me lots of clarity and I find lots of happiness as a result.
Me too. I was so lucky to find him. Schopenhauer is still my guy, but I didn't like his solution to the undeniable problem he revealed... The will. So i steal Camus' Absurdity philosophy for the answer, it helps.
@@justadude4826 Well, That definitely sounds like a Nietzsche fan... Schopenhauer receives a lot of hate from most philosophers and people. But, it's usually because of his "answers" to the problem of life. Easy issues to object to. I understand that, as I said above, I don't follow his "answers" to the problem... Shocker! Even Schopenhauer himself said he could not follow it. Nonetheless, When he gave the world his thesis of the underlying problem/workings of all life... Everyone knew, admitting or not, it was an undeniable fact, This brings frustration, denial, and of course hate aimed at Schopenhauer for exposing a truth... Among philosophers , a lot of jealousy also, an answer put forth with no need for Philosophical debate, chapter closed. So, Schopenhauer found the problem. Camus, summed up the answer- you can commit "physical suicide" or "psychological suicide". That's ALL the philosophy that's left, for human meaning, in a nutshell. Your flavor of "psychological suicide".... you could see how this would anger most. Schopenhauer- have compassion for others stuck in this problem of life, try to embrace some Asceticism, and deny the Underlying will from having as much influence on the ego. ( a Buddha style) Camus- Don't take life so serious, doesn't need deep meaning, just dance in the absurdity of even existing. Nietzsche- Oh Boy, from "Ubermensch", to "master and slave", compassion vs. pity, good and evil etc... Every philosopher has good takes as well, just as Nietzsche. Some are just literal narcissistic gibberish. Nietzsche always thanked Schopenhauer for allowing him to escape the inevitable future of becoming a Lutheran minister, He had seen the undeniable truth in "The World as Will and Representation "... But, as many, he also hated this truth, and thought he could rise above this law of nature. So, that's where you get Nietzsche philosophy. Poor fella, you could also tell he REALLY wished to be famous and known, just didn't live to see it. P.s. sorry for the essay, just kept typing. lol
Isnt absurdism clearly rejected because there are patterns and intelligence in the universe. Maybe you can figure out the meaning but there is some. People are no good at being content with not knowing and accepting what is
@@HkFinn83 had 3 lovers, a wife on top of that and loved to party. Dude might be a little more passionate than you might think, albeit a little off for our current day moral standards
We answer that question with everything we do in life because suicide is always an option. We choose everything we do over suicide. We choose life, when we suffer, we choose to do so. It's about accountability for everything we do and about creating meaning in our life with every choice in every moment.
Exile and the Kingdom is one of the most life affirming books I have ever read. I read it at least once a year if not more. Why “scholars “ do not read the later works of great artists is baffling.
Keeping the suicide option in one’s back pocket lends to a lot more peace of mind, if you ask me. It’s an option! I look upon it with lightness of heart and good humor. If one does it, make it a tongue-in-cheek joke to help ease others sense of destabilization. I’d never venture to recommend it for another because outside perspective is woefully lacking in relevant information. It’s a strictly personal decision. Hell, even implying that nihilism is a philosophy which others should follow is intrusive and disrespectful. It’s a personal outlook and, from where I’m standing, lends to a much more vast and expansive sense of awe regarding even the most subtle, overlooked details of life! But it’s MY outlook, and far be it from me to impose it on another
I think you're right, but also, I hate it. The greatest wisdom I've found so far relates to a healthy view of death, pain, and mortality. Unfortunately, I have seen death, and I know it. That has helped me to come to terms with it. And that has given me peace. But what made me adopt this view was my view of others in pain. How can I recommend that someone follow my example? "Consider death. Look at death. Consider suicide. See! It's not that bad!" Yeah, can't exactly say that and expect anything but bad results, right? And that's not the only lesson I've learned, which I can't really talk about.
I have shuddered at the thought of it, And I have reveled in its liberation. Suicide has me in a kaleidoscopic awe as meaning and nihilism seem to fade in and out of each other as neither seems to feel like steady ground.
I'm not religious, but I think that the increase of atheism correlates with the increase in depression, suicide and drug abuse. I think that no matter how one tries to avoid it, the thought of there being nothing beyond this life is crushing on the soul.
@@wyattgeorge9696 That's true. At the end of the day the conclusion of atheism is that we'll forget everything after we die, and that there's nothing to hope for or to be gained from this life. I am not religious either. I have noticed that atheism is rising among the youth, and that a lot of young people are depressed.
I used to be a Christian and it was drilled into us that faith is the belief in things without evidence (belief in things unseen). Well, then the rejection of faith is the most reasoned position as I need no evidence to reject something that is believed without evidence (and in the modern world, it's even believed in spite of evidence). Religious faith is one of the most deleterious concepts to visit our species now that we have advanced into modern societies. Life is meaningless to everyone but the living. We can gain inspiration and connection and have all the wonders of life without having to attribute some ethereal or esoteric ideals to why we feel these things and we can be super greatful and imbued with sentiments of luck for having gotten to experiencd it and that's enough. After all, is it possible that other animals (remember, we are not plants nor are we fungus) have some of these similar feelings and if so, does that mean that animals find meaning in life and what could that possibly be, and did they always have that meaning or only once we domesticated them and studied them did they gain those things if you believe they have them (what about the very earliest life that even fungs, plants and aminals derrived from... did it have meaning or a sense of purpose and if not, why if it's even more basic and important to life than we are)? And, if they don't what make you so special? What makes you more important than an insect, another mammal, any other animal if only humans get this sort of meaning from life? IMO, what this all comes down to is self-aggrandizement (ego). We think we're special and to us, in our existence, we are. But only to us and those who know us. One day, we will be gone and we'll be just as important to ourselves then as we were before we arrived and that should be telling enough about life and its meaning. What we need to do is celebrate each other and the moments we have here and forget this nonsense about trying to turn it into something more just because we can't imagine it without us. All of it is gone when we are gone.
Many people die because they judge that life is not worth living. I see others paradoxically getting killed for the ideas or illusions that give them a reason for living. What some call a reason for living can also be called an excellent reason for dying. For example, some people live to make a living, and when they can't, they judge that life isn't worth living. Yet money is merely a collective illusion between people in societies. Or, in a very simplistic sense, the ideas of capitalism vs communism, people weren't just willing to die for those ideas, they were willing to create weapons what would destroy the world. We're now in a world that's come to an equilibrium that's MAD (Nash Equilibrium of Mutually Assured Destruction). Isn't that absurd?
I think answering that question for another human being is full of hubris. Because it is the individuals right to choose whether to be or not to be. It doesn't have to make sense to us. My belief is some people come so that they may go. Well it is painful for those of us that remain with many unanswered questions in an empty space next to us. It's really the person's choice.
It's almost the most selfish thing to ask someone, to continue to exist so you don't have to deal with a sadness or self reflection. Obviously I wish for no one to do it spur of the moment, but if you have put great thought into it... denying the will is a kind of freedom.
I don't even think deciding wether to live life or not is up to the individual, there are no species in which the individuals tend to not want to live, if there were, the species would quickly disappear. It seems to me that at least regarding life as we know it, the moment a being is alive, continuing to live rarely depends on that being's own interpretation of life's worthiness. Unless that being is conscious of course, but I don't yet know wether or not that would mean much, since at the end, suicide, while still present, doesn't seem to be a inminent threat to humans.
Thank you Lex for understanding Exustentialism...Meaning is Loving Creation....live, be, dance, and joy....with your body your temple and All creation is so important.
i believe when someone ask what you just did yesterday you are already creating meaning and providing meaning for others to understand what you just did knowing or not knowing that you are fulfilling a purpose or have done a purpose no matter how mundane it is which seems absurb yet it does not really matter in the grander scheme of existence itself.
the answer is shining in front of us in the history of the Univers (13.8 billion years of tradition) which is the flow from a low quality to a higher qualit existence, example? early plasma becoming nucleons and then hydrogen then water then life then human brain then societies and ... Understand this and do likewise and you will live happily and there is no need existentialism etc. Reminds me with physics being everything.
Thank you Lex, you always have very thoughtful conversations that stimulate. These are the kinds of discussions I was having at art school 35 years ago when we were all reading Camus for the first time.
We love absurdism when it makes us look smart, and nihilism to avoid doing something, or giving up a pleasure. Obviously there's meaning, things we have to do, it just isn't always a subjective choice.
Suicide poses a problem for evolutionary psychologists, too. The "rationales" for it fall short, imo......but if they perceive themselves as a burden, they separate from the herd.
Humanity has by and large stepped out of the process of biological evolution in the sense that the survival of the individual is no longer a relevant category. One could go as far as saying that in terms of capability for individual survival, we are de-volving. In fact, a lot of the popular mental health advise around these days revolves around putting the body back into a less evolved societal state: eat more unprocessed food, make yourself experience more physical strain, expose yourself to extreme heat and cold (sauna and cold showers/ice bathing) and generally more outside experiences. The mechanisms for depression and suicide may always have been around in a virtual kind of way, they just didn't really matter much, because having to struggle to stay alive was the ever-present antidote to triggering them.
I heard the " stranger" book in French narrated by Camus himself ( in RUclips) and the book is already dark and trust me it added an additional darkness to the book 😁
One assumption of that statement is that we stop philosophizing or asking questions after we die. If this is an important question, questioning about what's fundamental to that important question is more important
JP helped me get sober and get my life together, and has done the same for thousands. Disagree with his politics all you want, JP is a force for good. No heart no soul is humorous, do better.
@@gking407 Not a conservative, and you stated no facts, you just stated your opinion dumdum. Maybe work on being a better person, and you probably wouldn't feel the need to be shitty on the internet. Hope things work out for you.
Meaning is a human idea, A concept. The moment you assign meaning to anything it has meaning. Life, another human concept, has what ever meaning you give it. It's your show and you get to see it how ever you want. It is not one or the other, it both has meaning, and lacks meaning because meaning is one thing. You decide
Meaning is the desire for things to be other than they are. We all have some, but not all have reason to believe they can meaningfully affect that change.
@@havenbastion I think life happens to all of us. everything changes always, how you decide to interpret that change will determine the quality of your life more than any other factor. Basically if you think like a victim, a victim you will be. Try to see the lesson not the loss, because the change most people need is perspective. Thank you for engaging.
does life determine the indebted individual to be miserable and irresponsible? no, yet they remain that way never considering their choice in all of it.
I love that the movie Strange Brew was thrown into a conversation about existentialism. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that movie referenced for anything!
Society to me...after all the love that was never shown to me while I was hurting ND down..will see me when stuff goes sideways and I have to survive...and the rich people have lots of resources....what do you think a MA. Like me is gonna do?
Philosophy is the love of wisdom and if the only “serious philosophical problem” is suicidal consideration, then the answer to whether or not Mankind is deserving of love, depends on if Mankind is truly wise. However, if one is capable of adjudicating a death sentence, then recognition of foolishness is a pardon.
When you find that nothing matters then you can live without regrets. You can get up and leave a bad situation where people would stick around thinking they should because of how much time they've invested already.
I’m tempted to psychoanalyse the expert but I’m refraining…. I have not figured out how to do with people in the field of psychology yet…the psychologists need to heal themselves…and this ‘psychologist’ does too….
Camus didn't say to not bother looking for meaning, he said there's no inherent meaning and you should choose to keep looking for meaning in spite of there being no meaning to find; i.e., to rebel against the evident meaninglessness by searching for it. To search whilst knowing it can never be found: it's absurd. Why, though? Because the only other options are 1) suicide and 2) metaphysical suicide, and both extremely limit the chance of answering the unanswerable question: "What is Being?" It's contradictory. It's absurd. It would be absurd to willingly live with the contradiction. Life is absurd, and everyone reading this has chosen to live today.
Why is it so difficult to grasp something as simple as "existence is meaningless"? Whether you help the person on the ground or not, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Same for the suffering of the person on the ground. The choice to believe (independently of the "rules") that you should help others allows you to give it meaning. That's Camus' philosophy, or at least how I understand it.
I think that nhilism is often a toll for creativite, because of the caos that its used in this philosophy, layers of complexity can be create, explore and destroy. The gasp of light we observe need the shadow to be Project.
This question is not a real one, because we are going to die in the end even if we decided we want to live. This would be a real phylosophical question if it was asked to an immortal being.
Let me putit a different way. There was a woman that got burnt severily, ended up crippled and looking like a zombie. She said I want to live, watch springtime and the sun to shine on the trees.
Most important question “what is my hearts desire” at the core of this question is to b or not to b & every other philosophical questions - 99.99% can’t answer this
Lex you gotta get on some eastern philosophy. Before enlightment, chop wood carry water, after enlightment chop wood carry water. All roads lead to Rome, so it's the journey that counts not the destination. In a few billion yrs or w.e. the count is we're all gonna be in the final heat death of the universe so does it matter how many spaceships we build no, we all die one day so may as well try to have the best time we can while we can bc misery chases us by default. Better to have loved and lost then to have not loved at all.
Leave it to a rich person to tell you life is worth living. I think your perspective might be different if you were born into Appalachian coal miners poverty.
I think you've mislabeled it from how I've read Camus. Absurdist ideas are not "somewhere in the middle," but rather it is the concept of holding both extremes of "life has no meaning" and "you must find meaning at a human level" as true at the same time. The absurdity, and thus the origin of the name, is that the truth of the heart and the human condition is to find purpose, while the truth of the mind and the observation of a cold godless universe points to a resounding lack of any grand purpose. Therein is the true absurdist notion; To not pick up one truth and discard the other at will as either best suits any one moment, but to hold both in your mind and your heart at the same time as equals, and regard both as worthy of being a universal truth in your life. This, Camus argues, is the truest and highest sense of enlightenment and that you must do everything you can to maintain this state for as long as you can, so as to not give into a suicide of the mind (by denying its truths and turning to emotional crutches such as religion), of the heart (by not allowing yourself to be human by seeking love and joy all just because you know it pointless while ignoring that these things are real at the human scale), or of the body (wherein you have failed to grasp both truths to their full extent and that you admit that one or both of these truths is too much or not enough to continue on).
It's a metaphysical category error. Meaning always and only exists in a mind. There is group meeting only to the extent people share prioities, and most people don't know their own.
The answer is, because without it, they're wouldn't be anyone here to question it. Same as for the teleological argument. Unwarranted hope is evolutionarily beneficial, so it thrives.
As a Spinozist, the universe and life in itself doesn’t have a specific end; but what keeps me going is my consonant search for certain truth and establishing what Spinoza espoused; and that is developing the intellectual love of God. This is how we transcend our mode of being
When I was in my middle school or elementary school, I can't remember. For no particular reason, while I was in the playground, I always closed my eyes and assumed the whole cosmos would blow up in the next 20 seconds and I was the only one on the earth who knew it. Nobody else, only I! Then, I started to count down:20,19,18,17....2,1,0. Ahhh nothing happened....
Even biology has absurdity. The natural world has taught that mutations happen and outliers are reality. Absurdity is all around us. I think that the phrase “reality is stranger than fiction” really hits this point. Memes and theory of evolution are just ideas. Absurd to some I might add. But why derive meaning to something that in present and destined to die? Yoko taro is my inspiration into absurdism. The human mind is chaos incarnate and free will is our mode in which each individual shapes their own meaning. But life as human is truly absurd and it’s best to relish in that belief than fall into despair and meaningless. Have fun with this time you are given, we are all dying and life is fragile so why take things seriously? What’s the point of a job if you can’t have fun at least.
The atoms we are made of were themselves made in the heart of a star. To think there is meaning is absurd. It just is. Just look out the window and go ‘Wow’.
Existential nihilism. It's not that everything is meaningless... It's that nothing inherently has a meaning. Things just are and meaning is what we bring to the table.
Well i think of it like this having the chanse to exist is better than not, no matter how bad of a life it was it was still a life. We are not omnipotent and we cant se into the future so the only way to find out your life is to live it.
I wasn't going to listen to this, because in the thumbnail Mr Conti looks like Jordan Peterson, and I didn't feel like listening to word salad. This guy is way better.
Full podcast episode: ruclips.net/video/jRBksDVs4tg/видео.html
Lex Fridman podcast channel: ruclips.net/user/lexfridman
Guest bio: Paul Conti is a psychiatrist.
You mention Camus a lot, but the other great philosopher at that was Sartre. “Life has no meaning a priori… It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
Ok ✅ io
Why does he look like shapiro and peterson combined
The most horrific fusion this world has seen.
Not only that, his eyebrows look bulletproof
More like James Dean and Ho Chi Mihn....
😂 yeah right..
Scary combo
Camus wasn't driving and surely didn't commit suicide and the morning of the fatal accident he wrote passionate letters to each one of his three beautiful lovers and how he couldn't wait to be with them. Furthermore his best friend with his wife were in the car and the kind of man Camus was would surely not have murdered his friend and wife to die with him.
3 lovers and wife , Albert needs to chill
@@musashi542 actually he was with his wife that morning before driving off and she took the train with their daughter to meet with him in Paris
This is what I was thinking! Like, uhhhh no Camus was not suicidal, there's books about how it was possibly the KGB rigging the vehicle to crash due to Camus' view of socialism and criticism of regimes, specifically the Soviets.
Maybe this guy misremembered but damn dude, Camus is one of the few people who enjoyed rebelling against the meaninglessness of existence.
@@bradchambers4229 It was raining hard, visibility was bad and his friend was driving too fast as they were in a hurry and that's not in this complicated way that kgb killed people. There really is no doubt on the nature of the accident.
@@bradchambers4229 Camus was great.
“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.” ~ Albert Camus
Republicans really be telling their fascist followers this line. Camus was right
Im fine with tyrants if it means a good wellbeing of people
"he (Bakunin) favored a strong dictatorial government whose purpose it would be to educate the people to the point that such dictatorship becomes unnecessary." Bakunin's letter to tzar Nicholas from his jail cell. Positive welfare, as Humboldt calls it, should always be a means to an end. A way to bring the rabble out from their oppression. Not a tool to subdue them.
I always found it interesting how Andrew Carnegie turn to charity after literally killing the poor to make his wealth.... But then again he turned to charity under a god complex, he believed his conscience was heavenly superior to the impoverished. Merely an alibi of a tyrant.
@@MrFarquaad but they only want to be seen to be doing the right thing. They don't give a shit if they are right or not or if they do good or not.
I went through a phase of not seeing the point. But eventually came out of it understanding I can create the point, and have decided that that's the point. Which I deem a blessing.
The meaning of life is that everyone must choose the answer to that question for themselves. No one can write your story for you. If you think you have no meaning, you're right; and also if you do.
Albert Camus died in a car accident drove by his publisher and friend Michel Gallimard. The manuscript Le premier homme was in the trunck to be published in Paris. He was about to leave his second wife to reunite with Maria Casares, his great love. Their 900 letters between 1944 and 1960 were published in 2017 at the initiative of Camus daughter.
There is not a question about Camus' death being suicide - he wasn't even driving the car...
For what its worth I really like how you ask the question of all your guests at the end of your interviews; "what's it all about is there any meaning to life" etc. Great question to get at the heart of things but unfortunately no one nails it better than Camus does.
My goodness, nihilism... I was plagued by this for such a long time. What a scary and bleak existence that was.... I could write volumes about my life in this condition (perhaps condition isn't the best word to describe it,but maybe it is) but I have shit to do. I just got a shiver at the very utterance of the word. I'm so glad that I discovered my purpose, or that I have a purpose. Love ya Lex! You make the world a better place!
what is that purpose and how did you discover it?
oh some suspense here
I don't find Nihilism to be that daunting. If you take purpose to be fiction from the start, then you can recognize that you haven't lost anything, but instead, you've gained clarity.
What is the purpose of playing in a sandbox? None. Normal sandbox play ends with the destruction of what you build.
Yet paying in the sandbox, or even a sandbox game, is fun. This shows us how purpose isn't required.
Purpose is a fictional concept that holds us back. Mindfulness is the alternative.
When you recognize that purpose is fiction, then you can make purpose yourself. You can even live by that purpose, knowing that it's fiction.
Just like your goal in a sandbox. Build a castle for no reason other than the irrational good feelings you get.
@@YSFmemories I apologize. I thought I sent my response yesterday but it didn't go through. In fairness, I should start by saying me finding my purpose is merely the conclusion that I've come to at this point, at age 39. I've based that conclusion on my strengths,people's perception of me and the impact they say I've had on them. That is to help people. I seem to have a knack for communication and building people up and helping them realize where they're strong and,putting their perceived obstacles in perspective so they don't seem so overwhelming to them. I get a true sense of gratification and happiness from that. But hey,tomorrow I COULD get a brand new trajectory. For now,I'm satisfied with that.
@Patrick Covault I think what you're doing is you're engaging in the goal that is our shared goal: survival. Offering people help may help in small ways, but ultimately, you are helping them survive. And by living that purpose, you give yourself a reason to keep on living.
I'm the same age as you, and I've come to the conclusion that I can live by any purpose I wish. As long as I believe in that purpose, then it keeps me going.
Whatever you do to keep going, as long as it's overall positive and helpful to you and those around you, is probably the right thing.
Also, "probably" is likely the most certain we'll ever be in regars to purpose. So it is best to simply enjoy your direction rather than overly worry about what direction that is. I think.
I eventually settled on absurdism as the closest formal philosophy which resonates with me. It gives me lots of clarity and I find lots of happiness as a result.
Me too. I was so lucky to find him. Schopenhauer is still my guy, but I didn't like his solution to the undeniable problem he revealed... The will. So i steal Camus' Absurdity philosophy for the answer, it helps.
@@justadude4826 Well, That definitely sounds like a Nietzsche fan... Schopenhauer receives a lot of hate from most philosophers and people. But, it's usually because of his "answers" to the problem of life. Easy issues to object to.
I understand that, as I said above, I don't follow his "answers" to the problem... Shocker! Even Schopenhauer himself said he could not follow it.
Nonetheless, When he gave the world his thesis of the underlying problem/workings of all life... Everyone knew, admitting or not, it was an undeniable fact,
This brings frustration, denial, and of course hate aimed at Schopenhauer for exposing a truth... Among philosophers , a lot of jealousy also, an answer put forth with no need for Philosophical debate, chapter closed.
So, Schopenhauer found the problem.
Camus, summed up the answer- you can commit "physical suicide" or "psychological suicide".
That's ALL the philosophy that's left, for human meaning, in a nutshell. Your flavor of "psychological suicide".... you could see how this would anger most.
Schopenhauer- have compassion for others stuck in this problem of life, try to embrace some Asceticism, and deny the Underlying will from having as much influence on the ego. ( a Buddha style)
Camus- Don't take life so serious, doesn't need deep meaning, just dance in the absurdity of even existing.
Nietzsche- Oh Boy, from "Ubermensch", to "master and slave", compassion vs. pity, good and evil etc... Every philosopher has good takes as well, just as Nietzsche. Some are just literal narcissistic gibberish.
Nietzsche always thanked Schopenhauer for allowing him to escape the inevitable future of becoming a Lutheran minister, He had seen the undeniable truth in "The World as Will and Representation "...
But, as many, he also hated this truth, and thought he could rise above this law of nature. So, that's where you get Nietzsche philosophy. Poor fella, you could also tell he REALLY wished to be famous and known, just didn't live to see it.
P.s. sorry for the essay, just kept typing. lol
Isnt absurdism clearly rejected because there are patterns and intelligence in the universe. Maybe you can figure out the meaning but there is some. People are no good at being content with not knowing and accepting what is
@@itsdeadshot2501 you basically described absurdism... " being content with not knowing and accepting what is"
@@xfactorb25222 Fair that perception of life existed before absurdism.
Camus died crashing into a tree, as far as I remember, he was not alone in the car. That was not suicide. Camus loved life. Read Exile and Kingdom.
Maybe but he’s definitely not the sort of person about whom you’d say ‘he loved life’😳😂
@@HkFinn83 had 3 lovers, a wife on top of that and loved to party. Dude might be a little more passionate than you might think, albeit a little off for our current day moral standards
@@jazerasor1455 I never thought he was ‘passionate’ or not passionate. He’s a French existential philosopher and novelist
We answer that question with everything we do in life because suicide is always an option. We choose everything we do over suicide. We choose life, when we suffer, we choose to do so. It's about accountability for everything we do and about creating meaning in our life with every choice in every moment.
Exile and the Kingdom is one of the most life affirming books I have ever read. I read it at least once a year if not more. Why “scholars “ do not read the later works of great artists is baffling.
because Camus was full of shit. A pretender.
Keeping the suicide option in one’s back pocket lends to a lot more peace of mind, if you ask me. It’s an option! I look upon it with lightness of heart and good humor. If one does it, make it a tongue-in-cheek joke to help ease others sense of destabilization.
I’d never venture to recommend it for another because outside perspective is woefully lacking in relevant information. It’s a strictly personal decision. Hell, even implying that nihilism is a philosophy which others should follow is intrusive and disrespectful. It’s a personal outlook and, from where I’m standing, lends to a much more vast and expansive sense of awe regarding even the most subtle, overlooked details of life! But it’s MY outlook, and far be it from me to impose it on another
I think you're right, but also, I hate it.
The greatest wisdom I've found so far relates to a healthy view of death, pain, and mortality. Unfortunately, I have seen death, and I know it. That has helped me to come to terms with it. And that has given me peace.
But what made me adopt this view was my view of others in pain. How can I recommend that someone follow my example?
"Consider death. Look at death. Consider suicide. See! It's not that bad!" Yeah, can't exactly say that and expect anything but bad results, right?
And that's not the only lesson I've learned, which I can't really talk about.
I have shuddered at the thought of it,
And I have reveled in its liberation.
Suicide has me in a kaleidoscopic awe as meaning and nihilism seem to fade in and out of each other as neither seems to feel like steady ground.
I'm not religious, but I think that the increase of atheism correlates with the increase in depression, suicide and drug abuse. I think that no matter how one tries to avoid it, the thought of there being nothing beyond this life is crushing on the soul.
@@wyattgeorge9696 That's true. At the end of the day the conclusion of atheism is that we'll forget everything after we die, and that there's nothing to hope for or to be gained from this life.
I am not religious either. I have noticed that atheism is rising among the youth, and that a lot of young people are depressed.
Respect must be earned and no one deserves your forbearance at speaking truth.
Lex needs to interview Dr. Michael Sugrue for a philosophical review.
That would be appropriate.
Camus’ The Fall is the best book I have ever read.
Me too
I used to be a Christian and it was drilled into us that faith is the belief in things without evidence (belief in things unseen). Well, then the rejection of faith is the most reasoned position as I need no evidence to reject something that is believed without evidence (and in the modern world, it's even believed in spite of evidence). Religious faith is one of the most deleterious concepts to visit our species now that we have advanced into modern societies. Life is meaningless to everyone but the living. We can gain inspiration and connection and have all the wonders of life without having to attribute some ethereal or esoteric ideals to why we feel these things and we can be super greatful and imbued with sentiments of luck for having gotten to experiencd it and that's enough. After all, is it possible that other animals (remember, we are not plants nor are we fungus) have some of these similar feelings and if so, does that mean that animals find meaning in life and what could that possibly be, and did they always have that meaning or only once we domesticated them and studied them did they gain those things if you believe they have them (what about the very earliest life that even fungs, plants and aminals derrived from... did it have meaning or a sense of purpose and if not, why if it's even more basic and important to life than we are)? And, if they don't what make you so special? What makes you more important than an insect, another mammal, any other animal if only humans get this sort of meaning from life? IMO, what this all comes down to is self-aggrandizement (ego). We think we're special and to us, in our existence, we are. But only to us and those who know us. One day, we will be gone and we'll be just as important to ourselves then as we were before we arrived and that should be telling enough about life and its meaning. What we need to do is celebrate each other and the moments we have here and forget this nonsense about trying to turn it into something more just because we can't imagine it without us. All of it is gone when we are gone.
Many people die because they judge that life is not worth living. I see others paradoxically getting killed for the ideas or illusions that give them a reason for living. What some call a reason for living can also be called an excellent reason for dying.
For example, some people live to make a living, and when they can't, they judge that life isn't worth living. Yet money is merely a collective illusion between people in societies. Or, in a very simplistic sense, the ideas of capitalism vs communism, people weren't just willing to die for those ideas, they were willing to create weapons what would destroy the world.
We're now in a world that's come to an equilibrium that's MAD (Nash Equilibrium of Mutually Assured Destruction). Isn't that absurd?
Love The Stranger.
I think answering that question for another human being is full of hubris. Because it is the individuals right to choose whether to be or not to be. It doesn't have to make sense to us. My belief is some people come so that they may go. Well it is painful for those of us that remain with many unanswered questions in an empty space next to us. It's really the person's choice.
It's almost the most selfish thing to ask someone, to continue to exist so you don't have to deal with a sadness or self reflection. Obviously I wish for no one to do it spur of the moment, but if you have put great thought into it... denying the will is a kind of freedom.
I don't even think deciding wether to live life or not is up to the individual, there are no species in which the individuals tend to not want to live, if there were, the species would quickly disappear. It seems to me that at least regarding life as we know it, the moment a being is alive, continuing to live rarely depends on that being's own interpretation of life's worthiness. Unless that being is conscious of course, but I don't yet know wether or not that would mean much, since at the end, suicide, while still present, doesn't seem to be a inminent threat to humans.
I read Waiting for Godot in 10th grade and went into an existential crisis for the next 7 years. I’m 22 now 😟
That is a good book. But to come out of a state like that is not to wait. Just do. Whatever. Enjoy life by laughing at people, life and yourself.
Thank you Lex for understanding Exustentialism...Meaning is Loving Creation....live, be, dance, and joy....with your body your temple and All creation is so important.
i believe when someone ask what you just did yesterday you are already creating meaning and providing meaning for others to understand what you just did knowing or not knowing that you are fulfilling a purpose or have done a purpose no matter how mundane it is which seems absurb yet it does not really matter in the grander scheme of existence itself.
the answer is shining in front of us in the history of the Univers (13.8 billion years of tradition) which is the flow from a low quality to a higher qualit existence, example? early plasma becoming nucleons and then hydrogen then water then life then human brain then societies and ... Understand this and do likewise and you will live happily and there is no need existentialism etc. Reminds me with physics being everything.
Thank you Lex, you always have very thoughtful conversations that stimulate. These are the kinds of discussions I was having at art school 35 years ago when we were all reading Camus for the first time.
we talked about Camus in my english class today and then this shows up in my recommended, perfect timing
He's the least bad of modern French philosophers.
Your life matters. Your presence matters. You are beautiful.
We love absurdism when it makes us look smart, and nihilism to avoid doing something, or giving up a pleasure. Obviously there's meaning, things we have to do, it just isn't always a subjective choice.
hmm... yeah, I don't really look at either of those as "excuse givers", interesting take.
Suicide poses a problem for evolutionary psychologists, too. The "rationales" for it fall short, imo......but if they perceive themselves as a burden, they separate from the herd.
Humanity has by and large stepped out of the process of biological evolution in the sense that the survival of the individual is no longer a relevant category. One could go as far as saying that in terms of capability for individual survival, we are de-volving. In fact, a lot of the popular mental health advise around these days revolves around putting the body back into a less evolved societal state: eat more unprocessed food, make yourself experience more physical strain, expose yourself to extreme heat and cold (sauna and cold showers/ice bathing) and generally more outside experiences.
The mechanisms for depression and suicide may always have been around in a virtual kind of way, they just didn't really matter much, because having to struggle to stay alive was the ever-present antidote to triggering them.
“The Unique and Its Property “, Max Stirner,1844/2017 Landstreicher translation is as good as it gets.
Sheeeeesh 💯
I'm pretty sure that was my book.
Better than looking for meaning is co-create the meaning you desire.
I found that to be a particularly enjoyable philosophical discussion. I look forward to watching the interaction in it's entirety.
I think that much more deeper philosophical question is why bring someone else in this absurdity.
Truth, d e t e c t e d
@@Skynet_the_AI you used the comma the wrong way
@@tacitozetticci9308 that's is my, niche :)
#anti-natalism
I heard the " stranger" book in French narrated by Camus himself ( in RUclips) and the book is already dark and trust me it added an additional darkness to the book 😁
It wasn’t dark
One assumption of that statement is that we stop philosophizing or asking questions after we die.
If this is an important question, questioning about what's fundamental to that important question is more important
Paul Conti is like Jordan Peterson with heart and soul
JP helped me get sober and get my life together, and has done the same for thousands. Disagree with his politics all you want, JP is a force for good. No heart no soul is humorous, do better.
@@rrrrrr1669”my personal story makes your facts and opinions completely wrong” = the very predictable conservative response to every situation gtfo
@@gking407 Not a conservative, and you stated no facts, you just stated your opinion dumdum. Maybe work on being a better person, and you probably wouldn't feel the need to be shitty on the internet. Hope things work out for you.
Meaning is a human idea, A concept. The moment you assign meaning to anything it has meaning. Life, another human concept, has what ever meaning you give it. It's your show and you get to see it how ever you want. It is not one or the other, it both has meaning, and lacks meaning because meaning is one thing. You decide
Meaning is the desire for things to be other than they are. We all have some, but not all have reason to believe they can meaningfully affect that change.
@@havenbastion I think life happens to all of us. everything changes always, how you decide to interpret that change will determine the quality of your life more than any other factor. Basically if you think like a victim, a victim you will be. Try to see the lesson not the loss, because the change most people need is perspective. Thank you for engaging.
Must be easy to be able to laugh at the 'magicalness' of life when you can pay your bills every month.
does life determine the indebted individual to be miserable and irresponsible? no, yet they remain that way never considering their choice in all of it.
I love that the movie Strange Brew was thrown into a conversation about existentialism. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that movie referenced for anything!
Society to me...after all the love that was never shown to me while I was hurting ND down..will see me when stuff goes sideways and I have to survive...and the rich people have lots of resources....what do you think a MA. Like me is gonna do?
Philosophy is the love of wisdom and if the only “serious philosophical problem” is suicidal consideration, then the answer to whether or not Mankind is deserving of love, depends on if Mankind is truly wise. However, if one is capable of adjudicating a death sentence, then recognition of foolishness is a pardon.
When you find that nothing matters then you can live without regrets. You can get up and leave a bad situation where people would stick around thinking they should because of how much time they've invested already.
The fact that this video does not have millions of like and views is unsettling.
I didn’t realize Hunter Biden is so intellectual 😊
Your channel is a sanctuary for deep thinkers. 🙏
Already my favorite clip and then dude references Bob and Doug 🤯
I’m tempted to psychoanalyse the expert but I’m refraining…. I have not figured out how to do with people in the field of psychology yet…the psychologists need to heal themselves…and this ‘psychologist’ does too….
Existentialism is defined well: that existence proceeds essence.
Camus didn't say to not bother looking for meaning, he said there's no inherent meaning and you should choose to keep looking for meaning in spite of there being no meaning to find; i.e., to rebel against the evident meaninglessness by searching for it. To search whilst knowing it can never be found: it's absurd. Why, though? Because the only other options are 1) suicide and 2) metaphysical suicide, and both extremely limit the chance of answering the unanswerable question: "What is Being?" It's contradictory. It's absurd. It would be absurd to willingly live with the contradiction. Life is absurd, and everyone reading this has chosen to live today.
Why is it so difficult to grasp something as simple as "existence is meaningless"? Whether you help the person on the ground or not, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Same for the suffering of the person on the ground. The choice to believe (independently of the "rules") that you should help others allows you to give it meaning. That's Camus' philosophy, or at least how I understand it.
Coelho ‘experiences are you meaning of life.’
waiting on lex after hours asmr
ASMR?
Maybe Camus would consider life is well worth living if he adored three things: his children, a fresh breath in nature and a great cigar.
Is it possible to rid ourselves of “scholarly opinion” and start again.
Hennything is Possible
I think that nhilism is often a toll for creativite, because of the caos that its used in this philosophy, layers of complexity can be create, explore and destroy. The gasp of light we observe need the shadow to be Project.
Overcoming nihilism is a philosophical graduation.
Sri Ramana Maharishi poises an even more fundamental question than Albert Camus: "Who am I?"
Love Camus, love Lex. Great guest as well.
This question is not a real one, because we are going to die in the end even if we decided we want to live. This would be a real phylosophical question if it was asked to an immortal being.
I feel you brother, but it's a question to answer because the desire to live or the value of another's life drive most, if not all of our decisions.
Let me putit a different way. There was a woman that got burnt severily, ended up crippled and looking like a zombie. She said I want to live, watch springtime and the sun to shine on the trees.
@@gyozop this is more about quality of life than life itself. It's a different question, just like assisted suicide
@@carloorelli3538 No, it's the same. Be or not to be.
I think ur just trying to outsmart Camus, don’t even think u actually disagree with the question
Most important question “what is my hearts desire” at the core of this question is to b or not to b & every other philosophical questions - 99.99% can’t answer this
Camus wasn't driving, so unless you think he reached over and grabbed the wheel I don't see how he could have committed suicide.
People are always looking for some made up congruence.
After DOSTOYEVSKY it’s definitely Camus for me. Love his ‘Fall’
Ok with a headach. Life is simple. We move.we die. Some create. Some don't
Most of us are just extras
Is living recklessly seen as different than being suicidal?
This gent is awesome!....the fact that he can quote "Strange Brew" is outstanding. Well, no sense in steering now.
Why should I live? You’re alive. So, enjoy your fleeting existence in this paradise. Time is all you have.
Lex you gotta get on some eastern philosophy.
Before enlightment, chop wood carry water, after enlightment chop wood carry water.
All roads lead to Rome, so it's the journey that counts not the destination.
In a few billion yrs or w.e. the count is we're all gonna be in the final heat death of the universe so does it matter how many spaceships we build no, we all die one day so may as well try to have the best time we can while we can bc misery chases us by default.
Better to have loved and lost then to have not loved at all.
@lex just find Joy wherever you can and get as much as that in the short amount of time that you exist.
This guy looks like if Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro had a baby
lol
Leave it to a rich person to tell you life is worth living. I think your perspective might be different if you were born into Appalachian coal miners poverty.
nihilism is less "nothing matters" and more "the consequences are inconsequential"
I think you've mislabeled it from how I've read Camus.
Absurdist ideas are not "somewhere in the middle," but rather it is the concept of holding both extremes of "life has no meaning" and "you must find meaning at a human level" as true at the same time.
The absurdity, and thus the origin of the name, is that the truth of the heart and the human condition is to find purpose, while the truth of the mind and the observation of a cold godless universe points to a resounding lack of any grand purpose. Therein is the true absurdist notion; To not pick up one truth and discard the other at will as either best suits any one moment, but to hold both in your mind and your heart at the same time as equals, and regard both as worthy of being a universal truth in your life.
This, Camus argues, is the truest and highest sense of enlightenment and that you must do everything you can to maintain this state for as long as you can, so as to not give into a suicide of the mind (by denying its truths and turning to emotional crutches such as religion), of the heart (by not allowing yourself to be human by seeking love and joy all just because you know it pointless while ignoring that these things are real at the human scale), or of the body (wherein you have failed to grasp both truths to their full extent and that you admit that one or both of these truths is too much or not enough to continue on).
It's a metaphysical category error. Meaning always and only exists in a mind. There is group meeting only to the extent people share prioities, and most people don't know their own.
I legit think absurdist a healthy aspect of any religious thought. That is to say, accepting that you'll never understand certain things and its fine.
wow these guys really do have it all figured out
Norm MacDonald said it best “Science cannot answer the ultimate truth, why the will to life?”
The answer is, because without it, they're wouldn't be anyone here to question it. Same as for the teleological argument. Unwarranted hope is evolutionarily beneficial, so it thrives.
As a Spinozist, the universe and life in itself doesn’t have a specific end; but what keeps me going is my consonant search for certain truth and establishing what Spinoza espoused; and that is developing the intellectual love of God. This is how we transcend our mode of being
Never heard of that
@@SPsounds100 Try reading Spinoza’s “Ethics”.
You cannot be intellectual about a fantasy.
When I was in my middle school or elementary school, I can't remember. For no particular reason, while I was in the playground, I always closed my eyes and assumed the whole cosmos would blow up in the next 20 seconds and I was the only one on the earth who knew it. Nobody else, only I! Then, I started to count down:20,19,18,17....2,1,0. Ahhh nothing happened....
Possibly the most important interpersonal growth clip out there.
Faith is meaning and meaning is believing?
If you close your eyes, it will sounds like Lex talking for two person
You can have faith and actually Know . I know from seeing .
Osho gave a better answer to this question rather
Many of these absurdities he talks about, particularly the state of the healthcare system, could simply be rephrased as problems.
Even biology has absurdity. The natural world has taught that mutations happen and outliers are reality. Absurdity is all around us. I think that the phrase “reality is stranger than fiction” really hits this point. Memes and theory of evolution are just ideas. Absurd to some I might add. But why derive meaning to something that in present and destined to die? Yoko taro is my inspiration into absurdism. The human mind is chaos incarnate and free will is our mode in which each individual shapes their own meaning. But life as human is truly absurd and it’s best to relish in that belief than fall into despair and meaningless. Have fun with this time you are given, we are all dying and life is fragile so why take things seriously? What’s the point of a job if you can’t have fun at least.
The atoms we are made of were themselves made in the heart of a star. To think there is meaning is absurd. It just is. Just look out the window and go ‘Wow’.
This clip will help a lot of people.
Western Philosophy limits itself by choosing the axiom of putting religion aside in the search for meaning.
Existential nihilism.
It's not that everything is meaningless... It's that nothing inherently has a meaning. Things just are and meaning is what we bring to the table.
The natural logical end of materialistic worldview is nihilism and suicidal tendencies.
Well i think of it like this having the chanse to exist is better than not, no matter how bad of a life it was it was still a life. We are not omnipotent and we cant se into the future so the only way to find out your life is to live it.
I never would of thought I would hear about Camus, Existentialism and Bob and Doug McKenzie in the same conversation.
To be or not to be, that is the question
My grandkids keep me here.❤
To be or not to be, the question only a depressed or very sad person would ponder.
No. Only an intelligent person would.
Cyrus Christ is the overarching truth you're looking for.
Both of these guys are hellenised.
thank you
I still don't understand why anyone has kids
To see more people suffer
It’s literally Everything Everywhere All at Once
I wasn't going to listen to this, because in the thumbnail Mr Conti looks like Jordan Peterson, and I didn't feel like listening to word salad. This guy is way better.
I think therefore I am... interview over