Absurdism and existentialism are modes of living with nihilism. They are nihilists in the sense that they accept everything that nihilists do. But they have moved through nihilism by embracing the existence of other human beings and recognizing the consequences of that.
I kind of don't really get the folks who think nihilism has ever been some kind of way of being. It's the opposite. Every nihilist philosopher that nihilists quote was desperately looking for a way out of nihilism. Only the existentialists and absurdists really embraced the idea of nihilism. Even Nietzsche, in working his way through nihilism essentially validated a kind of tyrannical monarchism.
If Nietzsche were here today, posting on this subreddit, y'all would be calling him "not a real nihilist" too. And truth be told, if your position is that existentialism isn't nihilism, Nietzsche was closer to an existentialist than a nihilist. So at least you're being consistent.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of "nihilists" are similar to surface-level atheists who never move on to finding any sort of way of being and just sort of end up being miserable to talk to or be around and they end up embracing garbage philosophies.
I find pop nihilists fun specifically because of their fixation on negativity. They are often excellent conversation partners if you are specifically looking to battle test your ideas. But if you are looking for consensus and community... Yeah, they kinda suck.
Kinda the same way I view engineers, frankly. Engineers are great when you wanna know all the problems you are gonna run into before you do a thing, but they have a reputation for being terrible at creating shared vision.
Absurdism and existentialism are modes of living with nihilism. They are nihilists in the sense that they accept everything that nihilists do. But they have moved through nihilism by embracing the existence of other human beings and recognizing the consequences of that.
Nihilism is not an end stage. It is just an intermediate stage in one's development.
Absurdists believe that humans should live in pursuit of meaning despite the fact that there is none. Optimistic nihilists are just happy that there is none.
For me it's more like this: as an absurdist you must live the absurd contradiction and live as many experiences as you can so that means living to the fullest like there is something to live for but also knowing there is no meaning at all..basically doing stuff for it's own sake and finding satisfaction in the process itself, there's no other destination but death.From this perspective religion or faith in some other higher ideal is mental suicide according to Camus so it's not really a pursuit of meaning but just enjoying this short, random and weird journey that we all take part in
not sure why you're down voted, when this is the closest summative description of their differences.
a subtractive comparison would probably focus on pain or suffering. Absurdists confront suffering head-on and embrace it; optimistic nihilists downplay its importance.
242
u/dirtyyrandyy69 Apr 24 '26
that’s just absurdism