https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/kv96ix/arguments_against_camus_and_existentialism/
created by margotiii on 11/01/2021 at 18:53 UTC
3 upvotes, 3 top-level comments (showing 3)
I’m wondering if there are any major philosophical arguments in response to existentialism. I’m specifically curious if there are any criticisms of Camus’s assertion that all search for meaning and purpose is absurd?
Has anyone tied an argument against absurdism and existentialism to transhumanism? Maybe it’s true that Homo sapiens will never have real answers as to the meaning or purpose of our life. But is Camus saying that no being could ever know answers to these questions? Is the search for meaning still pointless if we are 1000x smarter and so biologically different that we could be a new species altogether?
This is just one idea I have for a possible argument against it. Are there others?
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Comment by PM_ME_YOUR_THEORY at 11/01/2021 at 20:28 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Is the search for meaning still pointless if we are 1000x smarter and so biologically different that we could be a new species altogether?
Yes, at least in Camus' view. For Camus, it is not a practical matter of not being able to achieve a certain type of knowledge due to lack of intelligence or practical experience, but an existential matter.
Comment by SalmonApplecream at 12/01/2021 at 11:10 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I might be wrong, but don't existentialist theories rely on libertarian free will being true. If so, any argument for determinism would pose a threat to existentialism I think.