Philosophical Dictionary

The final par of the "Philosophy Carol" series. Meeting the Ghost of Philosophy in an eternal cafe brings you to an epiphany.

Camus ends a book about suicide with a man pushing a rock forever and calls him happy. Here is what “one must imagine Sisyphus happy” really means, the Greek myth behind it, what the French original says, how painters from Titian onward showed Sisyphus, the best objections from Taylor and Nagel, and why the meme says “asymptomatic”.

Absurdism, existentialism and nihilism start from the same uncomfortable silence: the universe does not answer our questions about meaning. Nihilism shrugs, existentialism builds its own meaning, and Camus called the believers’ leap philosophical suicide. So is absurdism just existentialism with good vibes?