For as long as humans have lived on earth, they have searched for a purpose, a meaning for what we do. The essay I read talks about exactly this. The essay I read was The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In this work he explains how individuals use ignorance as protection from the idea that our lives must have a purpose. Only when we stop thinking about our mortality and our purpose can we truly begin to enjoy the present. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayCamus is right in supposing that the world is absurd, consequently, people should live their lives without worrying about a higher meaning, which is demonstrated through Nagel's argument from the absurd and the argument of Nietzsche's post on absurdity. For Camus the absurd is the awareness that the world is not rational, he describes it as a man who finds himself face to face with the irrational; he wants to be happy and have a reason to live. “I am filled with a longing for clarity and meaning in a world that offers neither.” Camus says that the absurd arises from human need and silence or mysteries of the world that will never be solved. Nagel disagrees with part of Camus' explanation of the absurd. He argues that even if nothing we do matters in the distant future, nothing in the distant future matters now. Nagel explains that if we can't predict whether or not what we do will matter in the future, how can we be sure that what we do matters now? He also makes a similar point to Camus, which is that everything ends in death anyway, so there really is no final purpose to our actions. Nagel's main point about absurdity concerns the lack of similarity between the importance we place on our lives from a subjective point of view, versus how unjustified they appear objectively. This means that in our subjective life we ​​give importance to our appearance, our relationships, etc. But, objectively, we think about whether it is worth living. Usually, after a period of reflection, we stop thinking about it and move on with our lives. To avoid absurdity in our lives, we give meaning to our lives through a role, something “bigger than ourselves” like being of service to society or joining the army to protect one's country. Ultimately you may still wonder how this higher purpose will bring you meaning or when your search for justification will end, so, realistically, the search is futile. In Nagel's last main argument about absurdism, he says that reflecting on our lives does not mean that they are insignificant compared to what is important, but that they are only significant in comparison to themselves. So when we step back and reflect on our lives, we compare the statement we have about the meaning of actions with a broader perspective in which no standard of meaning can be discovered. This goes to show that no matter what, comparing your accomplishments to that of your “life purpose” will lead you to believe that your actions will never truly live up to that standard. Nietzsche was known for his existentialism. He argued that there was no meaning to life and that the only reason we imagine a higher purpose is because we were taught to do so by different religions. He believed that religion and faith were a lie and believing in them would only hinder your experience in life as a person. He also believed in giving meaning to oneself just like Camus did and that even if others find meaning in different things, that doesn't mean that.